'It's delicious': Rainbow Cone truck sets up outside Wheeling's Superdawg Drive-In
As if the legendary hot dogs and fries at Wheeling's Superdawg Drive-In weren't already big enough draws, visitors can sample delights from another Windy City culinary institution there this week.
A brightly colored truck from Chicago-based Rainbow Cone will serve ice cream in the Superdawg parking lot, 333 S. Milwaukee Ave., through Sunday.
Service began Wednesday evening and was brisk from the get-go, with folks lining up to purchase the company's namesake frozen treat.
Arlington Heights resident Ray Owens and his wife, Eileen, were among the first customers. Owens estimated he's been enjoying ice cream from Rainbow Cone for about 75 years.
“Our dad would take us there, my brothers and sisters,” Owens recalled. “The line would be out the door on a day like this.”
Founded in 1926, Rainbow Cone is known for stacking slices — not scoops — of orange sherbet, pistachio, a cherry-and-nut variety called Palmer House, strawberry, and chocolate into a cone or a cup.
Rainbow Cone offers other flavors, too — but that combination is its trademark.
Employee Carolyn Contreras expected she and her co-workers in the truck would move about 300 cones Wednesday — most of them rainbows.
Northbrook resident Melissa Girard bought her 5-year-old son, Grayson, his first Rainbow Cone on Wednesday. He got through most of it, but she finished it.
“It's delicious,” she said.
Rainbow Cone shops are in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, in Lombard and in Darien. A seasonal kiosk operates at Chicago's Navy Pier, too.
Wheeling Village Manager Jon Sfondilis said he hopes the company will make Wheeling's Restaurant Row a permanent home, joining Superdawg and many other popular eateries.
“They've been on our radar for a permanent brick-and-mortar store since the first expansion restaurant opened in Lombard (this year),” he said.
“We think Wheeling is a perfect place to bring a little South Side pride up north.”
That'd suit Superdawg co-owner Scott Berman — son of late Superdawg founders Maurie and Flaurie Berman — just fine.
“We are always of the opinion that all business is good,” Berman said. “The more restaurants the better. And Rainbow Cone is a perfect fit for this area.”
The Rainbow Cone truck will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. today, from 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and from 1 to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.