Ice cream in chicago

[BPBNY]

Where are the best dessert spots or place to get ice cream in chicago. We are visiting tomorrow through thursday and have all our dinners planned but we are looking for good sweet treat place as well. Any suggestions?

[Alex]

If you have a car, try Bellezza Gelato Caffe. Or, closer to downtown, and easily reachable by bus (but not train) is Black Dog Gelato. (Their URL, blackdoggelato.com, goes to a pharmaceutical web site.) There's also Bobtail Ice Cream, by the fountain in Grant Park.

[jesteinf]

I go to Bobtail sometimes because there's a location right by where I live. I went yesterday and got some peach ice cream (billed as a "seasonal" flavor) which was incredibly disappointing. Just tasted like plain vanilla with a few tasteless fruit chunks mixed in. I've had better luck when sticking with just the basic chocolate.

[BPBNY]

hmmm... are there any awesome dessert bars in the area? Inventive pastry creations?

[KD1191]

Margie's Candies (2 locations: 1960 N. Western Ave & 1813 W. Montrose Ave) is an old-fashioned soda and ice cream shop. They have fantastic hot fudge, and I'm quite fond of the pistachio ice cream.

Mindy Segal's work at Hot Chocolate (1747 N. Damen Ave) is rightly praised, and the place is usually packed. If you can't get into the restaurant, you can try her work in the form of the toppings for soft-serve at Bill Kim's Belly Shack (1912 N Western Ave), where the Vietnamese Cinnamon Caramel is probably the best caramel I've tasted.

ETA: I believe reservations can be made at Tru for dessert (PDF link).

Edited July 3, 2010 by KD1191 (log)

[KD1191]

hmmm... are there any awesome dessert bars in the area? Inventive pastry creations?

I've heard good things about Fritz Pastry (1408 W. Diversey).

[allenkelson]

Terrific, little-known place in Skokie (1/2 hr north of Loop) owned by Filipinos that make great ice cream with conventional and Philippine flavors, such as halo-halo, yams, various indiginous fruits. On Oakton St about 2 blocks east of Skokie Blvd.

[BPBNY]

That all sounds AWESOME thanks so much!!!

[iguana]

My 5-year-old and I enthusiastically recommend Scooter's Frozen Custard in the Roscoe Village Neighborhood:

http://www.scootersfrozencustard.com/

Also, I believe the place in Skokie mentioned upthread is the Village Creamery. It is also excellent, but a bit of a schlep unless you are driving that way-- I wouldn't make a special trip, especially if you are closer to Scooters.

http://www.villagecreamery.com/

I've not tried this one, but my trustworthy sources (the amazing Chicago food board LTH Forum) recommend Mario's Italian Lemonade:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=14837

BPBNY, where will you be staying or hanging out? Chicago is kind of spread out....

Jen

Edited July 4, 2010 by iguana (log)

[Judith Gebhart]

Just recently went to Black Dog Gelato located at 869 N Damen (2000 West). It has the most creative, delicious gelato I have tasted anywhere. Sampled many flavors; the Chevre caramel cashew gelato was heavenly. Run, walk, bus or drive there and take cash! They recently opened and only take cash. You will be thrilled. Judith Gebhart

[BPBNY]

BPBNY, where will you be staying or hanging out? Chicago is kind of spread out....

Jen

We will be staying at hotel blake in ???south loop??? Not sure whats around here that two mid-twenties with culinary careers would find interesting. We just got in an hour ago. We are dining at alinea tonight, tru tomorrow night for desserts only and schwa tuesday. Then i am doing a two day trail at Alinea wed. and thurs which will take up the entire day wed and thurs. We have our nights planned just not a cheap dinner tomorrow night before dessert at tru and all of our days today tomorrow and tuesday.

[Judith Gebhart]

Recently visited the new Black Dog Gelato shop located at 869 N. Damen, the talented owners offer a thrilling array of unique flavors. We sampled many and every bite was better than we've had anywhere else. The chevre caramel cashew was the best I have ever tasted; the flavor combinations are complex, different and all sublime.

