The Spotted Cow started its business life with a couple hundred bucks and a pushcart in front of Bradley University with Frank Abdnour selling his ice cream to the college students. That morphed into a brick and mortar business on Main Street, then on Prospect in Peoria Heights and lastly to the current location on Glen Avenue just off of Sheridan Road. Abdnour recently sold the business to Shane Fisher and I thought this would be a good halfway stop for our ten week ice cream tour. So let’s make tracks and MOOve on down the road to The Spotted Cow!
Here we are at the Spotted Cow, let’s go in and start our fifth week of ice cream treats!
As I walked in I was kind of surprised to see a pig in the foyer, since the place is named after a cow. Oh well, at least he’s spotted and is wearing some nice tennis shoes. And don’t worry, I’m not in the habit of sitting on pigs. As I turned around I saw a cow and felt a little relieved.
I like the neon sign in here and there’s a whole counter of unique flavors of ice cream that they make from scratch here daily. Something on the menu caught my eye and that’s what I ordered from Maggie and Morgan who were doing counter duty that day. You can find out what I ordered by scrolling, scrolling, scrolling!
After you order you get a number and I took mine to this bovine-fashioned booth over here by the window. While our order is being prepared, let’s take a look around in The Spotted Cow.
There’s autographed sports items overhead and of course a lot of spotted cows everywhere!
Another dining area is over here, opposite the front counter. As you can see, there’s ample space for dining here!
I don’t know if Frank had a press agent, but he’s sure gotten a lot of ink on his business through the years!
This is pretty impressive, Vice President Joe Biden made a stop here when he came to Peoria in 2010. You can read all about the visit by clicking here.
Meanwhile, back at my booth, lunch is served! In addition to home-made ice cream, The Spotted Cow has a large selection of burgers, sandwiches and hot dogs. I got a chili-cheese dog and it looks really tasty!
Wow, this is one of the best chili-cheese dogs I have ever had! The coney sauce is made in-house and has a lot of flavor and zing to it. One nice thing here is you get your choice of liquid cheese or grated cheddar, I went with the grated cheddar and this is one delicious dog! The bun is steamed and bakery fresh and I’m definitely coming back for more of these in the future!
And now on to this week’s ice cream treat. So far on this tour I’ve had an ice cream sundae, ice cream cones, an ice cream brownie delight and an ice cream sandwich, but I haven’t had a milkshake yet, so that’s what I got here. And this is no ordinary milkshake, it’s their special turtle milkshake and it looks fantastic! Let’s dig in and try it out!
It’s topped with a cherry, whipped cream and nuts. Sweet!
Now I’ve reached the milkshake portion and it is so delicious! The rich vanilla ice cream is mixed with chunks of Belgian chocolate and chopped pecans and it’s a decadent delight! The ice cream is thick and rich and the chocolate and pecans add a little crunch and extra sweetness to the mix.
As I got to the end I traded out my spoon for the straw to get every last bit of this sweet and tasty milkshake. Thanks to Maggie and Morgan for the great lunch and hospitality at The Spotted Cow. It was a very MOOving experience! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Ice Cream Rating
Three and Three Quarters Cones—I think this is the only place in Peoria that serves a turtle milkshake and I highly recommend it! And don’t forget to try the chili-cheese dog, that’s a savory treat to mix with the sweet in here!
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718 W. Glen Avenue
Peoria
309-691-1910
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Related Posts: Ten Weeks Of Ice Cream @ Lake Road Inn, M&M Twistee Treat, Emack & Bolio’s and Proctor Snacks ‘N Sodas.