Godfrey Carmona

Meet the Beer Float

July 21, 2006

IT'S DIFFICULT TO tell people that a beer float is the best dessert they’ve never tried without them trying to intervene. For example:

Me: Omigod, I had the best beer float last night.

People: You need help.

In fact, it’s difficult to tell people about beer floats at all. Put the word beer too close to ice cream and people will shiver. A beer float sounds like something you’d have to drink at a fraternity hazing, and as someone who’s had Miller High Life and ice cream together, I can tell you that it would fit. But with nonbodega bottles—gems like Belgian fruit lambics and massive American stouts—the beer float puts its straight-edge sister, the root beer float, to shame. The chemistry’s similar: the foam in a float comes from the combination of carbonation and a protein in the ice cream that stabilizes the bubbles. But beer has protein too, producing a more stable, sumptuous foam. And the beer float has other advantages over the root beer float:

(1) It has a taste besides sarsaparilla.

(2) It unites the sins of gluttony and drunkenness in a single serving.

(3) You get to eat more ice cream. When making something as ridiculous as a beer float, it’s important to be rigorous. Here, using the measuring scale of an ice cream scoop, are the appropriate proportions of beer and ice cream (you may want to write this down): one part beer to one part ice cream. Tests have indicated this is twice as much ice cream as in a typical root beer float.

No, I didn’t invent the beer float while hungover. The Handlebar serves a Guinness float, which owner Josh Deth credits to a former bartender. And Goose Island’s brewpub will put a scoop in any glass you want, though general manager Tim Lane prefers to use the house-brewed sodas—“Our thinking is more how the beer’s going to taste,” he says. But he notes that a few regulars have started putting ice cream in the Bourbon County Stout, a special brew Goose Island released in December. Bourbon County’s a thick, powerful, black hole of a beer. “It’s like a bourbon float,” Lane says.

Picking a beer for your dessert can be treacherous: if the brew’s too light the float’s gross, too bitter and the ice cream wants out of there. That’s true not only for hopped-up India pale ales but also for beers like Young’s Double Chocolate Stout and Rogue’s Chocolate Stout. Their names scream for ice cream, but their taste is bitter and too thin. Sweeter beers don’t always work either: a soda-like Belgian cherry lambic from Saint Louis turned into a Robitussin float. So what about, well, a hard root beer? From colonial days into the 19th century, root beer was mildly alcoholic, and recently Samuel Adams released 1790 Root Beer Brew, an imitation colonial beer with an adult-friendly alcohol content. Sadly, though the aroma’s sassafras, the taste is a knife-blade wintergreen the teeth-scraping intensity of which isn’t meant for dessert.

But a Lindemans framboise float is worthy of a pastry chef—think vanilla ice cream, fresh raspberries, and seltzer water blended together. The taste is replicable with any Belgian fruit beer that’s not sickly sweet. And although American stouts don’t always work—like the Rogue, they tend to be overhopped for our purposes—Bell’s Expedition Stout is a marvel. Its spice-cabinet complexity—coffee, cocoa, caramel, an orchard of dried berries—fills the float, just harsh enough to be refreshing. The chocolate stouts cold-shouldered the ice cream, but the Expedition is affectionate and argumentative— the beer and ice cream clash then meld like lovers in a spat. —Nicholas Day

Ice Cream, Hold the Beer

Parlors, soda fountains, gelato stands, and more

Anna Held
5557 N. Sheridan | 773-561-1940
$
10 AM TO 6 PM MONDAY-SATURDAY | CLOSED SUNDAY

Behind the gilt-lettered awnings and plate glass on the first floor of the landmark pink Edgewater Beach apartment building stands a soda fountain that first opened in 1927. The ambience trumps the ice cream: at the original marble counter and lone table are served—along with coffee, a few sandwiches, salads, and homemade soups—a standard selection of Blue Bonnet ice cream sundaes, splits, shakes, malts, and sodas. Elizabeth M. Tamny

Australian Homemade
111 N. State | 312-781-3004
$
9 AM TO 8 PM MONDAY-SATURDAY, 6 PM SUNDAY

The staff says the ice cream is made from Australian recipes.” Apparently in Australia it’s creamy and not sweet, sticks to basic flavors like strawberry, chocolate chip, and banana, and is served in crisp but yielding waffle cones at a higher temperature than usual here in the States—so you can really savor the flavor. There also sorbets and Belgian chocolates on offer. Anaheed Alani

