Recent social media posts
05/23/2026
It’s the official start to ice cream season! Memorial Day Weekend is the beginning of that time of year you just can’t get enough cool treats.
We seem to have a beautiful weekend ahead of us, and our shop will be open all weekend, and Memorial Day!
Come by and stock up for a backyard BBQ or enjoy a treat with us!
05/13/2026
Eli's Cheesecake is a Chicago Icon and we are so excited to translate their cheesecakes in to ice cream! Our newest collaboration is the Eli's Cheesecake Ice Cream bar.
Made with chocolate cheesecake ice cream, bars of frozen cheesecake are submerged inside. The shell is made with shortbread cookie crumbs, just like the crust of Eli's cheesecakes.
You'll find this flavor on our menu for the month of May, along with some other Eli's inspired surprises!
05/12/2026
The days are heating up and this Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava popsicle is the perfect quencher.
Available year round, it's sure to bring down the heat with each bite.
Made with pink guava, tart passionfruit, and fresh squeezed orange juice it's a real one.
Come by and try one today or stock up for the next spring heat wave!
05/03/2026
Rainbow Chip is one of our favorite flavors, designed for the kid in all of us. Birthday Cake ice cream is dipped in a fun sprinkle shell that delights people of all ages.
This pop is especially popular with our younger guests, but don't be deterred. We spent a lot of time perfecting this Birthday Cake flavor, which can sometimes be cloying and too sweet.
The flavor is filled with the joy of a childhood birthday party while being balanced for more grown up tastes.
05/02/2026
Mini pops are perfect for events of all kinds! Available through our catering department they are BFF's next to a wedding cake, as a late night snack, or out in a cooler at your company picnic.
They are just about the cutest little things, shrunken down from our most popular flavors.
You'll find a limited selection of them in our Logan Square shop, just the right size for smaller hands or smaller appetites.
If you're planning an event this season, email us at [email protected] or follow the link in our bio to our website for more information!
05/01/2026
May 1st is the Celtic festival of Beltain, a spring awakening filled with bonfires and new hope for the year. Our S'more Bar is born of fire, where marshmallows are burnt to black and toasted perfection before being blended into our sweet cream ice cream.
It gives the most perfect fire-kissed flavor, without which a S'more just would just be chocoalte, graham cracker, and marshmallows.
We are looking forward to this turning point in the year, as the days grow longer and warmer, our lives get busier, and ice cream fills in the all moments in between.
04/18/2026
A little behind the scenes of a flavor we are working on! It includes bars of chocolate chip cheesecake in a chocolate cheesecake ice cream. We can't wait to share the details on our collaborators, stay tuned it's going to be so delicious when it's launched!
04/17/2026
While we are known for our outstanding ice cream bars and ice pops, it's our Chocolate Chip ice cream sandwich that tops the charts in sales every week!
Made with a double vanilla ice cream infused with both Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla's, this ice cream sandwich is a dream. Two thin crispy chocolate chip cookies (gluten free of course) wrap this ice cream, designed to break apart between your teeth without the ice cream squishing out the sides.
It wouldn't be Pretty Cool without a little dip in something tasty and a scattering of cute sprinkles, and this sandwich features our signature chocolate shell as well as some fun sprinkles.
It's big enough to share, but so good you might not want to!
04/16/2026
Key Lime Pie is cool and refreshing on a hot day, but crave able enough to eat all year. Our Key Lime Pie Pop starts with real key lime juice in our sweet cream ice cream base. We dip it in a graham cracker crust to "Pie-ify" this flavor, made with house made cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (gluten free!)
It's a bite of pure summer in any season, and Chicago spring can deliver all four seasons in one day at times. You'll find this flavor in our shop, or in year round!
Grab one today and taste the sunshine.
04/15/2026
We heard that big company that makes those iconic peanut butter cups got in some hot water for using less chocolate in their treats. We are here to say we have been using real chocolate, and lots of it, since the day we put this Peanut Butter cup inspired pop on the menu!
Peanut Butter ice cream inside a chocolate shell is elevated with crispy salty flecks of crushed potato chips. To quote our founder's Uncle Tom, "It's like a Reesies from heaven."
So put down those pb cups and grab one of these bars today!
04/15/2026
Mango makes a mighty fine ice cream, and for our version of this popular flavor we infuse Mango with orange blossom water for a Mango Lassi sherbet bar.
