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LOGAN SQUARE — It’s officially spring in Logan Square: The Freeze, the neighborhood’s favorite ice cream and burger spot, has opened for the season.
The Freeze, formerly known as Tastee-Freez, is doing a soft opening through the end of the week. Current hours are 5-10 p.m. Customers can order at the side window.
The ice cream spot at 2815 W. Armitage Ave. will be open regular hours starting next week: 1-10 p.m. Monday-Sunday.
New to the menu this year is an orange shell coating for soft-serve ice cream cones and an allergen-free sunflower butter shake, owner Tony Zarcone said.
The Freeze was open last summer, but sales were down with it only being a few months into the coronavirus pandemic, Zarcone said.
“It was rough last year … everything was up for grabs,” he said. “This year, hopefully all of the restaurants can get back to normalcy, get back to doing what they love.”
The Freeze has been a local favorite since its founding in 1950. Families flock to the unassuming ice cream spot in the summer months for soft-serve cones, Freezies (think Blizzards) and no-frills fast food, and they hang out at the picnic benches outside the restaurant.
The Freeze is a “precious reminder of what neighborhoods are really for,” especially “as Logan Square gentrifies and condos blossom around the restaurant,” the Reader’s Leor Galil wrote in a tribute to the ice cream stand.
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