Coconut Grove Park – A Cool Drink on a Hot Day in Coconut Grove

Updated 21 May 2019

Food Trucks in Coconut Grove

Food trucks are all the rage today, but anyone who knows Coconut Grove knows that they started the trend way back in 1978. That’s right; for thirty-four years people have flocked to our lovely Coconut Grove Park – Kennedy Park to slurp down a frozen lemonade at A.C.’s Icee’s.

Although A.C.’s is an institution, it remains a food truck. You can find it parked on in the North Parking lot of Kennedy Park, just off South Bayshore Drive. It is surrounded by respite shade from a group of trees, but shade is never good enough to cool one down on a hot Miami afternoon in the summer. You will almost always find a short line waiting to served at A.C.’s. That’s a good sign. When people line up, you know it’s worth it.

The best lemonade in Coconut Grove

The menu is limited to a few drinks and hotdogs for the hungry folks. Most people come for their signature frozen lemonade. A.C.’s frozen lemonade is the perfect balance of sweet and tart. It’s not sour enough to make you pucker, but it’s also not cloyingly sweet. For such a simple beverage, you’d think everyone could get the recipe right, but that’s not the case. A.C. certainly has the right touch.

As far as temperature goes, the frozen lemonade is the icy slushy that you’d expect. This is perfect to cool down the body or quench thirst, but be careful. There is usually someone off to the side agonizing over brain-freeze. You simply have to exercise a little control.

As you wait for your treat in this shaded Coconut Grove Park, you can get a perfect glimpse of Grove life. You will probably meet a cyclist just back from his ride to Key Biscayne. Families playing at the park are bound to buy drinks too. A few school children will most likely be gossiping about the inner workings of middle school as you wait. And you will probably overhear longtime Coconut Grove residents chat about A.C.’s

“I’ve been coming here since my mom used to give me an allowance on Fridays,” recalls a man dressed in business attire.

“They haven’t changed the recipe in thirty years,” piped in an older gentleman, dressed in jeans and tank top.

“It’s a mom and pop operation,” a fashionable girl in her twenties adds. “That’s what the Grove is all about.”