A Story of Açaí

“Today I went to pick up my 14  year old daughter from school and she asked to get an acai bowl on the way home. I had no idea what an acai bowl was.  I asked her to explain what acai was and why did she want it for her afterschool snack? She explained that her friend just had one on Mulberry St., NYC in Little Italy.. Her friend told her that acai has a unique berry taste with in her words “some chocolateness”.  After my daughter begged the whole way home, I caved in and searched google for the closest acai bowl shop. A place called Baya Bar on Amboy Rd. right here in Staten Island came up. We walked into a bright and colorful location, the worker was very patient with us while ordering and actually explained what acai was and the benefits. She told us that acai is a berry that grows on palm trees in Brazil.  We learned that raw acai contains a very low amount of sugar and can help brain function. I thought to myself, wow sounds like the perfect afterschool snack, there has to be a downside. But the employee continued to say how 99% of acai that is sold in bowl shops/juice bars use artificial sweetener to cut down the chalkiness of the acai, but Baya Bar instead uses a small amount of organic cane sugar. This gave me peace of mind as my daughter and I dislike stevia! After studying the beautiful chalkboard menus, my daughter ordered a Pacific Beach, an acai bowl with granola, coconut flakes, strawberries, blueberries and organic honey and I ordered an Acai-u-later, an acai bowl with granola, banana, strawberry, pineapple and honey. We sat outside in front of the store on these hot pink picnic benches underneath a palm tree and enjoyed our bowls. We definitely will be stopping here on the way home from school again!”

– New Baya Bar Customer