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Anybody else as excited as I am? I'm a huge fan of Mario's awsome Italian Ice- If you haven't heard of this place your missing out, it's one of those places that is worth the detour. It's just a little shop colored in white, green, and red stripes with "Mario's Italian Lemonade" painted on. Their specialty is italian ice, they make various flavors from grape, lime, lemon, but the one you must try is Coconut. Day after day I find myself taking craving an Italian ice and this is the first year that I'm just waiting for them to open. They open in a few days... May 1st and I totally recommend this place for an ice cold italian ice, it's a must.

It's near UIC on Taylor
--1068 W. Taylor St

Gina's on Oak Park avenue and Roosevelt just opened too, which has a good ice.

We're big fans of Gina's. They use a lot of fresh fruit in their ices (not all of them, but most, and we're especially fond of watermelon, cantaloupe, and lemon), and Gina and her boys are just very nice folks.

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

I LOVE Gina's. I know that Mario's gets a lot of love on this board, but Gina's is so much better! First off, when it come to the actual product, I much prefer Gina's. Unlike Mario's, she doesn't use a lemon base for all of her flavors. She offers a nice mix of whole fruit based flavors (like watermelon, peach and lemon) but also has some nice syrup-y flavors when the mood strikes (i particularly like her banana, which doesn't taste like a real banana, but more like the old banana candy that was a powder in a plastic banana container.)

Even better, Gina and her son(s) are such wonderful people. Very personable and fun to chat while eating your Italian Ice. One year I missed her very time limited Peach offering, The next year, she saved me a couple of cups of her amazing Peach, just because she knows how much I love it.

I know that taste is subjective, but there is no question that the family atmosphere at Gina's makes the italian ice experience better.

best.
veeral

carlitos, yer excited...

i'm excited!

we're all excited!!!

marios is the reason i wake up.

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

I'll second the comments about Gina's banana flavored ice. It's my favorite. Freddy's chocolate is a killer too.

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

Personally, Ferros Italian ice tops my list. Can anyone offer a comparison?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/A4hzD23304oWjazgLC_n2w

Never heard of Gina's.. but I'm definetly exited to try it...

-Carlos

I just had a strawberry-flavoured ice at Ferro's on Saturday afternoon, so bear in mind that I am relying on my faded memory of Mario's to make the following comparison... along with a fair amount of personal bias.

Ferro's
-sticky, cloying sweetness
-smooth, creamy, consistent texture
-pureed fruit

Mario's
-refreshing, watery sweetness
-granular, icy, slushy texture
-chunked fruit

As others here have mentioned, Mario's uses their standard lemon base as a building block for their repetoire of flavours. Ferro's does not.

Anyway, speaking of ice, I just had an excellent lemon/mango combo ice at Miko's yesterday afternoon.

Now, it sounds like I have to try Gina's...

Ferro's
200 W 31st St.
312.842.0702

Miko's
1846 N. Damen Ave., Chicago
773.645.9664

E.M.

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"Don't even touch my gold, I'm good."

just came back from near lethal mario's - al's combo combo. skip and maria were dishing it out. tried banana, pineapple (pinana) lemon and tutti frutti. i'll be back for dinner.

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

Just to clarify, Gina's does NOT taste like Mario's. Gina's is more syrupy and sweet. Mario's always strikes me as a bit tart and bitter.

If you go to Gina's try the Lemon and Watermelon for fruit based. The cherry/strawberry and banana are pretty syrupy.

As a first time Mario's customer, I was not impressed at all. In fact, I am very surprised by such a legion of great taste critics' overwhelming worship of Mario's flavored ice.
I bought a large cup of grape and lemon at 6PM -- the grape was horrendous, and that's being kind. The lemon was a bit better, but certainly could have used a bit more sugar.
Maybe I have terrible taste in flavored ice, but a recent trip to Johnny's exposed me to lemon flavored ice, which I felt was better than Mario's lemon flavored rendition.

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Anybody know where I can buy rainbow cookies in Chicago?

If you mean to impugn my palate, or that of any other Mario's fan here for that matter, I will say only this in (our) defense: It is what it is, and that is exactly what it is good for.*



E.M.

* Every ice shop has its own formula, technique, and resultant product profile, and, I, for one, think that Mario's does a remarkably good job on all counts. I appreciate the bitterness. I appreciate the slushiness. And, as ice goes, I find Mario's to be one of the best sources of real "refreshment" during the sweltering days of summer.

