Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
A favorite spot in Nashville is Las Paletas which make specialty Mexican style popsicles called paletas in an unsigned shop located in a small shopping center building in an up and coming neighborhood of East Nashville. Secretly tucked in among emerging day spas, yoga centers, bars, and restaurants, two Mexican sisters are quietly making extremely tasty frozen treats.
In the Case
The shop is fairly small with just a cash register, two chest freezers with neatly stacked paletas, and a chalkboard showing available flavors. The paletas come in two basic categories: cream based, which are more similar to ice cream, and fruit juice based, which are more similar to a standard popsicle. The flavors rotate and change constantly, though there are definitely some more standard flavors available. Some of the cream based varieties included peanut butter chocolate chip, creamy lime, and avocado while the fruit based varieties included tamarind with chile, hibiscus, and strawberry banana. The prices aren’t posted, but popsicles run $2.50 each which seems to be a little expensive until you actually bite into one.
Creamy Lime and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
I began with a peanut butter chocolate chip. The consistency was similar to a very well made fudgesicle. The peanut butter flavor was very smooth and present without being overly powerful, there were no chunks of peanut butter or nuts noticeable. The mini chocolate chips were scattered throughout the bar and were just the right size. The resulting combination was the perfect balanced blend of peanut butter and chocolate. Everybody got their own paleta and we ended up doing a lot of sharing around. The tamarind chile was probably the strangest mostly because there was salt added so the flavor was a salty, sour, spicy blend, likely a more acquired taste, but probably a little too potent for a full-sized bar. Creamy lime was a big hit, the lime being just sour enough for good flavor without being overpowering, like a very well made limeade, simple, but delicious. Avocado was a cream based paleta that was nicely creamy but with a very understated avocado flavor. Not bad, but not extremely flavorful. Our friend David got the last Mexican caramel variety and this cream based paleta was a well balanced version of a dulce de leche flavor, a little sweet, but with enough caramel taste shining through. I was a little jealous of his purchase.
In the Case
Some other flavors that our group got were chocolate raspberry (cream based), chocolate chile (cream based), and blueberry chocolate chip (cream based). The chocolate varieties were a more interesting version of a fudgesicle with the spicy chocolate being a nice twist; the blueberry chocolate chip was similar to the peanut butter chocolate chip, replacing the peanut butter for a blueberry puree, not a bad flavor, but not quite as amazing as others. Hibiscus was a fruit based paleta and ended up being quite sour. It was tasty and unconventional, but a little difficult to finish in its entirety so it was saved in the freezer. In general, I liked the cream based paletas better mostly because they tended to have a smoother consistency. The fruit based paletas had an icier texture and while not bad, weren’t up to the same level as the cream based.
I would love for Los Paletas to have mini paletas available, perhaps even in suggested 3 pack combos. That way, you could get a nice variety of flavors without having to eat too many popsicles or allow you to indulge in some of the stronger and more exotic flavors without needing to share or save your popsicle for later.
The sisters had a throwdown with Bobby Flay and ended up beating him. They clearly know what they are doing. If you find yourself in Nashville, you have to visit. In fact, I am trying to fight the urge to figure out how to mail order them, if it is even possible.
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