Most people don”™t include nitrogen as part of their daily diet, but this unlikely ingredient is part of the menu at Sugar Rush USA, a new family-owned ice cream shop that recently opened in Shelton.
According to Ali Nasufi, who co-founded the business with his brother Flamur, liquid nitrogen is used to flash-freeze some of the ice cream offerings. Nasufi offered assurances that this unlikely ingredient is safe to consume when it is properly applied to the creamy desserts.
“You can”™t let it over freeze,” he explained. “If you go under the extreme, it is just going to be mush and all watery. The tablets that we use for the machines themselves and for the nitrogen is all controlled ”” it tells you specifically how much you”™re going to need, so everything is measured.”
Nasufi”™s liquid nitrogen is at negative 320 degrees before it can be used to flash freeze the ice cream and flavors that are created in-house. Computer tablets control the machines, thus ruling out the potential for human error, although the only thing beyond Nasufi”™s control is the fluctuating price of this special commodity.
“It is not usually expensive to buy,” he said, noting that the business also has to cover the cost of the tanks and hoses required for this culinary application.
Nasufi said Sugar Rush USA fulfilled a longstanding goal of opening a dessert-oriented retail shop.
“My family”™s been in the food industry for a little over 45 years and we”™ve been in the restaurant since I was about 11 years old,” he said. “It”™s always something we did and always something we had a passion to do.”
Coming from the restaurant industry, Nasufi was aware that Sugar Rush USA”™s selection needed to stand out with a wider variety of selections. Soft-serve, ice cream sandwiches and scooped ice cream cones share the menu with the nitrogen selections, and toppings run a wild range from nature”™s bounty (bananas, walnuts, peanuts) to old-school snack favorites (M&Ms, sliced Butter Fingers bars, gummy bears) to beloved childhood breakfast cereals. Ice cream is also scooped into the establishment”™s selection of crepes and stuffed doughnuts.
“We had to make sure the menu was big enough to satisfy all of our customers,” he continued. “We wanted to make sure that they could get a little bit of everything. If six, seven or 10 people come in, one may like soft serve, one may like to scoop and one likes the nitrogen. We had to make sure that we took care of all of them ”” we don”™t have everything on the menu, but we plan to put a lot more on the menu to serve more people.”
Sugar Rush USA opened last month at 901 Bridgeport Ave. in a new shopping center developed by R.D. Scinto, with Nasufi admitting he “fell in love with the space.” And despite the trauma that many eateries have experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic, Nasufi intentionally avoided naysayers who might have questioned a new food trade business at this time.
“The truth is that we didn”™t talk to anybody about whether we should open or not,” he said, noting the planning was strictly a family affair. “We just discussed amongst each other and said, ”˜Hey, if you”™re ready, I”™m ready. You want to do it? Let”™s do it.”™
“Because you have to understand something,”™” he added. “You”™re going to get positive and negative feedback. And we didn”™t want that.”
As for looking forward, Nasufi is not currently entertaining thoughts about creating additional locations for this concept.
“We don”™t know what the future is going to bring,” he said. “People love this and they tell us, ”˜Hey, come to my town or come to my city.”™ That would be phenomenal and that”™s the dream, but as of right now we are fully 100% focused on this one and this one only.”
