Cool Off
192-11 Linden Blvd., St. Albans

Cuisine: Italian Ices

Hours: 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday.
Closed Sunday.

Phone: 525-6188

With the passing of (a rainy) Labor Day weekend and the first day of school, it would be a major act of redundancy for anyone to declare that summer is over.

What goes less noticed these days, however, are the good works of local residents trying to keep the hot season alive.

There are those who refuse to put away their shorts and T-shirts, baring cool gusts in denial of the low temperatures to come, until hypothermia starts to There are those who just won’t put away the grill, which served guests at outdoor parties so faithfully during sunnier, warmer days, but will soon act as a furnace to huddle near as much as something to cook meat on.

And then there is Rex Frett, the St. Albans ice man who just opened an Italian ice shop, Cool Off, and has no plans of pulling back anytime soon.

Cool Off, at 192-11 Linden Blvd., serves 25 flavors of Italian ice, ordered weekly from that Queens ice-stitution, The Lemon Ice King of Corona.

The ices are just like those in Paul Simon’s old haunt—soft but cold, with chunks of real fruit inside and, to the delight of ice purists everywhere, not a hint of cream.  The most popular flavors, Frett said, are cherry, “Rainbow 2002” and mango.  Banana, lemon, coconut, watermelon and pineapple also sell well.

Rainbow 2002 is a variation on an ice classic; in addition to the expected mix of cherry, lemon and, in Frett’s words, “mystery blue,” the dated rainbow also has an ingredient he calls “kiwi cotton candy.”  The ice tastes, well, just like kiwi cotton candy.

Frett’s personal favorite, he said, is fruit cocktail, a sweet and refreshing mix that has hints of rosewater and includes chunks of all the fruits found in the typical can of fruit cocktail.

Frett doesn’t have anything against cream ices, like those found at Ralph’s Italian Ices and at some individually owned bakeries.  In fact, he loves Ralph’s cremalatta, and originally applied to open a Ralph’s where he is now.  His application was rejected, though, forcing the man with the regal name to turn to The Lemon Ice King instead.

The ices are available in sizes ranging from a two-scoop mini-cup ($0.75) to a seven-scoop bowl ($3.50).  A two-gallon bucket, for $30, is also available for anyone with a serious need for ice.  The most popular size, Frett said, is the four-scoop bowl ($2).

Cool Off, which opened in late June, will be supplementing its cold offerings with sandwiches and coffee starting in October.  The shop will also stay open a half-hour extra, until 8 p.m.

Frett, a minister who was born in the British Virgin Island of Tortola and grew up in St. Thomas, didn’t acquire the space where Cool Off is, a tiny storefront with a counter and standing room for six, to open an ice shop.  He originally acquired the space for his two businesses, BVI Limosine and BVI Ambulette, both named after the place he hails from.

“I was going to do my ice business in the BVI,” Frett said, “but we had some extra space in this office and thought that this would be beautiful for this neighborhood.”

Frett, whose wife helps at the shop and even painted the bright portraits of smiling ices on the walls, takes a lot of pride in his storefront business and still hopes to expand to the British Virgin Islands, where the weather, it’s said, can be little better for a year-round ice business.  In the meantime, the friendly Frett will be braving the cold weather in his ice-cum-ambulette-cum-limosine shop and office, serving several needs with cool ease and warm hospitality.