Creamy, delicious frozen custard delights even in winter

At this point in the year, and with recent weather conditions, you might cringe at the thought of anything frozen.

But frozen things can require other tools besides snow blowers, shovels, and ice scrapers.

Like spoons and straws. Especially when they have names like Dreamsicle, Mint Oreo, Choco Chocolate Chunk, Cookie Overload and Cinnamon Apple.

Late last year, the Van Acker family of Elgin opened Van's Frozen Custard in Carpentersville, on Huntley Road just west of Route 31.

And although their outdoor seating won't open for a while, their restaurant is warm and cozy inside, and holds enough concoctions to make you shed your coat and forget the wind chill.

Chad Van Acker said he and his dad, Richard, had been talking about opening a restaurant for a couple of years.

Richard, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, had managed some Burger King restaurants in DeKalb while attending Northern Illinois University in the 1970s.

Chad worked his way from busboy to head caterer at Candy Cane Caterers and Restaurant in Elgin during middle school, high school, and summers while on break from college. He was eager to put his business degree, which he earned from Tulane University in New Orleans, to use.

"I went to school for business, so I've always been interested in opening my own business. I knew that at some point in my life I was going to do this because I've been very passionate about it," Chad said.

That point came last year.

After graduating from college, Chad Van Acker became certified in teaching English as a Second Language and spent two years teaching in San Luis Potosi in Mexico. There he met his wife, Mavy, and they decided to return to the Elgin area.

"When I came back from Mexico, I didn't really have any job lined up here, no commitments -- and we thought this would be a good time to do it," said Chad. He still teaches as a substitute in School District U-46 on his days off.

Their decision to focus on frozen treats didn't just fall from the sky.

"For both of us, my dad and I, it's kind of like our little baby, I guess. We've both been interested in opening an ice cream place," he said.

"When I was probably 12, we went on a family vacation and visited the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont. After that I thought it would be cool to open an ice cream place. I had custard for the first time a couple years ago, and I was like. 'That's better than ice cream.'"

Father and son originally looked for space in Elgin, but didn't find anything that fit their plans. Then they found their current space.

"We really liked that fact that it is surrounded by neighborhoods. We want to be part of a community, where you can just walk down the street, or kids can take their bikes in the summer. We also have the main street, Huntley Road, right in front of us, which is nice," Chad said.

The two then took a weeklong training course in St. Louis presented by the biggest manufacturer of custard equipment, where they learned how to make custard.

But it was the research that Chad jokingly described as the toughest part.

"My dad and I had to make the big sacrifice, basically going to a ton of custard places just to kind of try out their stuff, look at what their layout was, how they had the machines and everything set up," he said.

"Custard isn't a huge thing here, compared to the two biggest places for it, which are Milwaukee and St. Louis. It was actually part of our training course. One night they take you to what they call a 'custard crawl.' You go to a bunch of custard places to try their stuff. One weekend both of us went up to Milwaukee and looked at a bunch of those places."

Chad says there are two major differences between custard and ice cream.

"One of the two biggest differences is that it is made fresh every day -- and you can definitely taste that. It's not sitting in a freezer for who knows how long. Also, you make it in a special custard machine which mixes in less air. Some ice creams can be 50 percent air. Ours has about 10 percent, so it's that much smoother and creamier because of that."

The Van Ackers use the same method to make their fat-free, dairy-free sorbet. Every two days there is a new flavor made with such fresh fruit as strawberry or mango and passion fruit.

"Because we make it (the sorbet) in our custard machine it comes out really smooth and creamy, like custard. A lot of people eat it and they're just amazed that it doesn't have dairy in it," Chad said.

Chocolate and vanilla custard are offered daily, and a large selection of candies and fruits can be added to customize your flavor. There are also, of course, sundaes and other frozen creations. The Van's menu also includes soups, sandwiches, and quesadillas.

For Valentine's Day, Van's is making heart-shaped custard cakes, as well as bite-sized, chocolate-dipped hearts with different flavors of custard inside. They will be packaged to look like a box of candy.

Van's Frozen Custard hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Sundays; and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Visit vansfrozencustard.com to view the flavors of the day and the complete menu. Or call (847) 836-8267.

• If you have any news about your club, school, church, business, neighbor, or even yourself, please contact Kirstin Finneran by cell at (312) 518-4993 or e-mail at kirstinfinneran@comcast.net.