Village Creamery, Filipino Ice Cream

Hi,

While there are many passing comments about Village Creamery. There is no specific thread for it. While many know it exists, it seems to have been talked out long before there was a LTHforum.

I know I don't go as often as I like, though I am always impressed by their unique flavors. On a recent visit, a friend ordered mango ice cream. I have always loved Fudge ripple ice cream. Village Creamery has a variation with a ribbon of guava paste running through it instead of fudge. I thought this was a terrific use of guava.



Where else can you find vegetables in your ice cream and like it! Corn! Avocado! Purple yam! Or cheese? Queso is vanilla ice cream with Kraft cheese pieces.

The exotic fruit ice creams would be signature desserts at many restaurants. At Village Creamery it is typical to have ice cream with Jack Fruit, Lychee and Macapuno (young coconut).

An incomplete list of ice cream flavors can be found here.

Village Creamery - http://www.villagecreamery.com
4558 Oakton St,
Skokie, IL
(847) 982-1720

Village Creamery - very close to H-Mart
8000 N Waukegan Rd,
Niles, IL
(847) 965-9805

I never heard of this place and I love ice cream. There is hope after Scooter's closes for the season.

This is my favorite ice cream parlor in the whole world.

Thank you for this thread. I wish there was a Village Creamery when I was growing up because while I had ube, avocado, maíz, jackfruit, macapuno and red bean ice cream not infrequently as a kid, it was definitely a special treat limited to trips to the Filipino grocery store and family parties. Now my mom and I visit VC whenever I'm out that way and we go to H-Mart. Besides the flavors from my childhood, I love VC's pomelo and calamansi sorbets.

Village Creamery Ice Cream is also available by the pint at Lincolnwood Produce. There is a dedicated cooler at the front of the store at the end of the refrigerated item aisle.

Lincolnwood Produce
7175 N Lincoln Ave
Lincolnwood, IL 60712
(847) 329-0600

Gah! Why didn't I move to Niles (face in hands)?

Both the ube (purple yam) and avocado are excellent; even the durian is good.

I live about 5 minutes from here, I really need to make a point of going. Don't know how I'm going to choose a flavor with all the great-sounding options.

I am not a big fan of ice cream, but I love Village Creamery. The Jackfruit and Mango ice creams are especially good. They usually have some interesting sorbets (the calamansi sorbet is incredible). the last time I was at the Waukegan and Oakton store, they actually had Durian ice cream. The woman said that every time they open a new container of the stuff, the whole store smells like Durian for a while.

Stephen wrote:I live about 5 minutes from here, I really need to make a point of going. Don't know how I'm going to choose a flavor with all the great-sounding options.

They are really nice about giving free tastes. I have tried 7-8 different flavors before making up my mind, and they had no problem with it. In fact, they encouraged me to sample even more.

Village Creamery is also available at 3R Oriental Food Grocery. Just the few filipino basic flavors though like ube, queso, mango and macapuno.

3R Oriental Food Grocery
2712 W Montrose Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 478-2599

We are big fans of the Village Creamery. Lots of unusual flavors to choose from. Definitely worth stopping by.

d4v3 wrote:

Stephen wrote:I live about 5 minutes from here, I really need to make a point of going. Don't know how I'm going to choose a flavor with all the great-sounding options.

They are really nice about giving free tastes. I have tried 7-8 different flavors before making up my mind, and they had no problem with it. In fact, they encouraged me to sample even more.

I actually ended up going today! I ended up buying Maiz, Coconut and Ube in the little pre-packed cups and got a scoop of avocado to go. I only asked for one sample (Durian) and I really liked it. The avocado flavor is subtle as expected, but nice. I'll probably be back at some point whenever I get a hankering for an out-there flavor.

Saw pints yesterday at Fresh Farms on Touhy. What a cool store!

Mary

thanks for creating this thread! It had occurred to me many times to do so, but I never seemed to get around to it.

I drive by VC on my way home from work nearly every day and stop often. Everything I've tried has been good, but particularly the carrot cake, pumpkin, and ube. The tropical flavors are all nice, although the flavors can be somewhat subtle. The thing that really makes this place a standout is the texture of the ice creams--they are just all so smooth and creamy.

