National Ice Cream Month the perfect time to try soft-serve, hard pack and gelato
The Hinsdale Delight specialty sundae at Every Day's a Sundae features three scoops of Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream, hot fudge, raspberry topping, whipped cream, crushed Oreo cookies and the requisite cherry on top. (Jim Slonoff photos)
Pastry chef Angelyne Canicosa shows off the frozen dessert currently on the menu at Vistro Prime - vanilla soft-serve ice cream swirled with blueberry sorbet.
The strawberry gelato at Altamura Pizza tastes so much like fresh strawberries because it's made with real ingredients by a first-generation Italian immigrant, owner Carmela St. John said.
July is National Ice Cream Month. What better way to celebrate than to enjoy some of the frozen treats available right here in Hinsdale?
Twisted treats
A creamy homemade vanilla soft serve swirled with a delicious fruit sorbet takes ice cream to the next level at Vistro Prime.
"Right now we have blueberry from Ellis Farm," Angelyne Canicosa, pastry chef at the restaurant, said of the sorbet currently available.
Of course, either flavor can be ordered individually. But the swirl is the pièce de résistance of the soft-serve machine that has been at the restaurant since it opened in 2014. Using the machine requires Canicosa to adjust her recipe a bit.
"I have a standard recipe for the vanilla ice cream, which actually has a little bit higher water content than the traditional hard-pack ice cream," she said.
The sorbets, which rotate depending on the season, also must be adjusted for water content.
"You never know with the growing season," Canicosa said. "If it's more rainy, the fruit ends up a little more watery. You have to cook it down to get it to the right consistency."
Canicosa's favorite sorbet flavors are peach, which is next on the rotation, and concord grape, which usually is on the menu in October or November. Concord grape is one of the more unique pairings.
"I think that is exciting to people. The concord grape is really different. I think they both stand up well to each other. The vanilla is very vanilla-y and luscious and the concord grape is just such a great flavor. I think it goes so well together," she commented.
Those who like toppings can order chocolate pearls, candied nuts, chocolate and caramel sauce, house-made jam and house-made sprinkles.
Ice cream is a dessert that's hard to turn down, Canicosa believes.
"It's something that you really can't say no to at the end of the meal," she said.
Sundae special
Ice cream is more than a cool treat on a hot summer day, according to Rob Whalen, co-owner of Every Day's a Sundae in Hinsdale.
"I think it's just something for everybody, of all ages, and makes everybody happy," he said.
The Hinsdale location is the second for Every Day's a Sundae. Like its sister location in Downers Grove, it serves more than 40 flavors of Sherman's ice cream. Popular flavors in Hinsdale include mint chip, cookie dough, cookies and cream and moose tracks.
"I'm a chocolate peanut butter guy myself," Whalen said.
Patrons can choose a cone, a cup, a sundae or a shake.
"I like shakes," Whalen noted. "I like to be efficient."
Seasonal flavors from other ice cream producers round out the menu. Current selections are bananas foster, key lime pie, peach and orange creamsicle.
"We select them from different suppliers, depending on the time of the year, what would fit best," Whalen said.
A pumpkin ice cream might be added in the fall, with gingerbread, eggnog and peppermint possibly on tap for the winter.
Whalen invites customers to sample of any flavor they want to taste.
"Don't be afraid to try something new. There might be something you didn't even consider. Try it out," he said.
Whalen enjoys a little ice cream every day.
"I've got to make sure it's fresh and cold."
Molto dolce
Gelato, ice cream's Italian cousin, is the frozen dessert of choice for Carmela St. John, owner of Altamura Pizza. In fact, she was enjoying a cup during this interview.
"We just had something to eat and I had to have something sweet. It's always gelato," she said.
Gelato, which means "ice cream" in Italian, is similar to the American version, but it contains less milk fat than ice cream, is churned at a slower rate and is served slightly warmer.
"The difference between gelato and ice cream is a lot of times its consistency. It's creamier. It's lighter," she said.
The size of her shop precludes St. John from making her own gelato, but she found a first-generation Italian immigrant who makes the sweet treat the way it was made when she was growing up in Italy.
"I can't even tell you how much gelato I tested before I found this guy," she said.
The real ingredients he uses result in incredible flavor.
"As soon as people taste it, the look on their face tells you everything," St. John said. "It's the flavor, that authentic natural taste of whatever the ingredient is, whether it's pistachio, which is one of our top sellers, or the lemon basil for summer, which is a really unique one."
St. John's favorite flavors are pistachio and bacetto, a chocolate hazelnut that reminds her of eating Nutella as a child in Italy.
"Gelato has always been in my life - my whole life," St. John said.
