Mexicandy brightens up downtown Riverhead with frozen desserts and street food

Christopher Aguilar was visiting Brooklyn one day in 2020 when he spotted a long line of people waiting for a street vendor.

What had formed this large crowd during a pandemic? Traditional Mexican ice cream — made within a salt barrel. 

Aguilar and his then-girlfriend Roset had an idea. “We should do that,” he recalled both of them saying to each other.  

When they returned to Riverhead, they decided to do a trial run out of his home. “I told her… if we sell 10 cups, we did something.”

They ended up selling 50 on the first day, he said. 

That day, Paleteria Mexicandy was born.

“I ended up selling 50 cups a day through word of mouth,” Aguilar said. “And then it just grew and grew and grew. It was a little home-based operation. On the weekend, I would have three employees plus me and we’d just do hundreds of hundreds of mangonadas a day.” The popular Mexican treat blends the sweetness of mango with the sourness of lime and the spice of chilies. 

Since the summer of 2020, Aguilar, 25, has grown his local clientele, grown his menu, and grown his skills as an ice cream maker and an entrepreneur. Last month, what started as a side gig officially became a storefront shop in the Riverview Lofts apartment building on the corner of East Main Street and McDermott Avenue.

“I’ve always lived here, so I knew I wanted to open up here,” Aguilar said, referring to Riverhead. “This is my people. I figured the first store should always be here, where I started.”

Customers walking into Mexicandy are greeted with a logo of a cartoon mango in a sombrero holding a mangonada and a piñas locas. Custom ice cream carts, plastic ice cream cones and posters of ice cream bars make it clear to any unknowing person walking by what the store is all about.

“I’ve always been an entrepreneurial person thanks to my parents,” Aguilar said. “They’ve always had little small businesses and things. So they always told me… you got to do something.”

All the frozen desserts are homemade, Aguilar said. He learned how to make the ice cream during trips to Mexico — his parents’ home country — where he has taken courses and received training from friends who own ice cream shops. 

Unique flavors like fruity pebbles, rompope (an eggnog-like drink) and cinnamon toast sit next to classic and fruit flavors at the store. Aguilar prides himself on the originality.

“You can’t find the flavors we have anywhere else,” he said. “You can’t go down the street and say, oh, can I get a Mexican Twinkie ice cream? You can’t because they just don’t even know what it is. You can’t go down the street and say, oh, can I get a mazapan? Which is a very famous Mexican candy.”

One of Aguilar’s personal favorites are the crepes, which are cone shaped and allow people to add ice cream on top.

He drives out of state for some products offered at the store, he said, including specialty salsa verde Tostitos chips for making tostilocos, a popular Mexican street food where the chips are topped with various ingredients like cucumber, lime and pork rinds. 

Besides tostilocos, Mexicandy serves a variety of other popular Mexican street foods like churros, elotes (Mexican street corn), chicharrón preparado and nachos. For those looking for a lighter dessert, or just a refreshing beverage, Mexicandy offers fruit-flavored aguas frescas and michelaguas.

“We try to do a lot. We’re very customizable,” Aguilar said. “Whatever the customer wants, I’ll give to them. I’m very open to any ideas from anybody. That’s why I like my clientele to be very diverse.” 

“It’s not just for the Hispanics, it’s for everybody,” he said. “We have a lot of Asian customers, we have a lot of Caucasian, Black [customers]. Everybody’s been very welcoming. I want to give off that welcoming vibe.” 

When Roset, Aguilar’s girlfriend, died suddenly at 21 on Christmas Day 2020, he almost gave up their dream to open the store. Through the encouragement of his mother and his sister Frida, who also works in the store, he decided to leave his job in construction and open the business. “Thanks to them, I’m here,” he said.