Sweeten Up Sandwich Month With Chicago's Best Ice Cream Sandwiches
August being National Sandwich Month and the dog days of summer, it's the best time of year for an ice cream sandwich. Two birds, one stone. Fortunately, Chicago is filled with unique ice cream sandwich offerings, from classic to contemporary. Here are some of the best versions to try around town.
Momotaro: A far cry from your standard ice cream sandwich fare, the versions being served at Momotaro this season uniquely fuse American pastimes with Japanese influence. They're made with matcha and Okinawa black sugar ice creams, sandwiched between dark chocolate brownies. Altogether, the decadent sweetness and fudgy qualities of the brownies are a nice accent and balance with the herbal, heady notes of the ice creams.
Firecakes: There's an indulgent behemoth at Firecakes that is pretty much the opposite of classic nostalgia. Unless you grew up eating doughnut ice cream sandwiches, that is. Made by splitting glazed doughnuts across the middle and filling them with different flavors of ice cream and chocolate sauce, it’s a one-two punch of comfort food at its most decadent.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams: In terms of ice cream sandwiches, it doesn't get much more precious than the sweet sandwiches at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. The Columbus, Ohio-based scoop shop features beautiful and unique flavor combos, most of which are served between huge macarons instead of typical cookies. Examples include the orchid vanilla sandwich with vanilla bean ice cream and black currant jam on purple almond macarons; the chocolate hazelnut with dark chocolate ice cream and roasted hazelnuts on hazelnut macarons; and salty caramel with Jeni's signature salty caramel ice cream served on almond macarons with chopped smoked almonds.
Amorino: Ice cream sandwiches are downright dainty and adorable at Amorino, as the Parisian gelato shop peddles macaron ice cream “sandwiches” in vivid flavors like mango, pistachio, caramel, chocolate, and coffee.
BomboBar: One of the most indulgent and comforting sandwiches of the season is the gelato bombolini sandwiches being served at BomboBar alongside Bar Siena. For summer, the inventive sweets shop handily combines its famous Italian donuts with its gelato, splitting the freshly fried pastries down the middle and stuffing them with various gelato flavors. They come sprinkled with fun toppings like Fruity Pebbles, too.