Ben & Jerry’s
1634 Orrington, Evanston | 847-869-2640
$
11 AM TO 10:30 PM MONDAY-THURSDAY, 11 AM TO 11 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia, Phish Food—sweet, rich, and loaded with goodies, they’re all available at this corner shop, along with sorbets and smoothies. Chicago locations of this franchise are at 338 W. Armitage, at Midway Airport, and at Navy Pier. Laura Levy Shatkin

Bittersweet
1114 W. Belmont | 773-929-1100
$
7 AM TO 7 PM TUESDAY-FRIDAY, 8 AM TO 7 PM SATURDAY, 8 AM TO 6 PM SUNDAY | CLOSED MONDAY

The delectable sweets of Judy Contino, former Ambria pastry chef and Lettuce Entertain You corporate pastry chef, are the main attraction at this Lakeview bakery— that and the house-made ice cream, typically available in a half dozen or so flavors. Each day there’s a light lunch menu—a soup, a couple sandwiches, salads, and quiche. Dessert might be a rich butter-crusted apple bistro tart. But the absolute winner is the brioche, its buttery egg dough by far the best in town. Laura Levy Shatkin

Bobtail Soda Fountain
2951 N. Broadway | 773-880-7372
$
7 AM TO 11 PM SUNDAY-THURSDAY, 7 AM TO MIDNIGHT FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Twenty-two flavors are made on-site at this old-fashioned Lakeview soda fountain, from simple triple vanilla to espresso. Unfortunately, scoops and sundaes come in plastic cups, even when you choose to sit in the 12-seat red-and-white parlor. There are also locations at 3425 N. Southport and at Buckingham Fountain. Laura Levy Shatkin

Bouffe
2312 W. Leland | 773-784-2314
$
11 AM TO 7 PM TUESDAY-FRIDAY, 11 AM TO 6 PM SATURDAY, NOON TO 5 PM SUNDAY | CLOSED MONDAY

Libby Bonahoom seems more interested in quality than quantity, stocking pole-caught canned tuna and handmade pastas imported from Italy in her homey Lincoln Square gourmet shop. Her display case of cheeses is peppered with hard-to-find varieties; for example some aged by storied Swiss cheesemonger Rolf Beeler, including his extraordinary Hoch Ybrig. But what I find I truly can’t resist are frozen treats from Philadelphia-based Capogira: Bonahoom is one of the first in the area to carry what is easily the best gelato I’ve ever had. At $10 a pint it ain’t cheap, but rotating flavors like rosemary-honey-goat’s milk and marzipan-rich salted bitter almond make it worth the price. The shop also sells sweet and savory versions of tortas de aceite, a fabulous Spanish crispbread that’s nearly 25 percent olive oil; fancy olive oils and vinegars (sherry, cava); and frozen cuts of meat. Peter Margasak

Caffe Gelato
2034 W. Division | 773-227-7333
$
11 AM TO 11 PM MONDAY-THURSDAY, 11 AM TO MIDNIGHT FRIDAY, 10 AM TO MIDNIGHT SATURDAY

Gelato has less air and butterfat than American ice cream, so the flavors stand out more. This sleek Ukrainian Village spot offers 18 seasonally rotated flavors, including bacio (chocolate hazelnut), frutti di bosco (berries), ananas (pineapple), and panna cotta. Susannah J. Felts

Freddy’s Pizzeria
1600 S. 61st, Cicero | 708-863-9289
$
10 AM TO 7 PM MONDAY-SATURDAY | CLOSED SUNDAY | RESERVATIONS NOT ACCEPTED | CASH ONLY

This old-school Italian grocery, deli, and pizzeria has nine rotating fresh and classic homemade gelati, and reaches a zenith of intensity with its purple-and-white swirled frutti di bosco. It also offers about 15 flavors of Italian ice, dry goods such as olive oil and pasta, house-made breads in a range of shapes and sizes, and pizza with a crust like a good puffy Italian loaf. Mike Sula

Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop & Soda Fountain
830 N. Michigan | 312-337-9330
$
10 AM TO 10:30 PM SUNDAY-THURSDAY, 10 AM TO MIDNIGHT FRIDAY & SATURDAY

