History
Joe and Katherine Sapp opened the Original Rainbow Cone at 9233 South Western Avenue in Chicago's Beverly neighbourhood in 1926. The signature five-flavour stack of chocolate, strawberry, Palmer House (vanilla with cherries and walnuts), pistachio almond and orange sherbet was sliced from bricks with a flat paddle, an early-20th-century method the shop still uses today. Now run by third-generation owner Lynn Sapp, Rainbow Cone celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2026 and has begun national expansion, but the Beverly flagship and a Navy Pier outpost are the canonical Chicago locations.
Common allergens: Dairy, Nuts, Egg
Make it at home
Ingredients
- Use 4 commercial pints of premium ice cream (the Sapp family makes their own; home cooks borrow the format): chocolate, strawberry, vanilla with chopped cherries and walnuts (= Palmer House), pistachio, orange sherbet
- If making Palmer House from scratch: 500ml whole milk
- 250ml double cream
- 150g caster sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 80g maraschino cherries chopped
- 80g walnuts toasted and chopped
- 4 fresh waffle or sugar cones
Method
- If you are making Palmer House from scratch: whisk yolks and sugar pale. Warm milk and cream until steaming; pour over yolks slowly while whisking. Return to pan and cook over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, 8 minutes to a custard that coats the back of the spoon. Strain, cool, churn in an ice cream machine. Fold in cherries and walnuts. Freeze 4 hours.
- Soften each pint just enough that you can press it into a rectangular loaf tin: line 4 loaf tins (or any rectangular containers) with cling film and pack each flavour separately. Freeze overnight until very firm.
- Turn out each block onto a chopping board. Using a long sharp knife dipped in hot water, slice each block into 2cm-thick slabs.
- Build each cone in this exact order from the bottom (touching the cone) up: orange sherbet, pistachio, Palmer House, strawberry, chocolate.
- The slices are pressed together with a paddle; the slabs should be slightly soft so they bond, but not melting.
- Serve immediately, supported in a tall glass; the rainbow stack is too top-heavy to stand on a flat surface.
Tip from the editors. Stacking ORDER matters: orange sherbet at the bottom holds the structure (lowest fat, freezes hardest); chocolate goes on top because it softens fastest.
Where to eat rainbow cone
Rainbow Cone in Chicago
Featured by TableJourney as a signature dish of Chicago. See the Chicago signature dishes guide for the canonical version.
More cities are in research. Want rainbow cone covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.