Calle Ocho is ripe with famous landmarks, but even among all the eye-catching shops and the rich Cuban history, Azúcar’s triumphant ice-cream-cone sculpture—which hangs imposingly above the door of the tiny shop—is one of the area’s most iconic. If you take a trip to Calle Ocho and don’t stop in for a scoop at Azúcar, you need to go back and try again.
If Azúcar was just your average ol’ scoop shop, it would still be hard to pass up thanks to its prime location, but this place serves varieties that could come only from a Miami mind (which, in this case, is founder Suzy Battle). The flavors are ridiculously tasty desserts that double as an education in famous Cuban-American dishes. Azúcar’s super-popular Abuela Maria scoop features ribbons of sweet guava paste, chunks of cream cheese and crumbled Maria cookies—a classic Cuban combination. Other ingredients have included flan, café con leche and olive oil. Honestly, the stranger it sounds, the more delicious it’s probably going to be.
Enjoy an ice cream while sitting inside on a cushion made from Cuban guayabera shirts or, outside, as you walk down Little Havana’s most famous street.