Celebrate National Ice Cream month at these 10 suburban shops
It’s that time of year when the kid in all of us yearns for ice cream.
July is National Ice Cream Month, as it should be since it’s the ice creamiest month of the year. It’s a fun fact that Anna Lassila didn’t even know when she opened Neon Cow Creamery & Sub Shop in Hampshire in July last year.
The 1980s-themed shop is adorned with totally tubular nostalgic decor sure to bring back radical memories for ice cream lovers of a certain age. Collectibles from Star Wars, Pac-Man, Mad Magazine, Garbage Pail Kids and more adorn the bright neon walls inside the shop at 145 S. State St.
“My husband had so much memorabilia and he wanted a man cave,” Lassila said. “I gave him a man restaurant instead.”
Neon Cow’s real draw? The bodacious ice cream they serve from Ashby’s, an award-winning creamery in Michigan.
The shop offers 16 flavors, with about half always available and the rest rotating. Lassila said amaretto cherry is “by far” their bestseller.
Other favorites include Nana’s Banana, Strawberry Cheesecake with salted pretzels, and Play Dough, a bright yellow, vanilla concoction with blue and red cookie dough balls mixed in.
“It looks just like Play Doh — kids go crazy for it, but even the adults love it,” she said.
Unlike many ice creameries, you can still get your fix during the winter months at Neon Cow since they’re also a year-round sandwich shop. Lassila said the cold doesn’t stop people from getting frozen treats.
“Our ice cream sales don’t fall off much in the winter,” she said. “Lots of people just want to get out of the house, and we’re one of the only ice cream places open.”
There are many perfectly good to great ice cream chains like Dairy Queen, Baskin-Robbins and, more locally, Oberweis that can scratch your ice cream itch. But there’s something special about a local spot. We’ve cobbled together a list of places for you to scoop, err, scope, out. There’s even a frozen custard place in there. All frozen treats are welcome on a hot summer day.
The list order was created by an algorithm I designed that takes the first letter of each shop then arranges those letters sequentially as they appear in the alphabet. I’m pretty proud of it.
After 25 years of being known as Capannari’s Ice Cream, a new generation of the family has taken over the Mount Prospect shop and shortened the name. They promise that’s the biggest change, as their beloved small-batch ice cream still uses the same quality ingredients to make the flavors customers have come to love. About two dozen of them at any given time. Can’t choose? Get a flight with four flavors. The 2024 winner of the Daily Herald Readers’ Choice Best of the Best is at 10 S. Pine St.
The Rolling Meadows favorite at 3001 Kirchoff Road features a different flavor of the day every day of the month, from candy bar-inspired tastes like Twix and KitKat to less obvious offerings like matcha green tea and hot mango.
Family-owned and operated since 1961, Dairy Dream offers 28 flavors of soft-serve ice cream every day at 1229 W. Park Ave., Libertyville. Bestsellers include cake batter, pistachio and the seasonal Dreamsicle, which combines orange sorbet and vanilla.
Daisy’s, at 807 N. Quentin Road, Palatine, serves premium Wisconsin-made ice cream by the scoop or in sundaes, shakes and malts. They rotate through over 60 flavors year-round, plus seasonal offerings and vegan ice cream. Fun flavors include Fat Elvis, with sweet banana ice cream all shook up with a salty peanut butter ripple and chocolate chips, and Exhausted Parent, a bourbon-spiked espresso ice cream swirled with bittersweet chocolate chunks.
Graham’s Fine Chocolates & Ice Cream
While their chocolates are indeed fine, we’re talking about ice cream here and Graham’s serves up excellent handmade scoops in downtown Geneva and Wheaton. Chocolate lovers might dig the Double Dark Bitter Chip or decide to go lighter with the Maddi Banani. Or go crazy and get them together. The shops are at 302 S. 3rd St., Geneva, and 119 W. Front St., Wheaton.
Kimmer’s brings over 200 recipes for their homemade ice cream to guests in Elmhurst, St. Charles and Wheaton. Flavors rotate, but favorites include the Parent Trap featuring cookies ’n cream with peanut butter, the caramel sea salt and the chocolate-covered banana. Try a flavor or two at 110 W. Park Ave. in Elmhurst, 1 W. Illinois St. in St. Charles and 109 E. Front St. in Wheaton.
This favorite spot of locals in and around Pingree Grove is actually a renovated milk house from the owners’ family farm. Ice cream flavors vary daily but follow the seasons — expect rhubarb ice cream in the spring and sweet corn ice cream in the summer — plus more. Bake sale lemon bar is a favorite year-round. Find them at 230 Reinking Road.
Owned by a local Algonquin couple, Riverbottom offers old-fashioned, small-batch homemade ice cream at 301 S. Main St., Algonquin. The menu changes frequently with new flavors, plus they also serve specialty coffee and tea, too.
This Schaumburg mom-and-pop shop at 1405 W. Schaumburg Road is known for reasonable prices and serves over 48 premium flavors, including dairy-free and vegan options.
• We undoubtedly left out a bunch of your favorites, and even though you might want to keep it a secret, sharing is caring (plus it’s good for local businesses). Drop a comment in the story online with your favorite creamery or send me an email at rwest@dailyherald.com and I’ll include it in a future Dining out column.