Penguin to Change Ownership

I was at the Penguin for the first time in about a year today. As per usual, the ice cream was good, if not perfect (some icy granulation, some less than optimal chocolate flavor). Julio, King Penguin, was there and after embracing me and kissing my cheek, he told me in his inimitable blecd of Spanish and Italian that if I come back I won't see him there anymore. To my best understanding, they've sold the store. He says it will continue to have empanadas and pizza, but that the new owners will also have mexican style seafood. He and his nephews will be moving to a new business - sounded like it will be a banquet place in Hyde Park, although he indicated that they'll still serve icecream at the new place. So the next ten days may be Chicagoan's last chance to eat the frozen rum butter that they serve as zambayon gelato, and our last change to eat the bracing lemon sorbetto.♦

I was trying to reconcile myself with the Berghoff situation, and now this happens! Sad news, indeed. I am very fond of the sambayon with whole almonds, and my daughter dotes on the white chocolate w/chocolate chips (aka "hailstorm"). And then, too, there's the dulce de leche.... Penguin is a quintessential hole-in-the-wall with exotic flavor for us. It will be missed.

--Matt

this is really too bad about the Penguin -- their dulce de leche ice cream is great.

Seth Zurer wrote:So the next ten days may be Chicagoan's last chance to eat the frozen rum butter that they serve as zambayon gelato, and our last change to eat the bracing lemon sorbetto.

Seth,

Sad news indeed.

LTHers at the Penguin in happier times.


King Penguin weeps.


Enjoy,
Gary

Seth Zurer wrote: So the next ten days may be Chicagoan's last chance to eat the frozen rum butter that they serve as zambayon gelato, and our last change to eat the bracing lemon sorbetto.

I will need to squeeze a visit or two in asap! Did he give you an exact date?

HI,

After Seth's alert, I made a point of going to Penguin this evening with Josephine. My Italian is non-existent and my Spanish hardly guides me out the door. Fortunately the young server speaks fluent English!

Penguin changes hands on January 23rd. Julio will continue making ice cream for Penguin and other restaurants. I gave Julio my contact information and he gave me his. If and when he opens a new establishment, hopefully we will learn this sooner than later.

There was no mention of catering, though I asked the server. He indicated they are talking about catering though it seemed making ice cream had the more solid plans.

I certainly hope the new people are friendly as Julio, though he is a hard act to follow.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Penguin changes hands on January 23rd. Julio will continue making ice cream for Penguin and other restaurants. I gave Julio my contact information and he gave me his. If and when he opens a new establishment, hopefully we will learn this sooner than later.

So you are saying that the ice cream at Penguin will remain the same after the change of ownership? Other than missing not being able to communicate with Julio, this sounds like a non-issue.

SteveZ wrote:So you are saying that the ice cream at Penguin will remain the same after the change of ownership?

That's what I have been advised.

Regards,

This is sad indeed. We haven't been to the Penguin in a while b/c it is a little difficult to get to from where we live. I feel a little guilty for not being more supportive of them. While I never thought they served the absolute best gelato and Argentinian style pizza imaginable, it was always good, the delivery was always very fast (almost scarily fast), and the various members of the Penguin clan among the nicest people with whom I have ever engaged in a commercial transaction. Kasia and I will always remember telling King Penguin, through the translation of his young assistant that we were going to be in Buenos Aires. His eyes lit up and he said, "Ahh, mucho mucho carne!" He then made a phone call and scribbled out the address of a family ice cream parlor somewhere about 50 miles outside of BA. Sadly we never made it there.

I will miss the Penguin.

Hi,

I visited Penguin this evening for some gelato under new ownership. There are no changes evident yet with the new owner. The youthful server who filled my order a month ago was the same. The menu and prices were the same. Most importantly the gelatos and sorbets were exactly the same.

I did inquire to meet the new owner who was not on sight when I visited. As of today it is status quo at Penguin.

