Ice Cream to Fight the Freeze
I have long been wanting to review an ice cream shop on this blog. I’ve written about frozen custard, and it was almost a year ago now that I first featured the great gelato shops of Rome. It’s about time I brought some good old fashioned ice cream into the mix. You may think my timing is off. You might ask: “Isn’t ice cream more of a summer food? Why introduce it just as the leaves are falling from the trees and nighttime temperatures are dropping below freezing?” Well, the truth is that there is no bad time for ice cream. I like to eat it all year long and as often as possible. Anyone who disagrees is just crazy. It’s the best way to treat yourself in the depths of cold winter or when you’re just not feeling good about things. For these reasons, and because I am always looking for an excuse to eat ice cream, I bring you Sweet Occasions and More.
Sweet Occasions sells candy, cakes and elaborate pastries. It also sells delicious looking savory food like sandwiches, meatloaf, quiche and salads. (I say deliciously looking because I’ve never tried these.) But when Empanada Boy and I think about Sweet Occasions, we think of ice cream. The ice cream is made by Wisconsin’s Chocolate Shoppe, which makes EB even more partial to it. EB’s favorite flavor is black licorice. It’s actually more of a deep, dusty purple color and tastes better than it sounds. It has a twist of spice and is a little less sweet than other flavors. Sweet Occasions considers licorice a standard flavor, but we seem to find it more often during the colder months. EB gets very excited when it appears in the case again in the fall. I am also a fan of the seasonal flavors. When we went there last month I got a scoop of Snap-O-Lantern. It’s a spiced pumpkin flavored ice cream with bits of gingersnaps mixed in.
EB is in Madison this weekend, so I went in to get myself a scoop last night. Snap-o-Lantern was gone with Halloween, but in it’s place was another of my favorites: Zanzibar chocolate. A blend of dark chocolates from around the world, including cocoa from Zanzibar, this is no ordinary chocolate. For one thing, it’s much darker in color than the typical chocolate ice cream. It’s also very rich and concentrated in its chocolate flavor, making it worthy of special distinction beyond regular chocolate. I got the sizable scoop you see here for a mere $2. A trip to an inferior location like Cold Stone Creamery could set you back $5 and give you a stomachache to boot.
The next time you have an ice cream craving in Ravenswood or Andersonville, give Sweet Occasions a try. And be sure to invite me along too.
Sweet Occasions and More
4639 North Damen Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
773.293.3080
AND
5306 North Clark
Chicago, IL 60640
773.275.5190
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Daddy Salmon said,
November 4, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
One needs no excuse to eat ice cream at any time!
DS
Flav said,
November 5, 2007 @ 11:19 am
ML. Sweet Occasions sounds amazing, and at $2 how can you complain? Last night with my friends in LA I went to Pinkberry. Its the latest craze in fancy frozen treats- a frozen yogurt that actually tastes like yogurt. I had green tea flavor with pomegranate seeds on top. It was surprisingly good.
Ice Creamista said,
November 28, 2007 @ 11:10 pm
I managed the Damen Location for two years–ask them to put you on the flavor call list for licorice. While it is a fall flavor, it sells better in the summer. But if enough people promise to buy quarts, they might order it in the winter for you.
Try the Mint Avalanche. Delish!
Mango Lassie said,
November 28, 2007 @ 11:50 pm
Thanks for the flavor call list suggestion. I’m picturing a pager that goes off when your flavor arrives in the case, but of course it’s probably more of a non-urgent phone call. I’m sure Empanada Boy would be ecstatic about getting a full quart of licorice ice cream, but I’m not so sure how good it would be for his waistline. Alas, life is tough when you love ice cream…I will definitely try Mint Avalanche the next time I see it.
Empanada Boy said,
December 3, 2007 @ 12:40 am
The black licorice is my favorite because I has an almost spicy aftertaste that accompanies the sweetness of the ice cream. I can see why kids probably don’t care for it much though. One time, as a matter of fact, the kid working the counter tried to talk me out of ordering the black licorice flavor, saying “Just don’t do it. That’s just one of those don’ts.” For me, however, it’s one of those do’s, and it will be hard for me to choose any other flavor on the sweet yet rare occasions that they offer it.