Meet us where 100 years of award-winning ice cream is served
Petersen's Ice Cream Shop is an Oak Park institution at the top of the “must-do” list for anyone traveling to the village for the first time or anyone returning home for a visit.
For more than a century, this old-fashioned ice cream parlor has been bringing people together over waffle cones piled high with award-winning ice cream and turtle sundaes topped with maraschino cherries.
The Turtle Pie is also a crowd favorite with seven scoops of bone-white vanilla ice cream, drizzled in special Petersen’s fudge and hot caramel, then topped with oven-roasted pecans, and nestled into a graham cracker crust.
Some say this humble shop with deep historical roots is the best ice cream in Chicagoland, and the judges at the Illinois State Fair certainly agree. Petersen's has brought home the blue ribbon from the fair no less than nine times!
The award-winning recipe contains 16- to 18-percent butterfat that’s hand-packed for a richer, creamier scoop that may just be the secret to happiness!
Simply walking into Petersen’s Ice Cream may be the secret to happiness with its original tin ceilings and marble counters that will bring a smile to your face. There is just something about the smell of freshly griddled waffle cones and the array of colorful ice cream flavors that reminds us all of the joy of carefree summer days.
Petersen’s is open every day from 2pm to 9pm. It’s one of those places where you come for an after-dinner treat and a summer stroll.
We have to go back to the butterfat to understand how Petersen’s Ice Cream got its start in Oak Park 100 years ago.
During the first World War, Hans Petersen learned that butterfat would be rationed in Chicago, and knowing that the secret to his recipe was in the butterfat, he high-tailed it to Oak Park where he could buy more of his key ingredient.
Today, Petersen’s still serves the same ice cream recipe that Hans created.
Petersen’s Ice Cream is located at 1100 Chicago Avenue. It’s just over a half-mile walk from the Oak Park Stop on the Green Line of the “L” train.
