Mario’s Italian Lemonade
Ah, Mario’s. What fond memories we must savor after its closing for the winter a few weeks back. For some of us, Mario’s Italian Lemonade is the very evocation of summer, and, frankly one of the best things about living in Chicago, period. A little homemade stand sells the essence of cool to ever-growing crowds who share our secret, yet it’s hard to adequately describe to the uninitiated the pleasure derived from this slushy summer blend of lemon, ice and sugar, served out of a paper cup from some defunct fast-food joint somewhere. The varieties are plentiful, but stick to plain lemon or those that add real fruit-watermelon, cantaloupe or, our favorite, peach (available in a shorter season even than Mario’s itself)—to the concoction. Next May is just around the corner, isn’t it?
1068 West Taylor
Best of Chicago 2002
