Hi,

I walked in though did not order on this occasion. I did check on the source of their whipping cream: same old sad canned stuff. I learned they have provided fresh whipped cream, but changed to canned.

I will get back sometime soon for a thorough report, meanwhile I add their information to the database:

Diana's Dreams
"Round Lake's Very Own '50's Inspired Soda Shop"
843 W. Rollins Road
Round Lake Beach, IL

Hours:
Sunday-Wednesday: 2-10 PM
Thurs: 11 AM - 11 PM
Fri-Sat: 11 AM - 11 PM

***

This is a three store-front operation: take-out or eat-in from Olando's 50's Soda Shop and Pizza Parlor, which also serves ribs, shrimp and pasta, too.

Regards,

I recently went to a gelato place in Evanston after having dinner at Noyes Street Cafe. The Cafe was good, the gelato was amazing. You can get an edible cup that includes up to four flavors for under $4. Hazelnut, vanilla, Belgian chocolate, and straciatella were all very good. Other flavors included Nutella and mint. They also had good muffins.

http://www.noyescafe.com/

Linz and Vail
922 Noyes St., Evanston
Tel: (847) 491-1381

I know it's been mentioned elsewhere on this Board, and just got a nice write-up in the Reader, but I'd like to put in a good word for Ventrella's Cafe, 4947 Damen (right next to Over Easy Cafe -- still closed). We visited this past weekend and they have the best gelato we've had in Chicagoland, and we've been searching for something that might measure up to the fine examples we discovered in Vancouver when vacationing there a few years back. In my opinion the gelato served at Ventrella's is far superior to Linz and Vail, for instance, which I find only fair. Also, the fellow who runs this place (James Ventrella) is so nice and deserves some support -- I hope he can manage to stay in business. We didn't try the sandwiches so can't comment on them but did have a nice latte.

In the northern 'burbs, one addition and one possible subtraction.

In the Mitsuwa shopping center (Arlington Heights Rd. and Algonquin), a new place has opened up in the food court. It's back-to-back with the Hippo Bakery, where an ice-cream-and-crepe place had closed in 2005. The new place is called Re Leaf. As the name suggests, its specialty is tea, primarily matcha tea, which seems to be "in" right now; but they also serve about a dozen flavors of ice cream, including "exotic" ones such as black sesame, lychee, and plum, though I didn't try them. They also serve some desserts, both ice-cream based and not. The latter includes two varieties of dango (grilled sweet rice dumplings), which were interesting; but, like traditional Japanese sweets in general, I suspect to most Westerners they'll be an acquired taste.

The possible loss is the Dessert Gourmet in Glenview. I've driven by several times in the last few months during normal business hours, and each time they've been closed. On the other hand their sign is still up, the fixtures are still there, and the power is still on, so perhaps the owners are just taking an extended vacation.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Cold Stone Creamery. Yes, it's a corporate franchise operation, if you care; I don't. I just like great ice cream, and Cold Stone has great ice cream. Just like the Marble Slab chain mentioned above, you can customize your own favorite flavor by starting with their base flavors and adding the ingredients they mix in for you.

nsxtasy wrote:I'm surprised no one has mentioned Cold Stone Creamery. Yes, it's a corporate franchise operation, if you care; I don't. I just like great ice cream, and Cold Stone has great ice cream. Just like the Marble Slab chain mentioned above, you can customize your own favorite flavor by starting with their base flavors and adding the ingredients they mix in for you.

I'm not sure what the particular additive is in their ice cream, but they put some sort of additive in to enhance the elasticity for their "mix-ins". It gives it a plastic-like texture (on my palate).

Best,
Michael

Yeah, I've always found the base ice cream at Cold Stone to be pretty poor. Then again, good ice cream doesn't take well to "mix ins".

I've always been very impressed with the gelati and sorbetti at Spiaggia/Cafe Spiaggia. A lot of flavors, and a lot of unusual flavors, and almost all excellent.

gleam wrote:good ice cream doesn't take well to "mix ins".

Good ice cream always includes mix ins. They can be mixed in at the factory or in the individual shop, but that's how all ice cream flavors are made.

Any ice cream designed for use in a mix-in place like these has extra amounts of various anti-freeze compounds to facilitate the process of working the ice cream like dough. ("Anti-freeze" makes it sound scary but such chemicals are common in commercial ice cream. It's why they can scoop you a scoop at Baskin-Robbins.) It's hard to find much precise information but I've also seen speculation that Cold Stone's ice cream is formulated in a way to reduce the amount of dairy (which contains water which, needless to say, freezes hard) compared to traditional ice cream, and replace it with various oils and gums simulating dairy (sort of the way artificial whipped cream made from coconut or palm oil simulates cream) which remain pliable at frozen temperatures.

