New Italian ice shop opens in Bluffton. Here’s the scoop on the location and flavors
A new dessert shop is open in Bluffton’s Berkeley Place near the Cinemark theater.
Sunset Slush of Hilton Head started serving up Italian ice by the cup, pint and quart Oct. 1 in the Buckwalter Parkway location that formerly was home for Scoops Cafe ice cream shop.
“It’s just something a little different for everybody,” said Mike Owens, general manager of the Sunset Slush location. “It’s classic Italian ice. It’s not like ice cream. ... It’s not like a snow cone.”
Italian ice, or granita, is something of a hybrid with the fruity flavors of a snow cone but the smooth texture of ice cream.
“There’s a lot of folks who are lactose intolerant, so they can’t do desserts with milk,” Owens said. That makes Italian ice ideal as a family treat.
Bluffton’s Sunset Slush has 32 individual flavors and 22 potential swirl combinations. The menu includes the standard fruit flavors a customer might expect, such as grape, lemon and strawberry, but also offers iced coffee, pina colada, “crazy cinnamon” and root beer.
Swirls typically include two or three flavors, but some include more. OMG swirls raspberry, peach and tangerine, while Birthday Cake has blue vanilla, cotton candy, almond and eggnog flavors, for example.
Customers are invited to ask for a sample of any flavor they’d like to try before committing to a larger serving.
A small cup is $4 and a medium is $5. Pints are $10 and quarts are $14. A refillable “koozie” cup is not available now but will be later.
Hours at the Bluffton shop are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Previously, there was a Sunset Slush franchise operated by a different owner on Hilton Head.
A separate franchise in the Beaufort area, which has been owned by Howard Hook and his family for more than seven years, operates a Sunset Slush shop at Suite 8A-1 Market St. in Habersham and offers a mobile pushcart for local events. The Beaufort shop’s hours are 3 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 3 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Owens’ son-in-law Mike Hammer, who is owner of the Bluffton shop with his wife Marleigh Hammer, said they may add gelatti at their shop later.
Said Hammer: “Right now we are keeping it simple.”