We are often asked what makes sherbet a sherbet, and if you were wondering too listen up! Sherbet has some laws that dictate it has between 2-4% butterfat, making it leaner than ice cream. We think this makes it the perfect vessel for fresh fruit, offering a subtle creaminess that doesn't interfere with the fruit flavor. We load our sherbet up with fruit, each pop is 1/3 fresh fruit!
Our sherbet bars are made with fruits in their season through out the year, but you'll always find this Mango Lassi on the menu. If you haven't tried it yet, maybe today is the day!
04/14/2026
In Chicago we like our popcorn a little sweet and a little savory and blend cheesy popcorn wiht crispy caramel popcorn. To celebrate this unique combination, we made an ice cream bar.
Salted caramel popcorn is dipped in a cheddar popcorn shell, and the flavor is spot on! If you love Chicago Mix popcorn, you'll love the ice cream even more! It's a labor of love, so we don't always have it on the menu, but it's here now!
Come by and enjoy on in our Logan Square shop or order online for pick up or delivery!
04/04/2026
Spring has sprung, and the Easter bunny hopped on by this weekend to leave some Easter candy inspired pops! Chocolate and hazelnut take center stage inside a blue robins egg shell, hand speckled like our favorite Easter basket candies!
Available now, so hop on over and enjoy one with us or order for pick up and delivery!
03/27/2026
The winners of our March Madness brackets are in!
We posted and you voted on some of your favorite blasts from Pretty Cool’s past.
Pint: Sweet Corn Blueberry Swirl
Collaboration: Piccadilly Market’s Banoffee Pie
Community Support: Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough with Local Eclectic
Staff Favorites: Take-5
Ice Cream Sandwich: Coffee Caramel Cookie
Savory: Everything Bagel
Our pastry chef has been very hard at work this last week bringing these flavors to life!
As soon as they roll out of the kitchen they will roll right onto the menu! So keep your eyes peeled, come by this weekend or order online as your favorites pop up!
03/20/2026
March Madness is upon us and we've pitted some of our most popular flavors from the last 7 years against each other to see who comes out on top!
Head to our stories so you can vote, and our kitchen team will bring back these recipes and make the winners for you!
There are 6 catetories to vote in....
Ice Cream Sandwiches
Pints
Savory Pops
Collaboration Pops
Community Support POps
Staff Favorites
Did we miss your favorite long lost flavor?
03/11/2026
Luck o’ the Ice Cream is yours this week as we are preparing some of our favorite seasonal flavors! For those that don’t wait all year for these flavors, you’re seeing some of the most sought after flavors make! Let us introduce them to you…..
Lucky Charmed pints feature a marshmallow-y ice cream with white chocolate coated lucky charms cereal and lots of extra marshmallows!
Shamrock Pop is a mint milkshake flavored ice cream bar with green sprinkles and a rainbow.
Get yourself ready we are putting the finishing touches on these for launch this Friday!
03/10/2026
Pi day is 3.14 and to celebrate we are bringing back one of our best Pie flavors!
Banana Cream Pie is made with a caramelized banana base and lots of good vanilla. The ice cream is dipped in our graham cracker shell to complete the effect.
Stock up now on this and our Key Lime Pie!
02/27/2026
From day one, Coffee Pretzel Toffee has been delighting fans. Our rich coffee ice cream is infused with freshly ground coffee beans, so it tastes the way coffee smells instead of the brewed variety.
Once frozen, this pop is dunked in our signature chocolate shell with chunks of pretzels and almond toffee floating about. It's crunchy and deep, salty and sweet, and pure heaven for all coffee ice cream lovers!
We wouldn't blame you if you started your day with coffee ice cream instead of a cup of joe!
02/25/2026
A fudgesicle is a childhood favorite, marking warmer days with chocolate stained faces. Our Dark Chocolate Plant Pop is a sophisticated version of this nostalgic treat, made with both semisweet chocolate and a rich cocoa powder. You'll find it year round in our shop, delighting children and adults alike. Take a trip down memory lane with us today!
02/17/2026
It’s Mardi Gras and we’ve come to the party with two New Orleans inspired flavors!
NOLA Coffee and Pralines is a coffee ice cream with hand made pecan pralines folded in. It’s so good we bring it back every year!
