Sweet summer treat: Fete National Ice Cream month at these 11 suburban shops
You don’t need an excuse to head to your local parlor for tasty ice cream. But if you’re looking for justification, July is National Ice Cream Month. And bonus fact: Sunday, July 19, is National Ice Cream Day.
All you have to do is go outside to realize why. It’s so hot.
For over 10 years, Milk House Ice Cream has been helping people from in and around Pingree Grove and nearby Elgin keep cool with their scratch-made ice cream. And we do mean scratch-made.
The husband-and-wife team of Clint and Brook Carey opened The Milk House in 2015 in the actual milk house from the Krumm Farm that had been in Brook’s family since 1886.
They started out by sourcing their ice cream from others for a short time until Clint went to ice cream school at the University of Wisconsin (which is a real thing, by the way) “to learn the ins and outs,” he said.
“It just kind of took off from there,” he said. “Our recipes and flavors were something that people were really attracted to. And we grew it as much as we felt we could, then felt like it was time for a younger generation.”
Enter Brandon Carey, Clint’s son, who took over the business a little over a year ago after 20-plus years in IT.
“I had always loved helping out and being here and taking as much ice cream home as I possibly could because it’s so good,” Brandon said.
It was serendipitous timing for a father and son that were both up for a change.
“I started to see how successful the business was and started to see how old my dad was,” Brandon said as they both laughed.
What makes Milk House ice cream so exceptional that thousands of people visit the tiny shop in the tinier suburb each weekend?
First they source local, seasonal ingredients. Think rhubarb in early summer and sweet corn in August. After that, every single thing is made from scratch. That includes making each pastry item that gets blended into their ice creams.
“The things we make that come out of our ovens are beautiful, and then we chop the (bleep) out of them and put them in the ice cream,” Clint said. “Beautiful Key lime pies, coconut macaroons that are tall and gorgeous, and then they just get demolished.”
Milk House offers 16 flavors daily in the shop, with four standbys and the rest rotating from a menu of about 100 flavors. They also sell ice cream pies.
Brandon said while cookies and cream is the top-selling ice cream, more esoteric flavors such as bake sale lemon bar, toasted coconut macaroon, salted honey pie and even black licorice “sell out immediately.”
While acknowledging that part of the charm of the Milk House is the actual milk house (“It wouldn’t be the same in a strip mall,” Brandon said), he still sees a bigger future for the business.
“I’d like us to get Milk House ice cream to as many people as possible, right?” he said. “So many people tell us it’s the best ice cream they’ve ever had. So I’m not sure if it’s going to be another store or more retail, but certainly expansion is something I’m really excited about. They’ve done an amazing job at building the brand.”
Like The Milk House, there are myriad small suburban shops making tasty ice cream. Not that there’s anything wrong with chains like Dairy Queen, Baskin-Robbins and, more locally, Oberweis, but it’s hard to beat the charm of a local favorite.
We’ve put together a list of places for you to scoop, err, scope, out throughout the ’burbs. There’s even a frozen custard place in there. All frozen treats are welcome.
The list is randomly ordered because I’m tired of the alphabet always getting to decide who goes first.
Kimmer’s brings over 200 recipes for its homemade ice cream to its locations in Elmhurst, St. Charles and Wheaton. Flavors rotate with exotic choices such as Aztec Hot Chocolate and Red Velvet Cake in addition to the traditional options. 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.
Charlie’s Silver Spoon Creamery
This family-run shop in Aurora (which is named after the family’s Cavapoo) makes artisanal small-batch ice cream in the Aurora Silver Plate Manufacturing Building at 6 E. Downer Place.
Owned by a local Algonquin couple for 10 years, Riverbottom offers old-fashioned, small-batch homemade ice cream at 301 S. Main St., Algonquin. The menu changes frequently with new flavors (and you can usually find a nondairy or vegan option), plus they serve specialty coffee and tea, too.
Founded in 1985, this multigenerational, family-run custard shop at 6500 Northwest Hwy. in Crystal Lake makes everything from scratch daily with local ingredients and features a dairy-free menu Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The ice cream shop previously known as Capannari’s Ice Cream in Mount Prospect has been using the same quality ingredients for its small-batch ice cream for over 25 years. The rotating lineup of flavors includes about two dozen at any given time. Can’t choose? Get a flight with four flavors. The multitime winner of the Daily Herald Readers’ Choice Best of the Best is at 10 S. Pine St.
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.
This downtown Batavia shop at 4 N. Island Ave. has 44 flavors ready to scoop out of a rotating lineup of over 200. Making decisions not your thing? Order a six-flavor ice cream flight to share (or not, no judgment).
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.
Family-owned and operated since 1961, Dairy Dream offers 28 flavors of soft-serve ice cream that can be custom-blended every day at 1229 W. Park Ave., Libertyville. Bestsellers include cake batter, pistachio and the seasonal Dreamsicle, which combines orange sorbet and vanilla.
Candy’s handcrafts its ice cream and Italian ice in-house in the Mill Creek neighborhood at 39W250 Herrington Blvd. in Geneva. Patrons can choose from more than 20 flavors, including fun finds such as ube and pink Himalayan salted caramel.