Sweet of the Week: Chicagoland Sundae at Parlour at the Pavilion

During the holidays, dessert appetites pivot more towards pie and hot chocolate than cooler things like sundaes and shakes. This would be a grievous mistake to give in to such seasonal habits, as you'd be missing out on some killer ice cream artistry happening at Parlour at the Pavilion. Revered for its afternoon tea service, the leisurely lounge adjacent to Travelle in The Langham, Chicago is quietly turning out some of the best sundaes in Chicago. Borrowing a page from the Margie's Candies playbook of excessive indulgence served in enormous bowls the size of bathtubs, Parlour at the Pavilion serves to offer a gourmet riff on the decadent dessert template. This is especially evident in the Chicagoland sundae, a fitting homage to our fair city. 

Parlour at the Pavilion
Chicagoland sundae at Parlour at the Pavilion

The new ice cream concept at the Pavilion is the handiwork of pastry chef Scott Green, who exhibits his saccharine dexterity with ice cream sundaes as intricate and composed as most fine entrees. Each sundae is masterfully crafted and presented, served in herculean bowls heaped with scoop after scoop of vibrant ice cream and its accompaniments. Chicago's proud namesake sundae here, the Chicagoland, is appropriately one of best. Indicative of Chicagoans' honorable love for all things sweet and excessive, the sundae includes chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, chocolate ice cream, Garrett's caramel popcorn, cheesecake bites, chocolate cake, hot fudge, salted caramel, whipped cream, and cherry. Each bite is complexly sweet, chewy, fudgy, and rich, with each element lending a different component of sweet in its own way. Adorably, the sundae comes outfitted with a mini Chicago flag. 

It's Americana at its finest, which works out perfectly considering Chicago is the quintessential American metropolis.


- Matt Kirouac

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