However they do it, the result is elasticity in the ice cream which is easily discernable from the texture of conventional ice cream, and results in occasional complaints that it has a greasy mouthfeel compared to true ice cream.

None of this is to say Cold Stone is good, bad, better or worse in and of itself. But it IS different, it is the result of a technological innovation which had to be invented to allow them to do the things they do with it. You could not take a pint of Haagen-Dasz, Ben & Jerry, gelato or anything of the sort and knead M&Ms into it on a cold marble slab. And any ice cream that you buy that does have stuff like that mixed into it had it mixed in during the ice cream making process, before the ice cream was fully frozen.

i don't think these have been mentioned yet, but there are two good gelato places within a couple blocks of each other on ogden in naperville:

Gelati
1283 E Ogden Ave
(630) 848-7500

Gelato Dream
1163 E Ogden Ave
(630) 778-4352

they are both very good, but imo gelati has a slight edge over gelato dream, although they do offer fewer flavors. gelato dream also offers crepes, healthy gelato (i believe it's sugar free), and i think they even have sandwiches.

This intrigued me enough to find their ingredient list: sorry it's in pdf. But, as Mike G said, it's definitely not Breyer's

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/assets ... _04_06.pdf

Lots of gums of a variety of sources to keep it smooth.

Farewell, sweet treats wrote:A mainstay stop for homemade ice cream and candies for more than three decades in Homewood, Mitchell's Candies & Ice Cream is closing on New Year's Eve.

Owner George Mitchell said walking away from the family owned business at 18211 Dixie Highway will be bittersweet, but he hopes to sell the store.

Artie wrote:Farewell, sweet treats

December 28, 2006

By Kimberley Mathisen Staff writer

A mainstay stop for homemade ice cream and candies for more than three decades in Homewood, Mitchell's Candies & Ice Cream is closing on New Year's Eve.

Road Trip!!!!

You have no idea how sad I was to read this. We live a block from Mitchell's and I've been eating their ice cream since they were located in South Shore, on 71st Street. In fact, I broke many bands on my braces by stopping in for caramels on my way to the Jeffrey bus from the orthodontist's office, which was right down the street. Their hot fudge sundae with chocolate chip ice cream is the best.

My parents had a store a few doors down. They always used to say they could tell how many people stopped to look at their window display by the amount of dripping ice cream crusted on the glass when they arrived at work in the morning.

I'll be stocking the freezer tonight.

Suzy

Nice list!

It seems that Panino's has not been mentioned on LTH. They recently relocated in Evanston to the shopping center at Dempster and Dodge. They have pretty good gelato and a mob of awfully cute anthropomorphic ice cream dishes (they hold their own spoons) above the freezer.

I guess they also have a Chicago location, where I would assume they also sell gelato (although the website has menus for both locations and gelato only appears on the Evanston menu.)

Panino's
1968 Dempster
Evanston, IL 60202
847-475-6200

Panino's
3702 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60613
773-472-6200

Artie wrote:

Farewell, sweet treats wrote:A mainstay stop for homemade ice cream and candies for more than three decades in Homewood, Mitchell's Candies & Ice Cream is closing on New Year's Eve.

Owner George Mitchell said walking away from the family owned business at 18211 Dixie Highway will be bittersweet, but he hopes to sell the store.

I saw the for sale ad in one of my dad's ice cream magazines last spring, and I was thinking about jumping at the offer. I always wanted to run my own ice cream parlor since my grandmother closed her place that was a south suburb staple from the 30's to the late 70's.

Sweet deal for Mitchell’s Candies

Mitchell’s Candies and Ice Cream is being resurrected by the operator of Gino’s East and Ed Debevic’s, which will reopen Mitchell’s Homewood store and expand production.
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/business/ ... 02.article

My family has actually known about this for some time, but I felt it was too premature to say anything. Now that it's public knowledge, bring on the ice cream!

Perhaps when they reopen, a pilgrimage is in order??

Suzy

MarisaR wrote:I saw the for sale ad in one of my dad's ice cream magazines last spring, and I was thinking about jumping at the offer. I always wanted to run my own ice cream parlor since my grandmother closed her place that was a south suburb staple from the 30's to the late 70's.

Your grandmother was a great lady. She hired this crazy 14yo kid, who ordered nothing but lemon sodas with a scoop of grape ice cream, to clean the shop and move around boxes. I don't think she needed the help, I think she liked me from all the times I had spent a few minutes talking to her when I stopped in after school. I was only there for a few months because I played sports when I started high school, but it's a few months I'll never forget.

Your name will guarantee you a fair amount of initial business if you opened an ice cream shop in Munster. It would be great to see the Renwald name on an ice cream shop again!

