Summer officially ended yesterday but the ice cream tour continues to move along! One historic place of business that serves up ice cream treats in addition to candy and tasty sandwiches is Maurie’s Of Pekin. Maurie’s has been serving up sweet treats in Pekin since 1941! Lelonie Luft bought Maurie’s back in September of 2015 and she really has revitalized the place while keeping the old charm of Maurie’s intact. Maurie’s has always been known for their large candy selection but Lelonie has added a breakfast and lunch menu and Uncle Bob’s Homemade Ice Cream. And so it’s off we go for week number seven to Pekin, Illinois for lunch at Maurie’s with you know what for dessert!
My friend Bob Gordon, who’s the owner of ACME Comics is joining us for lunch and he was gracious enough to offer to drive as well! Before you know it, here we are in Pekin, Illinois!
Maurie’s is on Court Street and there it is! It’s been standing tall here for over 76 years! The sign says it’s open, so let’s go in and take a look around inside.
Maurie’s is divided up into three rooms. The middle room which is the room you enter in has an impressive magazine and book rack, there’s Maurie’s t-shirts for sale and there’s all kinds of Pekin antiques, old bottle caps and other interesting items from the past in that cabinet over there. In the very back is a lounge area where you can sit and peruse a magazine or one of the books for sale in here.
The room off to the right has large display cases of candy made fresh at Maurie’s. And that’s just the beginning of the candy in here...
There’s also a huge selection of all kinds of packaged candy in here including throwback candy from your past to candy cigarettes!
And if that’s not enough there’s jars of candy in the middle room and Maurie’s own signature candies in plastic bags!
Another item that Maurie’s is famous for is their caramel apples! This is a seasonal item and they just started making them for this year’s caramel apple season. That’s Abbie carting a fresh batch to the counter-top!
This is the dining area and we stepped up to the wooden counter and placed our lunch order with Tina.
While lunch is being prepared, I took some photos in this room. One cool thing in here is the original Maurie’s sign from the ‘40’s that Lelonie had restored! There’s also a painting of the sign on the brick wall and a whole wall of craft soda pop from the Homer Soda Company.
Meanwhile, back at our table, Tina has delivered our lunch order!
They serve breakfast all day here and Bob got scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. I got a chicken parm panini and it was delicious! It had strips of juicy grilled chicken, salami, melted cheese and a zingy tomato sauce. Very tasty! Bob said his breakfast was delicious as well.
And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for...well, at least I have...it’s ice cream time! Maurie’s has Uncle Bob’s Homemade Ice Cream and it’s made fresh in Eureka, Illinois. I met Uncle Bob at a Taste of Peoria a couple years ago, click here and scroll down for the photo.
As you can see, there’s a large selection of flavors to choose from.
Valerie came over to serve us up our ice cream selections.
I decided to try the cake batter. There’s a lot fo different toppings you can add to the ice cream here, so I got some sprinkles and a couple others along with caramel sauce. There’s Valerie serving up my cup of ice cream.
It’s nice and colorful and looks pretty sweet!
Bob took a more traditional route to his cup of ice cream and went with butter pecan with no toppings. And I think he’s getting sick of having his picture taken so let’s dig into my cup and let him enjoy his ice cream in peace!
I stirred it around and got it all melty and it was a sweet and tasty cup of ice cream! The cake batter was really a nice flavor and it mixed well with the caramel and different toppings I chose. Bob said his was wonderful too! Thanks to the friendly women of Maurie’s for a great lunch and ice cream dessert and for the hospitality! And thanks to Bob for driving and hanging out for the afternoon, it was a fun day! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Ice Cream Rating
Three and a half cones—Uncle Bob’s ice cream is made locally and it’s a sweet treat at Maurie’s candy. And if the ice cream doesn’t totally satisfy your sweet tooth, there’s a whole store of candy in there as well!
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522 Court Street
Pekin, Illinois
309-346-5174
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Related Posts: Ten Weeks Of Ice Cream @: Lou’s Drive-In, The Spotted Cow, Lake Road Inn, M&M Twistee Treat, Emack & Bolio’s and Proctor Snacks ‘N Sodas.