This year we have a new flavor, a King Cake ice cream sandwich, made with a cinnamon cream cheese ice cream and sugar cookies. It’s dressed up like a king cake with a drizzle of glaze and lots of sparkling sugar and sprinkles.
Let the good times roll!!
02/16/2026
Pazcki is a Chicago tradition and we never miss out on the fun!
Our Pazcki Pop is the coolest way to enjoy the jelly filled donuts. Made by blending donuts into our sweet cream ice cream, this pop is covered in a tart raspberry shell before being dusted in powdered sugar.
They are available in our shop today along side a King Cake ice cream sandwich and a NOLA coffee and pralines ice cream pint!
02/14/2026
We have easy-to-love and easy-to-give gifts for all the Pretty Cool people in your life!
Our Valentines Day collection is the obvious choice in both dairy and vegan varieties. Pack them up in one of our cute little thermal lunch bags!
We’ve also packed up our ultra decadent cocoa into boxes to gift! We blend our own with a deep cocoa and a hint of brown sugar for the best powdered cocoa blend ever.
And our cute pink gift cards are a natural fit for the holiday and can be loaded in any dollar amount to spoil someone you love.
02/13/2026
Pretty Cool Is throwing a High school Valentine’s Day Dance this weekend! Come down and dance with us Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!
We have crowns to decorate because at Pretty Cool High, everyone is royalty.
We set up a photo backdrop for all your awkward poses as well!
We are mixing up some 7-up and sherbet punch for those of us old enough to remember, and perhaps making some younger fans along the way!
It’s happening all weekend, come revel in your old memories old and make a few new ones along the way!
02/10/2026
When you enter an ice cream shop, there are 3 flavors you expect to see no matter where you are; Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry.
Our Strawberry Sherbet Bar is our love letter to strawberry ice cream. Made in a sherbet style, it contains less butterfat and way more strawberry, so the fruit flavor truly sings!
Summer days may feel impossibly far away, but cozy up at home with this pop and you'll see the light at the end of the wintery tunnel.
02/09/2026
We think Caramel Horchata Crunch is one of our best flavors, and the sales prove us right! It's the only flavor without chocolate to make it into the top 5 best sellers, and it regularly tops the list.
For good reason too! The cinnamon and vanilla ice cream is wrapped in a rich caramel shell exploding with crunch from crispy rice pearls.
It surprises many of our guests that everything we make is gluten free, and we source extra special crispy rice pearls for this pop that are free from the malted barley extract used in the other ones.
If you haven't tried this one, it's the perfect comforting warm spice flavor for these colder months!
Address
2353 N California Avenue
Chicago, IL
60647
To get to N California Avenue in Chicago, you can take the CTA Blue Line to the California station and walk two blocks north. Alternatively, if you're driving, you can take the Kennedy Expressway to the Addison exit and head west until you reach California Avenue. There is street parking available on California Avenue and neighboring streets.
Opening Hours
| Monday |
11am - 11pm |
| Tuesday |
11am - 11pm |
| Wednesday |
1pm - 11pm |
| Thursday |
11am - 11pm |
| Friday |
11am - 11pm |
| Saturday |
12pm - 11pm |
| Sunday |
11am - 11pm |
Alerts
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What people say
Pretty Cool Ice Cream on N California Avenue in Chicago is a must-visit for anyone looking for world-class handcrafted artisan ice cream bars. The shop offers a wide range of flavors that are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth. What sets Pretty Cool Ice Cream apart from other ice cream shops is their attention to detail when it comes to dipping and decorating their bars.
The staff at Pretty Cool Ice Cream are not only skilled in the art of making delicious ice cream, but they are also committed to supporting their community. During Pride Month, the shop released a special community support pop with the theme of protecting trans rights and acknowledging the history behind the celebration.
In addition to their commitment to social justice, Pretty Cool Ice Cream also offers seasonal flavors like Goat Cheese Black Raspberry Swirl that are sure to delight customers all year round. The combination of black raspberries and goat cheese creates a unique flavor profile that is both sweet and savory.
Overall, Pretty Cool Ice Cream on N California Avenue is a great spot for anyone looking for high-quality ice cream with a side of social consciousness. With extended summer hours from 12-10 daily, there's no excuse not to stop by and try one (or more!) of their delicious bars.