(two years ago) Amata wrote:

zim wrote:Dave's Ice Cream & Italian Ice
1451 W. 18th
(312) 243-8831

It's been a long while since i've been back, but they had a very nice tamarindo ice. Anyone know if they're still around/still decent?

zim,

after lunch at Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlan today, Antonius and I went over to Librería Giron to peruse the cookbook section. Dave's is (was) just west of the bookstore and I'm sorry to say that they are no longer in business. I hope some other ice place will be supplying tamarindo this summer...

Amata

Update: Dave's Ice Cream seems to have been revived: driving by yesterday I saw activity inside and a new neon sign lit up in the window. Any of our Pilsen posters been?

The Renwald name is still in the ice cream business, but we've taken it to the streets. Keep an eye out for the yellow and white Summer Song ice cream vans--you can be sure you'll find quality ice cream!

I see Hohman Ave in downtown Hammond as the perfect outlet for an ice cream parlor (as well many other businesses, including a fine dining establishment) if ever this regentrification of H-town would happen.

Thanks for sharing your memory. It means alot to me!

I was at The Chocolate Box yesterday, and they're now selling gelato, though only a few flavors (including chocolate, naturally). I had a scoop of the Tahitan vanilla, and it was very good.

The Chocolate Box
725 Elm Street (east of the railroad tracks)
Winnetka, IL
847-881-2844

Capannari's Ice Cream in Mount Prospect is a great place to get ice cream in my opinion. Their Black Raspberry Chip is excellent. The ice cream has a great texture and the balance of flavors is just right. They always have odd flavors there, such as, Tamarind (had to look this one up, Its a savory fruit grown in more arid climates africa, souther america, etc...) At first taste there is no doubt a fruit taste in the mouth but more notably it tastes almost like a spice, maybe a mild ginger. They have Ginger ice cream, another odd flavor, personally I don't like ginger that much but this stuff is great, maybe a little strong for my tastes but ginger fanatics would love it. They seem to have a lot of fruit flavors right now, but their menu is always rotating. Right now they have Strawberry margherita, Strawberry Banana, Chocolate covered strawberry, Mango, Peach. Checking their website helps before one heads to Capannari's, They generally have all their rotating flavors posted on the right column of the website and its nice knowing what flavors will be featured soon. They use to have a very handy tool for those of you planning on making a trek here, but it seems they are in the process of revamping the website. Hopefully they fix it soon but it was a mapquest link with Capannari's as the destination. I recommend that if you plan on coming to get directions before hand because the shop is tucked away.

Capannari's Ice Cream
10 S. Pine St.
Mount Prospect IL, 60056
www.Capannaris.com
(847) 392-CAPS(2277)

Some new flavors spotted this evening at the Village Creamery on Oakton in Skokie:

* Whiskey (actually, Whiskey was there the last visit too but otherwise it seems new-ish)
* Pomegranate (that's what I had -- swirls of tangy pomegranate syrup in vanilla)
* Hazelnut with Cashew (I tasted this one -- delicious...but saved it for next visit)

HI,

I was at Zorina's Ice Delights with Rene G on Saturday. He ordered an Italian lemon ice. I ordered 'Banana Pecan' ice cream because it seemed the most unusual ice creamsavailable. Working my way through the cone, I found a cakey item. Upon closer inspection I realized was a vanilla wafer. It dawned on me the better name for this ice cream was 'Banana Puddin' because that was largely what it was.

While it may not be destination ice cream, it certainly is worth a stop after visiting Calumet Fisheries to the east or Jim's Original to the west.

Zorina's Ice Delights Inc
135 West 95th Street
Chicago, IL 60628-1319
Phone: (773) 928-6551

Regards,

i'm sure it's been mentioned here already, but after living in the area for years, we finally got around to trying Dairy Star on Devon this past weekend.

I was very impressed. Their soft-serve base is very dense, rich, and creamy. great consistency, good flavor.

i had something called a "Boston", which i'd never heard of before. it's a shake topped with a small sundae. Score! my wife had a turtle sundae, which i tried and while it was good, we both agreed that the chocolate ice cream was not very flavorful. the little guy had a "razzberry" shake which we both found sickeningly sweet and dripping with artificial fruit flavor. but what do you expect with that sort of thing?

anyway, i thought it was pretty damn good for a non-special trip summer stop-by ice cream place sort of place.

Dairy Star
3472 W Devon Ave
(between St Louis Ave & Trumbull Ave)
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 679-3472

I just walked by Dave's today and saw that it was open, I haven't been yet, but may have to stop by.

Mitchell's in Homewood reopened last night. My daughter and I plan a pilgrimage this evening. I hope they have lots of hot fudge and chocolate chip!!

Suzy

Hi,

I am keeping my fingers crossed they are as good you remember.

Regards,