Locally owned dessert shop dishes out organic Italian ice 
Move over, Yoghut. There's a new dessert place in town.
Paradise Ice, owned by Jessica and Joe Kastner, is now offering organic and locally produced fare that claims to be healthier and tastier than frozen yogurt and other sugary competitors.
Six months ago, the two Northerners set up shop on Main Street with the desire to bring a Philly favorite to the famously hot city. Italian ice, or "water ice" (pronounced "wooter," if you want to say it correctly), is the norm for dessert patrons north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
"I tell people it's like a top-of-the-line Popsicle ground up," Joe Kastner said, sitting in the store and making a grinding motion with his hands.
"Up North, that's just what we eat up there," Jessica Kastner said matter-of-factly. "When we moved [to Columbia] I thought, 'I can't believe they don't have any water ice down here!' It kind of blew my mind ... and Rita's doesn't count."
Rita's Water Ice, once a locally owned Italian ice and frozen custard provider to Philadelphians in the '80s, is now a mega franchise with more than 500 stores churning out the scoopable refreshment.
"I remember it being so good when it first opened up, but the bigger it got the lousier it got," Jessica Kastner said sadly, as if Rita were a friend who had lost her way in the world.
Now, Joe Kastner said, the product "basically frozen chemical water."
An emphasis on healthy, simple ingredients — ones you can actually pronounce — are what set Paradise Ice apart, the Kastners said. Their conscious effort to go organic and buy responsibly is a point of pride. If it's not handmade in the store, it's purchased from local vendors, like honey from Rosewood Market, custard mix from Big Moon Farm in Leesville, peaches from James Sease farm in Lexington and Turtle Creek Coffee from a one-man roaster in Columbia.
The result is a product made good by good ingredients. The Italian ice is smooth and airy, while the custard they also sell is creamy and satisfying. There are standard flavors like lemon ice and chocolate custard, as well as oddities like cucumber-chili ice and custard with Adluh grits in it.
"We try and do different flavors," Jessica Kastner said. "Because we make it here, we can make whatever we want. If you're looking for something different, you'll find it here."
Before "here" was Paradise Ice, the space was Tots to Teens, a children's clothing store with pink and yellow walls and a not-so-matching dark green carpet. And for two people with backgrounds in architecture and interior design, it was a hot mess.
Now, the Kastners' personalities are stamped on every aspect of the store. Jessica took the photographs that hang on the lime green walls (which she and Joe painted), and Joe made the frames. They made the modern-looking lights and picked out the black tables and chairs to complement the rest of the decor.
"When you're walking in, you're seeing us," Jessica Kastner said.
The bottom line is putting out a perfect product in a perfect environment, hence the name Paradise.
"Our product is good," Joe Kastner said. "We don't have to cover anything up. You shouldn't have to put toppings on something to cover up a bad product."
But Yoghut lovers have their own healthy defense. Frozen yogurt has live and active cultures, which are in essence good bacteria necessary for the body to function at its best, according to Yoghut owner Shafen Kahn. And most of the store's flavors are fat free.
By a purely caloric comparison, however, Italian ice has about 60 calories per half-cup serving, almost half the calories in a half-cup serving of low-fat frozen yogurt, which contains 107 calories, according to the Department of Agriculture's National Nutrient Database.
But for some students, some healthy ingredients are better than no healthy ingredients.
"[Frozen yogurt] feels healthy; I can put fruit on it," said first-year public relations student Olivia Brocato.
Others said they'll stick to water ice.
"Frozen yogurt tastes like dyed ice cream to me," said first-year public relations student Rixey Moore. "Italian ice is more refreshing."