It's a seriously great place.

Stephen wrote:I live about 5 minutes from here, I really need to make a point of going. Don't know how I'm going to choose a flavor with all the great-sounding options.

Sounds like a -thon to me. I've never been disappointed and every time I pass that intersection I have to summon all my willpower not to stop in.

Don't miss the fresh ginger ice cream and the grapefruit sorbet.

The avocado shake is my favorite. Sounds weird enough to impress the uninitiated and very tasty.

On my next shopping trip I'll be picking up a pint of Pumpkin Pie at Lincolnwood Produce...possibly to eat right out of the pint, possibly to make into an angel-food cake roll. So many decisions.

I like some of the tropical flavors such as the mango, but even common flavors like strawberry and coffee are delicious. They have a process where they get the air out of the product, making it creamier than standard ice cream. Even the tiramisu flavor is better than it sounds.

We went to the Village Creamery on Sunday and it was excellent. My husband had the vanilla malt-- but then he wished he had seen the durian flavor before he ordered. The malt was creamy and not too sweet, with excellent malt flavor.

In true 5-year-old fashion, my daughter had the "Birthday Cake" flavor, which is swirled with blue frosting and sprinkles. A true kiddie pleaser! The Oakton VC would make a great stop off of the North Branch Bike Trail.

Cheers, Jen

teatpuller wrote:Gah! Why didn't I move to Niles (face in hands)?

BTW, for those who live close to the lake.. you dont actually *have* to go as far as Niles. While a few grocery-store locations (for their pints) have been mentioned in this thread, it hasnt actually been noted that there is a second actual branch of Village Creamery too, in Skokie (near Marketplace on Oakton, if you want to shop before your icecream, and right next to the former Happy Foods on Oakton).

This location is at 4558 Oakton in Skokie (and has, I believe, about the same variety and flavours as the Niles version of VC).

Oh, and I like the jackfruit, lychee and mango flavours myself

c8w

P.S. There used to be a VC on Dempster in Niles too, but Iam fairly positive that has closed (though I never really frequented that location, so wouldnt swear to it).

c8w wrote:P.S. There used to be a VC on Dempster in Niles too, but Iam fairly positive that has closed (though I never really frequented that location, so wouldnt swear to it).

I think you are confusing Village Creamery with the long gone Dutch Treat Creamery on Dempster.

edit: read it more carefully to find Dutch Treat was situated at a former Village Creamery location. Sorry!

Regards,

I love their Bordeaux Cherry. The avocado is pretty good, and the maize, too.

I was a little unimpressed with the carrot cake. The fact that anyone would try to make a carrot cake ice cream is admirable, but when I tried it, it was not very frozen, and it was basically just a spice cake-esque ice cream with walnuts. I'm not sure what I expected, but I thought it just needed something more.

Other than that, it's a great place!

do folks know if any of these village creamery outposts are stocking my favorite VC flavors (which seemed to have disappeared from both skokie and niles locations) ie. passionfruit (its been fairly long time since they had this) or pomelo sorbet (more recently missing)?

would appreciate if anyone mentions any sightings of these flavors, thanks

I didn't check out what flavors they were carrying, but I did notice tonight that Ruby of Siam in Skokie has pints of Village Creamery ice cream for sale.

Was there yesterday. Pints of Eggnog and Peppermint are on sale

I am a fan of Village Creamery as well, but those who plan to go should be aware that this is not Super Premium Ice Cream, just good ice cream with some unusual (for Chicago) flavors. Because you can buy containers in a one cup size, I will often buy three or four flavors that last for a few weeks, days or hours, depending on the weather.

zim wrote:do folks know if any of these village creamery outposts are stocking my favorite VC flavors (which seemed to have disappeared from both skokie and niles locations) ie. passionfruit (its been fairly long time since they had this) or pomelo sorbet (more recently missing)?

would appreciate if anyone mentions any sightings of these flavors, thanks

Pomelo sorbet (among other flavors) is carried by the Fresh Farms in Niles.

Hi,

I guess I like guava, I ordered last night a double scoop of guava ice cream on the bottom with lychee on top.



Regards,