La Michoacana Premium specializes in frozen treats from south of the border.
The business, which is at 9396 Ballard Road in Maine Township, sells paletas, frozen fruit bars on a stick. These frozen treats originated in Mexico and come in flavors, such as spicy pineapple, coffee, strawberry, and mango with chili.
“We also have homemade ice cream,” said Jose Santos Rivera, 23, who is the manager and ice cream maker. “We have fruits in a cup and yogurt with fruit. We’ve got tortas, churitos and corn on the cob, too.”
Rivera said he typically gets to work around 6 or 7 a.m. to start making fresh, homemade ice cream that includes flavors such as pecan cake, and pina colada. On an average day, Rivera estimates he makes about 15 or 20 5.5-gallon buckets of fresh ice cream. Santos says he began learning how to make ice cream while working at the La Michoacana Premium location in Palatine and says each flavor uses fresh ingredients he prepares from scratch.
“We also have fresh juice,” he said. “Usually, people come in the morning for that. And we can make you an orange with carrots or orange juice with beets, and lots of other flavors, too. A lot of people like to mix it up.”
The business is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. The location opened more than three months ago.
The eatery’s name is La Michoacana Premium, and not simply La Michoacana.
“All the La Michoacana Premiums are connected, and we’re open year-round,” Rivera said. “The other ones without the word ‘Premium’ in the name, I don’t know how they work. That’s not us.”
At least 79 businesses are registered with the Illinois Secretary of State as either a limited liability corporation or full corporation using the La Michoacana name in some capacity. Out of that number, seven use the specific La Michoacana Premium brand name.
On a Monday afternoon, a steady stream of customers came into the location on Ballard Road. One of them was Olivia Edwards, who works at Maine East High School and said a student there told her about the new location.
“I came here about a week ago with my co-worker and tried the mango flavor,” she said. “That’s the only one I’ve tried, and I liked it a lot. It was new; I’ve never had that before.”
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Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.