Today’s Special: Duda’s Hawaiian Shave Ice

A chilled sweet taste of Hawaii has hit Chapel Street just in time for the summer heat — and to help a local business survive the pandemic with a new passion (fruit) lure.

That taste is of Hawaiian Shave Ice, which has debuted this past week at Book Trader Cafe at 1140 Chapel.

Bookstore-cafe owner David Duda got the idea for the dish while dealing with a decline in business due to the pandemic and reminiscing about a dreamy Hawaii family vacation.

Duda, who is 58, recently showed this reporter how the cafe makes the treat with authentic Hawaiian flavors. 

He started with filling a cup with a handful of mixed berries, which are then concealed with a first round of about a half cup of shave ice. 

Duda rounded off the fine shavings with a few gentle pats to solidify the treat’s form. Before a second round of shavings, Duda’s recipe called for a sprinkling of ​“something fun” in the middle — candy strings of fruity licorice. 

He then added a second half-cup serving of ice shavings and rounded it into a baseball-sized icee. 

Duda ordered a variety of 20 Hawaiian syrups that boost a menu of more than a dozen flavors and combinations. 

He dressed the treat with a combination of the two of his favorite syrups: Blue Hawaiian (coconut/vanilla) and Lilikoi (passion fruit). Then topped it with the ​“Hawaiian touch,” also known as Li-Hing Mui powder. 

“The salt and licorice add a real interesting zing to the sweetness of the syrups,” he noted. 

The inspiration for the treat dates back six years ago, when Duda was on the family vacation to Hawaii. Duda and his two daughters had a dose of authentic Hawaiian shave ice everyday for an entire week. 

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when Book Trader closed for six months, Duda remembered that shave ice and decided to bring a piece of Hawaii to New Haven. 

In partnership with his close friend and hairdresser Susan Monahan, Duda began doing research into how to bring the treat to New Haven authentically and with some ​“Aloha spirit.” Duda defined the term as showing love, peace, and mindfulness toward others and the environment. 

“After Covid, I think, we can all use a little more of that,” he said. ​“If this shave ice makes people a little happier and they’re nice to other people, that would be a wonderful bonus.”

Monahan and Duda spent two years learning about ice-shaving machines, recipes, and importing Hawaiian syrups. 

The duo are also learning how to make their own fresh fruit syrups to come up with more flavor combinations. As of Friday the cafe introduced its first fruit-infused ice called Mangonada, which is a creamy mango ice (no syrup needed) with tajin mango chunks and a flautirriko straw. 

The menu also includes; Lilikoi passion fruit, Blue Hawaii coconut vanilla, watermelon, Passion, Orange, Guava (P.O.G), Li-Hing Gummy Bear, strawberry, lemon-lime, Ube Purple Yam, Vanilla, Red Li-Hing Crack Seed Plum, Black Currant, Pickled mango, Hawaiian Dream- Passion Citrus. 

The treats can include mixed berries, fruity licorice, and Li-Hing Powder added or as toppings.

New Haveners can pick up the shave ice treat with two flavors for $4 at the cafe. Most (though not all flavors) will be available everyday, and substitutes will be introduced often, Duda said. 

Monahan, who argues that everything should have a little candy in it, continues to work with Duda to add to the shave ice menu and get creative with flavor options. 

Soon Duda plans to offer sugar free syrups and sweeteners like monkfruit for the cool treats. As well as espresso drink shave iced like lattes and chais.

Sitting Friday afternoon outside on the Book Trader patio, Yale student Zaporah Price, 21, caught sight of the cold fruity treat being appreciated by this reporter and Duda. 

“Where’d you get that?” Price asked. 

“Right inside! Hawaiian shave ice,” Duda answered. 

Within minutes Price returned to her table with a strawberry-flavored shave ice treat. 

An hour later, Price had eaten all the ice she could before it melted into a red syrup and water concoction.

“It was perfect for a hot day,” she said. ​“I wasn’t expecting this when I got to Book Trader. I was more expecting a chai.” 

She added that she loved the surprise of mixed berries and ​“lots of textures” like the fruit, ice, and Li-Hing Mui powder. Price said she plans to try another flavor the next time the weather gets warm. 

Additionally this reporter delivered a Hawaiian shave ice treat to her younger brother, Neco McFadden, 22. 

“That shit was good. I liked the fruit at the bottom and the little candies in there was a good tart flavor,” Neco reported. He added that the treat tasted like a bite of the Rupert Holmes song ​“Escape.”

Duda came to the New Haven 30 years ago from Philadelphia, where he previously managed restaurants and several used bookstores. 

Next year will be the used bookstore’s 25th year of being open. During its first year, it started with a staff of six. 

Over the years, Duda said, the cafe has had to change only slightly in response to new business competitors and when ​“Amazon took away the book business.” (Click here to read a story about a party held on the store’s 20th anniversary and its community of regular patrons.)

Duda opened the cafe at 1140 Chapel St. after the space had been vacant for three to four years. He said he first imagined it having only the used books, coffee, and pastries. 

“Twenty-five years ago, you could make a living selling books. Not anymore,” he observed. ​“There were five other used bookstores in town when we opened,” and the others eventually closed.

The cafe eventually had to expand its food menu to keep afloat. 

“Food has kept us around for at least for the last 15 years, if not more,” he said. 

Since its start, the bookstore’s cafe has been supported by the academic community, Duda said. The store offers a free book to any child who visits ​“as long as they promise to read it.” 

The addition of shave ice to the menu calls for the cafe to make dozens of 9‑inch-by-6-inch ice blocks that must each freeze for 48 hours. The cafe has purchased a Hatsuyuki ice-shaving machine and an additional freezer to store the ice, and has had to make room for bulk orders of syrups imported from Hawaii. Duda has spent this year training all of the cafe employees in making the treats.

The cafe staff is learning to make the fruit syrups because ​“you can’t count on supply chains,” Duda said. 

When Book Trader closed its doors for several months in 2020, online book sales picked up. Even after it reopened, fewer students were around, which hurt business.

This year, Duda said, the business is ​“approaching normalcy.“

Inside Book Trader, visitors are welcomed by dozens of bookshelves to the left, a temporary lined floor of boxes filled with textbooks that were recently sold to the store, and the cafe front counter, where customers can order from a menu of sandwiches like the popular ​“Tempesto” and ​“Jane Eyre,” which ​“put my kids through college,” Duda said. There is also a growing menu of side salads. 

The book section offers an esoteric selection of titles in genres ranging from philosophy, art, architecture, drama, cult fiction, history, and poetry.

Duda is currently the only staff member who manages the bookstore. Depending on the season, the cafe staff can be made up of 12 – 18 people. Currently it has 14 employees, half of whom are students. 

As a result of the pandemic’s effect on businesses, Duda is looking to sell his Guilford home and move to New Haven by the end of the summer. His home houses 15,000 books, which make up part of the cafe’s online inventory.

“I haven’t really made anything in the last couple of years,” Duda said. He said he averages working 100 – 110 hours a week and takes about one day off a month. And, as the new shave ice menu demonstrates, he never stops going on all in to keep it fresh.