Italian Ice in Chicago - Anthony's in Lincoln Park

[posted to another board as well, reposting here]

This weekend I sampled a number of flavors from Anthony's (in Lincoln Park just north of Armitage a few blocks west of Halstead). While there are other notable Italian Ices around Chicago, I have to say that the flavors we tried at Anthony's are some of the best I have ever had, giving even Gina's Italian Ices from my childhood quite a run.

What set apart Anthony's is the texture and the freshness of the flavors. We tried:

- Grapefruit - possibly my favorite, very fresh, sweet yet tart - quite refreshing

- Coconut - creamy and full of flavor, very nice

- Cherry - good, lots of cherry chunks, but of all of them the most typical in terms of flavor

- Peach - almost exactly like eating a perfectly ripe peach - very, very good.

Anthony's has ice cream and other items, but I strongly encourage people to try their flavors, pick a couple and enjoy a perfect summer treat - smooth, rich, and full of fresh fruit flavor (thought they do also have a chocolate).

Shannon

I had a lemon lime one on Friday as I was wandering the area aimlessly waiting for my gf to get off work at Childrens. It was very refreshing but there was no hint of bits of peel or pulp in it, extremely smooth and fine grained. I like a little chunk in mine. The taste was spot on, a couple bits of zest and it would have been heaven.

You want heaven in an ice? There's only one:

Miko's
Damen (b/n Churchill & Moffat in Bucktown)

I have never had a better lemon ice in Chicago. And to think they're so simple to make well.

Paul Tyksins wrote:You want heaven in an ice? There's only one:

Miko's

Paul,

I'm a fan of Mario's (Taylor W of Halsted, across from Al's) for the very reasons Octarine stated. I like a little junk in my trunk, or something to that effect.

More specifically, I appreciate the fact that Mario's ice is coarse textured, almost granita like, with lemon peel, bits of fruit and even the occasional watermelon seed.

With a recommendation like "heaven in an ice" is not that I won't try Miko's either way, but I'm curious, is Miko's of the smooth, no peel school of Italian Ice or Mario's 'junk in the trunk.'

Enjoy,
Gary

Shannon Clark wrote:- Cherry - good, lots of cherry chunks, but of all of them the most typical in terms of flavor

Shannon,

I've never had, or heard of, cherry Italian Ice, though I can see it being quite good.

I will be in that neighborhood later today and see an Anthony's cherry Italian Ice in my immediate future.

Thanks for the heads up.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

I highly recommend you take them up on a bunch of free tastes - the cherry while good was by far the least good of the flavors I have tried and there are about 12 or more flavors to try... definitely worth some tasting (and they are happy to give tastes and will combine flavors for you)

Enjoy!

Shannon

[quote="G Wiv"][quote="Paul Tyksins"]You want heaven in an ice? There's only one:

Miko's[/quote]
Paul,

I'm a fan of Mario's (Taylor W of Halsted, across from Al's) for the very reasons Octarine stated. I like a little junk in my trunk, or something to that effect.

More specifically, I appreciate the fact that Mario's ice is coarse textured, almost granita like, with lemon peel, bits of fruit and even the occasional watermelon seed.

With a recommendation like "heaven in an ice" is not that I won't try Miko's either way, but I'm curious, is Miko's of the smooth, no peel school of Italian Ice or Mario's 'junk in the trunk.'

Enjoy,
Gary[/quote]

Gary, Miko's is smooth with the very occasional "junk." Just right!