Best Ice Cream on the North Shore

By:  Rebecca Lee

As the temperature shoots higher, nothing tastes sweeter than some amazingly cool ice cream treats. We have tracked down the BEST ice cream treats on the North Shore.  Have we missed any of your favorites?

Dairy Bar

Dairy Bar has stood for more than fifty years as almost an institution of Glenview. A small but brightly colored stand on Harlem Ave, right across from the Glenview Public Library, you can expect to find a line trailing down the sidewalk on sunny days. Everyone from parents to toddlers love everything from the Candy Blast sundaes to the classic thick milkshakes.

The hard-shelled ice cream on a cone has proven to be a customer favorite. Dairy Bar offers safe but satisfying flavors such as vanilla ice cream in a milk chocolate shell, as well as around ten more adventurous flavors of shells, such as cake batter or blue raspberry, which are also highly recommended.

Not only are the treats at Dairy Bar quick and cheap, they are delicious, especially on a boiling summer day when you (or your kids) need to get out of the house!

Homer’s Ice Cream

A banana split from Homer’s

All North Shore residents know and love Homer’s Ice Cream, which has stood for decades at the same location. The family of the original owner, Gus Poulos, continues the legacy of the widely cherished homemade ice cream. Especially during the heat of the summer, everyone from grandparents to toddlers stand in lines to grab a cone. In fact, the shop stays busy until closing at 10 PM, when you will typically find cars full of teenagers snacking on French fries and sundaes.

You have approximately forty flavors of classic ice cream (that you can also order in the form of a milkshake) to choose from, along with several flavors of sorbet. There is not one particularly recommendable flavor or treat that, because to be frank, they are all really, really good.

 

Dairy Queen

Dairy Queen, like Homer’s and Dairy Bar, has been serving frozen treats for approximately fifty years on Lake Avenue. Although a franchise store, the Wilmette location has proven to be a local favorite. Open only during the warmer months, the shop offers classic foods such as burgers and cones as well as uniquely signature treats such as the Blizzard. Dairy Queen has especially proven to be a popular after-school spot for students at New Trier High School and Loyola Academy, both of which are only minutes away. In fact, many students work there serving ice cream!

Liquid Fusion Cafe

“Bingsoo” is one of the most popular desserts at Liquid Fusion. The bowl contains shaved ice, vanilla ice cream, a variety of fruits, red bean paste, rice cakes, and honey!

Popular largely among residents of Glenview and Northbrook, Liquid Fusion Cafe serves both frozen and hot bubble tea, coffee and espresso drinks, and Korean desserts. You will find the most customers, mainly teenagers, late at night during the weekend, as the cafe closes at midnight!

Most bubble tea enthusiasts would agree that Liquid Fusion makes some of the best bubble tea around the suburbs of Chicago. You can mix and match fruit and even vegetables to blend, or you can opt for a frozen coffee drink, or even choose a tea! Most customers choose to add tapioca or lychee to their drinks. Specialty drinks such as the vanilla latte freeze and the taro freeze are especially popular. Those who prefer fruit freezes favor strawberry, mango, coconut, or all of the above. In general, though, combinations of fruits and vegetables and likeability of those combinations are totally personal!

Andy’s Frozen Custard

Andy’s Frozen Custard, located on Church Street in Evanston, is totally worth the longer drive. As the name suggests, the store serves delicious frozen custard in a variety of forms, from bars to sundaes to concretes. Customers can add toppings as they wish as well. The Triple Chocolate Concrete is a classic from Andy’s, and is very thick and sweet, as most of their treats are!