Regards,

Hey Cathy,

was it the very pleasant young woman, or the somewhat surly male teenager? And was Papa penguin around?

It was the sometimes surly young man who served last night. No signs of Papa Penguin, which would be an unexpected treat.

I had the small cup with two types of ice cream: dulce de leche on the bottom and strawberry on top. There seemed to have been an adjustment on the freezer to a slightly warmer temperature, because they were somewhat softer than earlier occasions.

Not quite as soft as Robert of the Miami Flavors RIP used to serve, though warmer/softer than Papa Penguin. The ice cream itself definitely was the handiwork of Papa Penguin.

Regards,

what about the non ice cream offerings? Did they still have empanadas and argentinean pizza or had they moved over to mexican offerings as had been suggested earlier?

HI,

The menu has not yet changed. The empanadas and Argentinean pizza are there with no additions to the menu, yet. It's too bad I missed the new owner because I was hoping to learn what direction he may be taking.

Regards,

Attempted to stop by Penguin for ice cream Sunday afternoon, spurred on by the beautiful weather and the fact that the Italian ice had been consumed for at least an hour already.

Place appears to be closed, and not for a short period of time, either. Mail was piled up in the door with postmarks reaching back to February. [I see Cathy2's post is Feb. 8; I think I saw some mail from the end of February.] Plants are dead. Electricity is still on: frost is visible in the freezers and, ironically, the 'open' sign is lit.

And this was gonna be my first visit, too.

Giovanna

Giovanna wrote:[I see Cathy2's post is Feb. 8; I think I saw some mail from the end of February.]

Cathy2's post was from Feb. 8, 2006; so it's been a long time since anyone's checked in on them apparently.

HI,

From Seth's visit a year ago, the Argentinians had sold Penguin to people who were going to change the menu and keep the ice cream. Papa Penguin was going to continue making ice cream for this location and others as a wholesale supplier.

I would like to hope it is new owners who failed, though Papa Penguin is still moving along. I have his private phone number, I am going to ask someone who speaks Spanish to try to contact him.

Regards,

This thread has reports from a lot of people saying they didn't see it open this past winter. I haven't seen it open since last summer.

Best,
Michael

Hi,

As promised I had a friend talk to Julio.

The Penguin location was sold to someone who couldn't make a go of it. Julio had an arrangement where he would make his ice cream there to sell to Penguin, retail and restaurants. Since the Penguin location went belly up, he has not had a location to continue making ice cream.

Julio hopes by summer to be back in operation selling ice cream on a wholesale basis. If and when this happens, then I expect to advise more.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Regards,

Since the Penguin location went belly up, he has not had a location to continue making ice cream.

May I be the first to offer up my kitchen as workspace and myself as his gelato apprentice?

Papa Pinguino + Spacca Napoli = ideal pizza & ice cream experience. One can dream. Julio speaks Italian, too.

I almost forgot to post about this. Last Saturday I was riding the Lawrence bus and when we went past the Penguin and I noticed there was a lit neon Open sign in the window. Have they really reopened? Is the gelato the same?

That sign has been on many times when I've passed the Penguin. The last time I stopped by all the glass was broken out of the door and there was nothing going on inside. As far as I know they have not reopened. As to why the Open sign has been on so often, I can't answer.

LTH,

Driving up Lawrence after lunch at Siam Noodle and Rice, noticed the neon open sign lit and the thought of gelato got the better of me.

Sadly, this is what I found.

Penguin Problems 9.5.07


Not sure when it happened, might have been 45 minutes before I pulled up, might have been a week ago. The Penguin was not open for business, obviously, and there did not appear to be anyone inside.

Regards,
Gary

Hate to tell you, but it's been like that for some time now. At one point it was kinda plastic-ed over but obviously that's gone now as well.

As much as I'd like to think that there's some roving band of gelato thieves out there, I tend to doubt it.

There really is a sense of mystery to The Case Of The Disappearing Pizzeria/Gelato Owners.

"And I would have gotten away with this if it wasn't for you darn kids!"