This place is great for a late-night fix downtown (it’s open till midnight on Friday and Saturday), but don’t go out of your way: the ice cream is unmemorable and the soda-fountain treats are merely adequate. During the day the store fills with tiny tourists clutching red bags from American Girl Place. Anaheed Alani

Homer’s Restaurant & Cream Parlor

I can walk into this store and instantly be transported to when I was five years old, going out with my dad for an ice cream cone after a T-ball game. Every summer they make their own peach ice cream, and the peppermint’s good too, full of the store’s own crushed candies. Ninety percent of the workers are high school kids; the others are men who have worked there since I was a child. If you don’t want to drive to the burbs, Homer’s supplies more than 100 city restaurants, including Maggiano’s, Nick’s Fishmarket, Big Bowl, Mike Ditka’s, and Bob Chinn’s. Mark Greenberg

Margie’s Candies
1960 N. Western | 773-384-1035
F 8.3 | S 6.8 | A 6.9 | $ (9 REPORTS)
9 AM TO 9 PM MONDAY-THURSDAY, 9 AM TO 1 AM FRIDAY-SUNDAY

 The legendary ice cream parlor at the intersection of Western, Milwaukee, and Armitage dishes up sundaes with enough embellishments to satisfy the most demanding sweet tooth: bananas, cherries, nuts, fluffs of whipped cream, hot fudge in a pitcher on the side. A Chicago institution since 1921, the cozy room stuffed with dolls and other knickknacks has transported more than one Rater right back to grandma’s house. And, as one aptly puts it, “Who else but your grandmother would give you such a huge bowl of ice cream?” Margie’s also serves a limited menu of diner standards—burgers, fries, grilled cheese—but most patrons say skip the real food, have another dessert. Martha Bayne

Margie’s Candies
1813 W. Montrose | 773-348-0400
$
9 AM TO 10 PM MONDAY-THURSDAY, 9 AM TO 11:30 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY, 10 AM TO 10 PM SUNDAY | RESERVATIONS ACCEPTED FOR LARGE GROUPS ONLY

What’s different at the new location of the venerable ice cream parlor and restaurant? “Well, it’s not an 86-year-old store,” says Peter Paulos, son of Margie. But it’s not all new—the Tiffany-style lamps and parlor chairs were salvaged from the basement of the original shop, and the soda fountain is a refurbished 1950s model. The menu is the same as the one at the old shop, and, lactose intolerance be damned, when two scoops covered in whipped cream, nuts, and hot fudge that’s made fresh daily are plopped down in front of you in a custom-made scalloped bowl you’re reminded of all that’s good in the world. Kathie Bergquist

Mario & Gino’s Gourmet Ice Cream Shop
2057 W. Roscoe | 773-529-8664
$
SUNDAY-THURSDAY NOON TO 10 PM, FRIDAY & SATURDAY NOON TO 11 PM | CASH ONLY

Mario & Gino’s carries two grades of gelato: “premium” and “gourmet.” The premium product comes from local maker Al Gelato and is better than most American ice cream simply by virtue of being gelato. The gourmet version is made by a New York outfit called Ciao Bella. It costs 75 cents more per scoop than premium, and you can taste the difference. It is outstanding stuff, light and velvet smooth, with vivid but delicate flavor. (I had the hazelnut and the chocolate-chocolate chip.) The shop also carries Edy’s ice cream, Ciao Bella sorbet, and house-made Italian ice. Anaheed Alani

Oberweis Ice Cream and Dairy Store
1293 N. Milwaukee | 773-271-9006
$
10 AM TO 10 PM SUNDAY, 10 AM TO 11 PM MONDAY-SATURDAY

