[dropcap size=big]A[/dropcap]lfonso Ruiz worked in an aluminum manufactory for 28 years until he was let go and decided to dedicate his life to nieves de garrafa. Shortly after he was laid off, in 2016, he took a trip back to his hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco, where he tried nieves de garrafa again at Nevería La Violeta. That visit inspired him; he was moved by how families united over ice cream and how there was something there for everyone. One of the most significant differences he noticed from trying nieves when he was a kid was the exponential increase in flavors, limited by imagination. The nevería offered over 50 flavors, Mexican classics like lime, cajeta, and mamey, but then there were more unconventional flavors like Red Bull or Bailey’s.
Ruiz opened La Garrafa MX in Montebello in 2020, a family-owned neveria bringing a piece of Guadalajara to Angelenos. They offer traditional nieves de agua (water-based flavors) like mango and lime and creative concoctions like fresa y jamaica, inspired by Ruiz’s childhood. “It was an agua that my mom used to make when I was a kid in Guadalajara,” says Ruiz, “The concept is very similar. You can make any agua fresca into a nieve.”
Nieve de garrafa distinguishes itself through its texture. It’s fluffy and light and usually not excessively sweet. Usually, they come in two styles, water-based and milk-based, but La Garrafa MX offers a third, almond milk-based. Water-based nieves de garrafa are more like sorbet or granita, smooth ice flavored with fresh fruit purees and cane sugar. Milk-based nieves are more in line with traditional ice cream, but the fat content is lower. Ruiz uses milk (instead of heavy cream), giving the nieve a creamy and fluffy texture without overwhelming richness.
The nieves at La Garrafa MX are exceptional. The water-based ones are immensely refreshing and melt with the heat of your tongue, while the milk-based ones are a sweet and creamy treat similar to ice cream but much lighter. The limón nieve is bright with acidity and sweet like a frosty agua de limón. At the same time, the fresa y jamaica has the recognizable strawberry sweetness with a tang of acidity from the flower. The mango nieve isn’t overly sweet and instead allows the fruit to shine. The raspberry is a sleeper hit, red ice with a few seeds and refreshingly tart. For some flavors like lime and mango, Ruiz will ask if you want to add chamoy and tajin because the flavors complement the nieves. Try the nieves on their own, but the added toppings introduce a bit of salt and heat, mixing perfectly with the slight modest sweetness—a must-try.