The Ice Cream Social

Soft-serve gelato on a riverside plaza

The build is a Social Cup or a Waffle Cone, filled with seasonal soft-serve gelato in flavours such as Vanilla Bean, Strawberry Cheesecake, Sea Salted Caramel, Double Chocolate Obsession and the swirls that combine them. The Ice Cream Social is The Langham, Chicago's seasonal dessert pop-up, set on the hotel's riverside plaza and described by the hotel as artisan gelato on the Chicago River. It belongs to the hotel's dining and summer programming rather than standing as an independent café, and the menu comes out of the hotel pastry kitchen, which shows in the handmade cones and the length of the toppings list. Artisan ice cream flavours, hand-scooped gelato and seasonal sorbet round out the counter beside the soft serve.

A summer plaza rather than a room

The pop-up is seasonal and tied to warm-weather use of the plaza along the Chicago River. The hotel folds it into its summer programme, encouraging guests to cool off with something from the counter while making use of the riverfront setting, so a visit is closer to a riverside outing than a conventional indoor café stop. It is a small shop with scenery, near an art installation, and it works best treated that way: a walk along the water, a cone, and somewhere to stand and look. The Ice Cream Social has returned across summers rather than appearing once, which makes it a recurring fixture of the property rather than a one-off dessert stand.

What to order

Start with the soft-serve list for the clearest expression of the menu: Vanilla Bean, Strawberry Cheesecake, Sea Salted Caramel, Double Chocolate Obsession, or one of the swirls. For a more customised order, build a Social Cup or Waffle Cone and concentrate on the toppings, which are a large part of the format. The list runs Vanilla Cookie Crumble, Chicago Style Popcorn, Rainbow Sprinkles, Fresh Strawberries, M&M's, Oreo Pieces, Brownie Bites, Cookie Dough, Sweet & Salty Pecans, Biscoff Cookie Crumbles, Cheesecake Bites, Milk Chocolate Shell, Caramel Sauce and Hot Chocolate Fudge, with a Cotton Candy Cloud add-on. With brownie bites, cheesecake bites, cookie dough, sauces and a chocolate shell in play, the order becomes a pastry-style construction. There is a treat for dogs too, so the playful summer idea stretches past cones and cups.