Zanzibar

I had a hankering for a sundae and had Anna Held's stuck in my craw after reading about it on this site. I drove all the way down there and found out they're closed until the 6th because they're redoing their floors. I was very upset, but noticed there was a cute little cafe advertising ice cream on the way back to my car.

Zanzibar is very cozy—yellow-orange walls, dark wood, warm lighting. They have an extensive menu of sandwiches, breakfast items, and soup, along with cases that get more evil as you walk towards the back—pastries closest to the door, then Margie's chocolates, then Chocolate Shoppe ice cream, then pies, brownies and large layer cakes, including a red velvet cake roll, which I will likely go back for soon.

I ordered the fire-roasted veggie soup, which was really quite tasty, but piping hot, causing me to burn the roof of my mouth, making the sundae more of a medical necessity. This thing was bigger than I thought it would be—it was really a vat of ice cream, with sliced bananas, fudge, peanut butter, nuts, whipped cream and a cherry. That hit the spot. Would have been better with peanut butter sauce, but I think Elvis would have approved.

The bill came to $10.70, but I'm not really sure of the individual prices.

Zanzibar
1036 West Bryn Mawr Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640
(773) 334-8302

HI,

I've been ice cream parlor adrift for a few years.

Was it real whipped cream or from the can?

Regards,

Pretty sure it was fresh, but it disappeared so quickly...

Rats. Am I the only person disappointed that a place called Zanzibar in Edgewater has nothing to do with the semi-autonomous East African island? A little like learning that Banadir is a cupcake place.

That said, it looks to be pretty good and well-liked within the neighborhood. Might make for a change of pace from Margie's north.

We went again Saturday after yet another trip to Leona's. This might be a good reason to eat at Leona's, because this place is less than 2 miles away. There was plenty of space for the six of us to hang out and we were never nagged by the staff to buy more or get out, considering we sat for a couple of hours. The coffee was really tasty (my friend and I both had lattes), and he ordered a piece of triple chocolate cake which looked very rich and apparently was quite something. His piece was literally three times the size of the piece I took home; I don't know if this was the end of that cake or what. Another friend ordered a chocolate shake and drank it so fast, he contemplated going back for another.

Yesterday I ate my cake: vanilla and chocolate alternating layers with chocolate and white frosting and chocolate curls on the back. The frosting was a bit too sweet but the cake was insanely moist. The chocolate mint brownie had just the right balance of mint and chocolate and was also quite moist.

I made my first visit here last night and had a "you know you're an LTHer moment":

I recently took the Hogan assessments, which as a suite is a validated instrument that looks at personality, performance and leadership. My coach suggested we meet at Zanzibar to discuss my results. The ice cream and cakes looked spectacular (especially the cakes), but I knew that one of the possible areas of concern in my results was my high score on...hedonism. So, figuring I might not make the best impression by downing a huge slice of red velvet cake while making the case for hedonism as an asset, I just ordered...tea.

It turns out my coach has to have ice cream from Zanzibar at least once a week and gave me three restaurant recommendations during the course of our meeting. In other words, I'm having cake next time!