From colored hot chocolate to a cardboard sleigh, Tate’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Shop in LaGrange is a sure fire way to get into the holiday spirit. Tate’s is a family run business that makes their homemade ice cream in the shop. Its atmosphere is unlike any franchise I have ever visited. Little kids decorate gingerbread houses while they eat their ice cream. Seasonal flavors are now being served for a limited time only. Their pumpkin ice cream was the reason my friend brought me to Tate’s on my first trip.
I looked at the chalkboard and thought I misread it. A hot chocolate ice cream float. He asked me what sounded good. I wanted to say everything, but, instead, I told him I wanted to try this seemingly contradictory combination. A mix of hot and cold. He asked what color hot chocolate I wanted. Color? I could honestly say I had never been asked that one before. He listed them, counting on his fingers. Red, orange, green, purple, blue, and pink. After all his memorization and effort into coercing me, I thought I could only handle so much adventure in one order. So I toned it down to just a regular hot chocolate with vanilla ice cream. Eventually, the ice cream melted into the hot beverage, but still the experience was wholly new and entertaining. As a side note: a friend of mine has ordered colored hot chocolate and it was a pastel purple. They use a chocolate mix that looks normal from the outside, but when combined with hot water, it changes the color of its contents.
Since this first visit, I have tried their pumpkin, cookie dough, and coffee ice cream. A word of wisdom: do not fall for ice cream’s plain appearance; Tate’s is far from plain. The ice cream is delicious, rich, and similar to something you may find at Oberweis. But there remains that unmistakable sense of homemade ice cream that you can taste. The options there are not only limited to hot chocolates and ice creams. Homemade baked goods, sodas, shakes and candies can also be purchased at Tate’s.
Just because there is no snow on the ground, doesn’t mean the holiday spirit cannot be found. Visit Tate’s and enjoy the sweetness, the atmosphere, and I can guarantee you will find holiday cheer.