My friend scooped ice cream at a Pittsburgh parlor one high school summer, so I brought her along for a professional opinion, not knowing beyond “good” and “really good” ice cream myself. “The quality of the strawberry and vanilla ice cream gauges the caliber of an ice cream shop,” she told me, so we ordered them in a hot fudge sundae along with a marshmallow malt. The malt came in a giant glass goblet, big as a halved pomelo, with a dainty Pirouline stuck in. “Good malt finish, very smooth, can’t taste much marshmallow, cookie is a nice touch,” judged my friend. She peered into the sundae, speared a berry with the end of a spoon, and held it up to examine. “The strawberry’s got some solid performance factors—doesn’t taste syrupy, a little sweeter than I’d like, but nice-size chunks of fruit.” The hot fudge was perfect, in my opinion, thick but not sticky, warm but not hot enough to create ice cream soup. My friend concurred, but the whipped cream was airier than she’d like. “Low density,” she said. We were looking for “clean and fresh” in the vanilla, but by the time she unearthed it all I could register was the taste of yet more sugar. Cold cases of Oberweis dairy and meat products (and the heavy glass rectangles of iced tea and fruit punch) line the shop. My friend’s verdict: she can do without Jim Oberweis’s politics, his ice cream is good though not mind-blowing, but, she tells me, she’s tried the bacon and it’s fantastic: “Great marbling for the price.” Tasneem Paghdiwala

Original Rainbow Cone
9233 S. Western | 773-238-7075
$
11 AM TO 10:30 PM SEVEN DAYS | CASH ONLY

The specialty of this family-owned spot is the eponymous rainbow cone—a manually assembled scoop of chocolate, pistachio, strawberry, and “Palmer House” cherry-walnut ice cream plus orange sherbet on a pointy cake cone— but there are 17 single-flavor options as well. The atmosphere’s efficient but fun: patrons line up in a roped queue to order from cashiers who yell back endearing shorthand like “baby white” (for a small vanilla cone) and “heebie-jeebie” (for chocolate peanut butter), and there are picnic tables behind the aging pink stucco building. Kiki Yablon

Paleteria Jalisco
4219 N. Kedzie | 773-583-9257
$
10 AM TO 9 PM SEVEN DAYS | CASH ONLY

This shop supplies many of the pushcart vendors in Albany Park and has a walk-in storefront that sells the frozen bars for 15 cents cheaper. They have about two dozen ice milk and Popsicle flavors, including chile-dusted cucumber, guayaba, coconut, pina colada, rice pudding, pecan, cookie, banana, mango, chocolate, strawberry, and mamey, a fruit that looks like a coconut and tastes like a cross between mango and cantaloupe. Mike Sula

Penguin
2723 W. Lawrence | 773-271-4924
$
2 TO 10 PM SUNDAY, 4 TO 10 PM MONDAY, 1 TO 10 PM TUESDAY-SATURDAY | CASH ONLY

While not for purists—the milk is powdered, the vanilla artificial—Penguin’s gelato is nonetheless enlightening. Chocolate, cherry, and caramel rarely taste so unpolluted, and the eggy, marsala-spiked zambayon is a confounding pleasure. The store also makes pizza and empanadas, but the 20-some flavors of gelato take priority. Mike Sula

Petersen’s Ice Cream
1100 Chicago, Oak Park | 708-386-6131
$
8 TO 10 SUNDAY-THURSDAY, 8 TO 11 FRIDAY & SATURDAY

It’s the Oak Park institution’s 86th birthday, but the important number here is 18: that’s the percentage of butterfat the ice cream still contains. The 30 or so flavors range from old-fogy faves like rum eggnog and black walnut to kiddie fare like blue moon and Oreo. Their ice cream counter has a full-service soda fountain, and in the adjacent rooms are a diner and well-stocked candy shop. Or rather, shoppe. Kiki Yablon

Scooter’s Frozen Custard
1658 W. Belmont | 773-244-6415
$
2 TO 9 PM SUNDAY, 2 TO 10 PM MONDAY-SATURDAY

It’s easy to be number one when you’re the sole contestant in your category. Scooter’s gets a lot of attention for being Chicago’s only frozen-custard shop, but the product tastes more like soft serve. Anaheed Alani

Sukhadia’s Snacks & Sweets 2559 W. Devon | 773-338-5400
$
10 AM TO 9:30 PM SUNDAY & SATURDAY; 11 AM TO 9 PM MONDAY, WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY; 11 AM TO 7 PM TUESDAY

