Ample Hills to Re-Open Wednesday With Replenished Stores and New Flavors

Don't believe the rumors: Ample Hills Creamery, Prospect Heights' new ice cream shop is set to re-open Wednesday, not Tuesday, at noon.

Owner Brian Smith originally said he would re-open the shop tomorrow but told Prospect Heights Patch yesterday (and reconfirmed tonight) that he plans to push it back one more day.

The store – the , instead of from a “dairy mix” of pre-pasteurized milk, cream, sugar and eggs – built up an eager foodie fan base in the months before it opened.

But the popularity was also its brief downfall. , four days after it opened when, due to unexpected demand, it ran out of ice cream. ()

Since then, owner Brian Smith has hired more staff to make the ice cream and has replenished the stock.   

"We're up to six tubs of salted crack in reserve.  Should last us a couple days!" he said via e-mail, referring to the shop's most popular flavor, (as opposed to the popular drug).

Smith said he will also roll out a few innovations next week, including traditional cones as a smaller alternative to the handmade waffle cones, and several new flavors including maple bacon, peanut butter, “black on white,” (white chocolate ice cream with a dark chocolate swirl), cinnamon and strawberries and cream and two dairy-free sorbets: coco mojo (coconut-lime-mint mojito flavored), and lemon sky (a lemon-ginger sorbet). But sorry vegans: while they’re dairy free, they include egg whites “for texture, according to Smith.   

Asked which flavors would be retired to make room in the case for the new ones, Smith said none (not even poor bubblegum, the very last flavor left when the shop ran out). However bubblegum, banana, bananamon, chocolate chocolate chip, and espresso would be “benched for awhile,” Smith said via e-mail.

In addition, the ice cream cakes, frozen fudge and salted caramel drinks and the outdoor seating will be ready this time around, he said.

The grand re-opening will also have a few festive touches including live music and free samples of the frozen fudge drink, Smith said. 

 Ample Hills Creamery, 623 Vanderbilt Avenue at St. Marks, will re-open Wednesday, June 7, at noon. The shop's hours will be Sun-Thurs. noon to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday noon to 11 p.m. A phone number is not yet available.