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"Don't even touch my gold, I'm good."

There are definitely better Italian ice stands around town (Tom & Wendy's comes to mind). But if you know what to order at Mario's you will enjoy it far more than your initial experience.

Avoid the flavors made with standard syrups. Go for the fresh fruit ices that might come later in the summer. Cantaloupe, peach, watermelon, and tutti fruity have far more natural flavors and sport big juicy chunks of those fruits.

Buddy

mario's as well as al's, are chicago. helps if you've been going there most of your life as well.

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

Actually, Erik, I think you and the other regulars are excellent critics -- perhaps I am not so skilled...

I say this because after years of using Citysearch to locate the best burger, italian beef, italian food, etc and being unhappy withe the results, somebody more recently turned me onto Yelp, which I found is a modest improvement over Citysearch.
Still not quite satisfied with the results, I did a search and found chowhound and lth...
I found LTH far more useful, perhaps because it caters to Chicagoans, or perhaps because it has the better critics...

Anyway, since being on LTH, I have found Kuma's Corner, Smoque, and Spacca Napoli, which have given me the 3 best meals I have experienced since I moved to Chicago 3 years ago.
And of course, after reading the various Beefathon threads, I recently went to Johnnies in Elmwood Park and ordered the combo... WOW!!!
Just like you guys, I found it far better than Al's or Patio, which I had last night before trying out Mario's...
And for some reason, probably because I suck at evaluating Italian Ice, I enjoyed the lemon concoction I had at Johnnies more than the one I had at Mario's last night and was curious to know if I was the only person who felt this way...

If that is the case, then it is me who has crappy taste buds.

Nevertheless, tonight I will give Mario's another chance -- I will try the cantaloupe and Tutti Fruity, as Buddy suggested.

B

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Anybody know where I can buy rainbow cookies in Chicago?

That's what we like to hear!

But I don't think you have crappy taste buds, each ice place has its own style and different things are best there-- I completely agree that Mario's strength is when the fresh fruit hits, and also, the part that goes beyond the ice itself, the whole street-buzzing-at-ten-PM-in-the-summer Little Italy-stickball-Martha and the Vandellas thing which none of the rest have (though Miko's on Damen is not a bad approximation closer to home).

For straight up ice I like Miko's and also Anthony's on Southport, but Mario's is Mario's.

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what time did the cantalope appear? it wasn't there @ 8. or @ noon when i was there as well. is it there now?

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

I can't speak for the "other regulars," but I just kinda make shit up as I go along.

E.M.

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"Don't even touch my gold, I'm good."

The pictures are two years old, so the canteloupe will probably show up in a month or something.

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Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.

Also, I think Mario's is a slightly different beast. It's not "Water Ice" it's "Italian Lemonade."

You don't have bad taste buds, you just don't like Mario's It's OK, that's why we want there to be lots more places that make their own stuff. CHOICES!

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Leek
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Mario's/Al's a formidable Chicago 1-2 Punch!

5.2.07

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

now that's what i'm talking about.

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

"I enjoyed the lemon concoction I had at Johnnies more than the one I had at Mario's last night and was curious to know if I was the only person who felt this way... "

Growing up in Melrose Park in the 50's and 60's, my first exposure to Italian Lemonade was at the Feast of our Lady of St. Carmel. Along with the raw clam stand the stand that sold Lupini, Ceci and pumpkin seeds and the wonderful sausage cooking over charcoal just like they do at Johnnies, was the Italian Lemonade guy. Only one flavor- Lemon, white with lemon peels. It was much later in life that I heard of "Ice" and all the different flavors. IMHO based on my background, the most authentic Italian Lemonade is at Johnnie's. That lemon concoction you enjoyed was the real deal.

I agree. When it comes to lemon, Johnnie's has it down pat.

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

How late does Mario's stay open on a Friday night?

Hi,

I am pretty certain it is until midnight. I couldn't find anything here to verify and certainly you cannot call to verify.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
Facebook, Twitter, Greater Midwest Foodways, Road Food 2012: Podcast

it is midnight. sometimes been known to close 15 min early though if no biz.

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"In pursuit of joys untasted"
from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata

Chickies Italian Beef on Pulaski and 28th has pretty good Italian Ice also. It goes great with a combo sweet and hot. Hits the spot all the time.