Las Delicias Downtown
714 Harkrider St, Conway, AR 72032The one with the patio and the pink umbrellas. Open until ten on Friday and Saturday.
Our Story
From Chicago to Conway
We make paletas, ice cream, and mangonadas at 3 shops in Arkansas, two in Conway and one in Russellville. Everything in the freezer case is made in the shop.
Three of us own it: Francisco Yanez, Samuel Ramirez, and Blanca Ramirez. Samuel and Blanca are married.
Chicago
Growing up around paleterias
Francisco and Samuel both grew up around Chicago paleterias. There is one on the corner and another one down the street, and you go after school, after church, on the way home from anywhere. Paletas were just part of the neighborhood.
Conway is where we ended up, and we liked it here. The thing we kept missing was a paleteria.
Old Morrilton Highway
The first shop
The first Las Delicias opened at 1815 Old Morrilton Highway, Suite 103. Permits came first, then the renovation, then a freezer case with nothing in it yet.
Word got around. The families who already knew what a mangonada was came first, and they brought everybody else.
Conway
Learning the trade
Before anything went in the case, Francisco and Samuel took a course in making paletas and came home with the certificates. Every recipe on the board starts there.
The paletas are still made by hand, one mold at a time, and so is the ice cream. We cut the fruit, fill the molds, and wrap the finished paletas.
Russellville
Opening in Russellville
Las Delicias Russellville is at 2005 North Arkansas Avenue. Students come in at night, and Sunday afternoon belongs to families with strollers. The recipes and the routine are the same as in Conway.
Harkrider Street
The shop on Harkrider Street
The building at 714 Harkrider used to be a service station. We bought it, and under the pink paint it still has the old bones. Getting it open took more setbacks than we planned for.
On opening day the whole block was out on the sidewalk. When people say Las Delicias now, this is usually the shop they mean. We still run all three shops the way we ran the first one, making everything here and serving the flavors we grew up with in Chicago.
After school
School lets out and twenty minutes later there is a line of backpacks at the counter. Ice cream first, then whatever anybody has left to spend.
We run fundraiser nights for schools and churches, and paletas go out to nonprofit events. The push cart goes out for birthdays and quinceañeras.
First jobs
The team is students, parents, and neighbors from both towns. Some of them have never held a job before this one.
New hires start on the register and learn the freezer case and the mangonada build from there.
The Russellville team inside the shop.
3
shops open in Arkansas
2
towns, Conway and Russellville
52
things on the menu boards
7
days a week
Three places to find us
Come by any of them. The freezer case is full at all three, and somebody at the counter will tell you what is good today.
Las Delicias Conway OG
1815 Old Morrilton Hwy Suite 103, Conway, AR 72032The first shop, on the Old Morrilton Highway side of town.
Las Delicias Russellville
2005 N Arkansas Ave, Russellville, AR 72802Opens at noon. Students and River Valley families for most of the day.
Come by.
Harkrider Street runs until nine most nights and until ten on Friday and Saturday.