This tiny corner store is a feast for the eyes. Two huge display cases are filled with Indian sweets in all colors and shapes: orange ground-almond cookies, cashew flour and fig paste tubes, and deep-fried pink rounds of chickpea flour. There’s kulfi, Indian ice cream, thick and mind-blowingly rich. Homemade cheese balls come soaked in sweet syrup (ras gulla) or swimming in creamy milk and garnished with saffron and pistachios (ras malai). Beyond these cases is a counter where Indian fast food is served—lilva kachori (deep-fried rounds of green peas and chiles), khaman (square cakes of savory chickpea flour colored bright yellow), and patra (taro leaves rolled with ground chickpeas and pungent spices). Dishes are served with poori (deep-fried wheat bread) and two tasty sauces: a spicy cilantro-jalapeno one with ginger and mint, and one of sweet-and-sour tamarind. A variety of crunchy, salty mixes of spiced nuts, sesame sticks, and other snacks are available by the pound. Ask for the laminated card with pictures and descriptions if you find the selection overwhelming. Laura Levy Shatkin

Sweet Occasions
5306 N. Clark | 773-275-5190
$
6:30 AM TO 10:30 PM SUNDAY-THURSDAY, 6:30 AM TO 11 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY

Cafe director Mimi Chryssikos has left the building, but owners Andy Singer and John Richardson still feature her sandwich recipes and Citro lemon salad dressing at this location and the original shop in Ravenswood. (The Sweet Occasions on Morse has closed.) Offerings include the French traditional, with ham, Brie, and French butter; the Italian classic, with hard salami and fresh mozzarella; and the new Clark Street Mess, a grilled heap of ham, turkey, salami, and Swiss on French bread smeared with superspicy Dijon mustard. But what’s drawing the summer crowds are the rotating two dozen or so flavors of Madison-based Chocolate Shoppe ice cream, among them black licorice, cotton candy twist, oatmeal cookie, and Fat Elvis—banana with chocolate chunks and peanut butter swirls. Other sugar bombs: red velvet cake, red-frosted fire-engine cookies, miniature cakes topped with elaborate frosting flowers, giant lollipops, European chocolate bars, mix-and-match bulk candy, and even single servings of Capri Sun. Anne Ford

Treats Frozen Desserts
3319 N. Broadway | 773-525-0900
$
NOON TO 10 PM SUNDAY-THURSDAY, NOON TO 11 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY | CASH ONLY

For people who want to have their ice cream and eat it too: the soft-serve ice milk here is low calorie, low cholesterol, and 99 percent fat free—but more than 30 mix-ins like Oreo crumbles, gummy bears, and granola are available for a premium. The frozen concoction comes in six flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and four specials from a rotating list of 65 that includes apple pie and green tea. As for that soda fountain vibe: as a friend remarked, walking by the location at 2224 N. Clark, “It looks like a Web site.” Kiki Yablon

Village Creamery
4558 Oakton, Skokie | 847-982-1720
$
NOON TO 10 PM SEVEN DAYS

Outside there’s nothing to indicate this storefront carries anything more thrilling than Baskin-Robbins, but the menu’s filled with uncommon homemade Filipino ice creams. Among the many startling flavors are two coconut-based varieties, corn, avocado, purple yam, jackfruit, ginger, lychee, and, most flamboyantly, halo-halo, a hash of red and white beans, sugar palm, Jell-O bits, coconut, and Rice Krispies based on the popular Filipino dessert. Many flavors, like a pale green soother made from pandan leaves and large hunks of coconut, are lightly sweetened, letting the tropical elements do the talking. Mike Sula

Zephyr
1777 W. Wilson | 773-728-6070
F 6.5 | S 6.0 | A 4.8 | $ (6 REPORTS)
8 AM TO MIDNIGHT SUNDAY, MONDAY-THURSDAY; 8 AM TO 1 AM FRIDAY & SATURDAY

I’ve eaten at Zephyr many times over the years and it’s always the same: average food and average service combined with faux-art deco decor. Somehow it all works, and the place is packed every weekend. One recent visit was much the same as the last: greasy Reuben sandwich served with a potato pancake followed by an ice cream treat. The dessert menu is ice cream all day long, with a retro theme. A few of the more imaginatively named confections include the Casablanca, the Charleston, the Birth of Our Country, the S’Wonderful, and, my favorite, the War of the Worlds, a monolithic ten-scoop sundae. I’ve had better ice cream, but you have to respect a place that puts this much effort into hawking its wares. Chip Dudley

Send a letter to the editor.