Gayety's is a great stop for a sweet treat

We have this lovely little local ice cream shop and candy store called Gayety's, which originated in Chicago and later moved out to Lansing on Torrence Avenue and then to a location on Ridge Road. I've been going there for years for the occasional treat of hand-dipped chocolates or ice cream. There's now also a location in Schererville and Gayety's chocolates can be found at the Horseshoe Casino and four downtown Chicago hotels and Phillips Flowers and Gifts in Westmont, IL. Oh, and you can also order their chocolates online - http://www.gayetyschocolate.com/catalog.


When I walk in sometimes I want to pat myself on the back. Why? Because a few years back I e-mailed the owners letting them know how wonderful their ice cream was but how sad I was that they didn't offer kiddie cones or kiddie sized sundaes. The portions were huge -- a sundae is truly a two-person portion. There's no way one adult could finish it, let alone a kid. Although I loved it, I didn't go there much because I'd pay for this huge serving for one of the kids and half of it would melt before they could get to it or they filled up quick and the rest got tossed. It seemed like such a waste of such an awesome frozen treat. They sent an encouraging e-mail back and soon there were kiddie cones and mini sundaes on the menu. Maybe they already had it in the works. Maybe they'd heard the same things from similar folks. I'm sure I wasn't entirely responsible for it, but I'll take partial credit. :)


Among the treats offered are sundaes, sodas, malts, shakes, cones and ice cream pies. It's been ages since I got an ice cream pie, but now that I'm looking at the options, I think I may drop some hints to the others in this house about one for my upcoming 40th birthday. :) Listen to these descriptions:


Poulee's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Delight
(Poulee = Greek for "Grandpa")
Chocolate cookie crust with peanut butter and chocolate syrup on the bottom. Chocolate silk ice cream, topped with whipped cream, peanut butters cups and drizzled chocolate.


Big Daddy's Brownie Delight
Chocolate cookie crust with layer of fudge and brownie on the bottom. Chocolate silk ice cream and Gayety's vanilla bean topped with chocolate drizzles, brownie pieces and shavings of chocolate.


South Chicago Strawberry-Banana Split
Graham cracker crust with vanilla bean, strawberry cream and tropical banana ice cream topped with strawberries, nuts and chocolate drizzles.


And there are five others.


On the ice cream side, the tropical banana ice cream is to die for! The other regular flavors are vanilla, chocolate silk, strawberry, butter pecan, chocolate chip, blue moon and cotton candy. They also have seasonal flavors and now that summer is here you can also get aloha pina colada and dreamsicle.


They have a variety of sundaes and nine special sundaes, which includes an awesome fruit salad sundae with three scoops of ice cream topped with fresh fruit salad, sliced bananas, pure whipped cream and chopped nuts. By the way, the whipped cream is made there fresh each day. The ice cream is good, but (in my opinion) it's the whipped cream that makes it. My favorite sundae is the muddle: two scoops of homemade ice cream, topped with hot fudge, caramel, pure whipped cream and pecans. If you like Turtles, you will love this...way better than a Turtle. I don't know what kind of pecans they use, but they're the best I've ever had. I usually get the mini muddle, which is plenty big for me.