Erich Kho, resident of Elgin, Illinois, has been visiting Village Creamery for five years, even though the drive from his house to the Niles storefront takes about an hour. 

Located at 8000 Waukegan Road, the family-owned store is a simple establishment that, if not for a large sign brandishing its name, would blend in with its surroundings. The interior is equally no-frills, featuring plain walls, majority-blue furnishings and orange-cushioned chairs. 

For Evanston residents who crave Village Creamery but cannot make it to Niles often, they are now in luck. The store is now offering prepackaged ice cream at Coffee Lab Evanston as part of a new collaboration between the two businesses.

Kho likes to order a scoop of the sapin-sapin ice cream in a waffle cone, which he said is the store’s best flavor. The sapin-sapin flavor takes inspiration from the Filipino glutinous rice and coconut dessert.

Sapin-sapin is just one of several Filipino culinary tastes offered at Village Creamery, which include halo-halo, buko pandan, leche flan and macapuno. Owned and operated by the Valeroso family, the store has been serving up Filipino flavors since 2001. 

“They do their ice cream fresh from scratch … That’s what I really like about this place compared to others, and their ice cream is not too sweet,” Kho said. “This is the best place to get some ice cream and some halo-halo.” 

Halo-halo is a Filipino dessert made of shaved ice, evaporated milk and ice cream with various toppings, often eaten in the summertime. The store offers the iconic treat as well as an ice cream version. 

Kho said he and his partner enjoy traveling and finding the best places to eat, which is how the pair ended up becoming Village Creamery regulars. 

Coffee Lab employee Eunice Canda said Village Creamery perfectly captures her “childhood memories” in the Philippines, with authentic flavors that remind her of street ice cream vendors in the country. 

Canda said Coffee Lab decided to partner with the store because it is family-owned and promotes high-quality Filipino food beyond simple fruit flavors. 

“It’s only now that we’ve begun evolving regarding the Filipino food and desserts,” Canda said.

In suburban Illinois, Filipinos are still a minority despite their growing presence, which is why culinary spaces like Coffee Lab are important to make them feel at home, she added. 

Village Creamery employee Christian Mendoza said the store’s variety of unique flavors draws many customers, but that they are not as unusual as some may think. 

“They’re definitely more popular. People do come here for, they say, ‘exotic flavors,’ but in the Philippines it’s regular,” Mendoza said.

He said ube is the most popular ice cream flavor among customers, and when the weather gets hot — especially in the summer — the line for ice cream usually extends out the door.

Mendoza has worked at Village Creamery for two years. His uncles influenced his decision to work there since they worked at the same place years ago, he said. But he stays at the store for a different reason.

“I just really like it here,” Mendoza said. “And the ice cream is really good.” 

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