End of era as Hickory Hills Tastee-Freez closes

Tastee-Freez has closed its last south suburban location in Hickory Hills. (Photo by Bob Bong)

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

The last Tastee-Freez location in the south suburbs and one of the last in the Chicago area closed late last year in Hickory Hills.

The iconic chain, which was founded in Joliet in 1950 and has been featured in hit songs by John Mellancamp and Trisha Yearwood as well as "The Outsiders" novel by S.E. Hinton, shut its doors in November at 9348 S. Roberts Road.

The Hickory Hills location became the last one in the south suburbs after the Tastee-Freez in Palos Heights moved earlier last year and changed its name to Diane's Place.

According to the company's website, there are only two Tastee-Freez locations in Illinois in Spring Valley and Mt. Carmel.  But a reader, Rita Maniotis, of Berwyn, says the brand is alive and well in her town. According to Rita, Tastee-Freez is alive and well in Berwyn on the corner of  26th Street and Clarence Avenue.

Calls  to the company were not returned.

The dessert chain expanded fast and there were almost 1,800 locations in 1957. The chain was acquired in 2003 by a California-based franchising group and the number of locations has since fallen to less than 50.

Like many of the current locations, the Hickory Hills location offered a menu that also included burgers and other fast food items in addition to breakfast and ice cream treats.

New shrimp house opens in Palos

Ongoing construction of LaGrange Road did not deter Tim Keefer and his partners from going ahead with plans to open a shrimp house in Palos Park last year.

Response to the Original Island Shrimp House at 12909 S. LaGrange Road has been "surprisingly strong despite the road work," said Keefer, who is the managing director for the partnership group.

"Word of mouth advertising has been very positive," said Keefer, of Orland Park. "We are seeing a lot of repeat business."

Keefer said serendipity played a hand in choosing the Palos Park location. "I was driving down LaGrange Road. Saw the 'for rent' sign in the Capri location. Dialed the number. Checked out the building and knew it was the perfect place."

Keefer said the restaurant uses a lot of the same recipes as Goose Island Shrimp House and features sauces developed with the help of a five star chef.

Keefer said all of the food is prepared in house from fresh ingredients.

The restaurant features fried shrimp, scallops, oysters, white fish and calamari as well as New England lobster rolls (on weekends only) and great desserts.

"The lobster rolls are a huge item for us," he said. "We sell 200-400 a weekend. It's all lobster in there."

He also said the key lime tort is a big seller.

"We use key lime juice that is flown in from Florida. We sell a couple of hundred a week."

Another popular item is the cornbread.

"We bake it daily and sell 70-125 a day."

Now that the weather is changing, Keefer said the restaurant has added soups.

"We have New England chowder, shrimp bisque and jambalaya."

Keefer said his only goal is for people "to come in and leave saying it was incredible. We try to achieve that through quality. Quality makes a huge difference."

He also prides himself on delivering a "great family feeling and atmosphere."

The restaurant has seating for 65 in oversized and sturdy booths. "We put a lot of extra effort into building sturdy booths. We also put the booths and tables far enough apart so everyone is not in your conversation."

The restaurant is closed Monday but open from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.

Keefer said franchising is an option for the future.

"We built it as a franchisable business," he said. "We want to make sure we have everything perfect before we do it."

Nothing Bundt Cakes opens in Oak Lawn

Nothing Bundt Cakes, a new bakery that specializes in those funny looking cakes with a hole in the middle, held its grand opening late last year in Oak Lawn.

The store at 10912 S. Cicero Ave. opened in November and is owned by Jeffrey Reynolds and Ryan Devlin.

The Oak Lawn location is the eighth Nothing Bundt Cakes in Illinois and another one is under construction in Chicago's Lincoln Park community. The Las Vegas-based company has more than 100 locations nationwide.

Nothing Bundt Cakes offers a variety of sizes from bite-sized bundtlets to eight-inch tiered cakes. There are nine standard flavors such as red velvet and lemon and a 10th flavor of the month. 

Customers can stop in any time to sample the top four flavors of red velvet, chocolate, chocolate chip, lemon and white chocolate raspberry.

All cakes are made at the bakery.

Hours at Nothing Bundt Cakes are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

For information and ordering, call 708-422-7449 or visit Nothing Bundt Cakes.

The first Nothing Bundt Cakes in the south suburbs opened a year ago in Orland Park. Chicago-area stores  are also located in LaGrange, Mount Prospect, Skokie, Wheaton, Elmhurst, and Naperville.

If you see a new business in town or wonder what happened to an old favorite, drop me a line at bobbong@hotmail.com.

You can also catch up on Comings & Goings in other parts of the Southland at www.southlandbusinessnews.com