So run, walk, drive or bus to experience the incomparable gelato flavors and bring cash. Recently opened they currently take only cash. You will be delighted. Judith Gebhart

[iguana]

The south loop is quite close to Taylor Street, then Black Dog is probably your next closest. Scooter's is closer to Alinea. Judith, I will have to check out Black Dog-- it sounds great!

Jen

[nsxtasy]

First of all, the best local place to get a sweet treat is Garrett's Popcorn. They have caramel popcorn (with or without cashews or pecans), cheese popcorn, or a mix of the two. Several locations in the Loop and one on Michigan Avenue, also at O'Hare.

For pastries, here are my favorites. Fox & Obel is our premier gourmet food store, and has some of the best baked goods in the city, including breads as well as pastries. Don't miss their rich cinnamon swirl rolls.

Vanille has terrific entremets and also great croissants. Their bakery on Clybourn may be inconvenient from downtown, but they also have a booth at the new French Market in the train station on the west side of the Loop.

Two other great places for pastry are on the north side in Andersonville, just down the block from each other. Swedish Bakery has great Swedish pastries (I love their marzariners, and they do nice things with marzipan like their roll cakes, available in individual slices too). Pasticceria Natalina has great Sicilian pastries.

There are two other dessert "experiences" I recommend. The Lobby in the Peninsula has their "Chocolate Bar", an all-you-can-eat buffet of chocolate-based desserts, but it's Friday and Saturday nights so unfortunately you missed it for this visit. TRU offers a dessert tasting that's pretty special. If you're not having dinner there and you would prefer not to wear the business attire (e.g. jackets for gentlemen) required in the dining room, you can be seated in the lounge and get the dessert tasting; if you do this, make your reservation by phone, not on Opentable.

For artisanal chocolates, the best in the area is up in Evanston, at Belgian Chocolatier Piron. More convenient to downtown is Canady le Chocolatier, with its main shop in the South Loop and a booth in the French Market. And Vosges Chocolate has a couple of shops and is pretty darn good too.

Edited July 5, 2010 by nsxtasy (log)

[Judith Gebhart]

Hello Jen: I apologize for the double posting. I am acknowledging also that for ICE CREAM Vognes has an outstanding product which I wholeheartedly endorse. Vognes has been around in NY and elsewhere for some time. Black Dog gelato is a new and different product for the Chicago market.

I must add that, the NY TIMES magazine article of July 4th, raved about the ice cream products of Jake Godby, of San Fransisco who mans the Humphrey Slocombe ice cream parlor. He is as talented as Black Dog gelato's chef IMO.

He, however, is an ice cream maker, not a gelato expert. They both see the endless offers that can be achieved with both these frozen desserts.

For those that are afficionados of great frozen desserts, read the NY Times article of: I'll Take A Scoop of Prosciutto, Please. Read it and compare it with the talent of Black Dog gelato. Both frozen dessert makers are producing memorable products. Judith Gebhart

[ronnie_suburban]

Terrific, little-known place in Skokie (1/2 hr north of Loop) owned by Filipinos that make great ice cream with conventional and Philippine flavors, such as halo-halo, yams, various indiginous fruits. On Oakton St about 2 blocks east of Skokie Blvd.

Village Creamery, 2 locations, neither particularly close to the city:

8000 North Waukegan Road

Niles, IL 60714-3031

(847) 965-9805

4558 Oakton Street

Skokie, IL 60076-3144

(847) 982-1720

Village Creamery

=R=

[The Food Buster]

I'm going to second a couple of recommendations. First, Margie's Candies is indeed incredible for an ice cream sundae. While the ice cream isn't the best I've had, the fudge is superb, and their ice cream sundaes are so gigantic that they'd easily feed 2 people (and for about $5 no less!).

Also, I love the chocolates at Vosges Haut Chocolat. If you go into the actual store, though, you'll also be treated to some cafe style chocolate treats. The hot chocolate is great and the Red Fire ice cream, based on their very spicy Mexican and Ancho chile-infused chocolate bar, is even better. Plus, you can try the whole line of chocolates while you're there.

[nsxtasy]

The other day the Chicago Tribune published two articles on new creative ice cream makers around town:

1. The rebirth of the cool

2. 5 new Chicago ice cream makers worth seeking out

Edited July 26, 2010 by nsxtasy (log)