A delicious history: Colonial Café evolves with new menu and decor

ST. CHARLES – Colonial Café has a delicious history, but the collection of restaurants is more focused on its present than the past.

Famous for its ice cream treats, Colonial is celebrating its 115th anniversary, even as it evolves with an expanding menu to satisfy 21st Century tastes.

“You need to refresh the business, the atmosphere and the menu,” said Tom Anderson, Colonial’s chairman and “Director of Scoopin’ Fun.”

That philosophy is on display in the Colonial location at 1625 E. Main St. in St. Charles, which recently underwent a dramatic renovation.

The East Main Street location was opened in 1959 by Tom’s late father, the legendary “Ice Cream Man” Joe K. Anderson. It featured two soda fountains and an island counter surrounded by 46 stools, with the menu limited to ice cream and sandwiches.

The location had its first major renovation in 1991, when the building’s footprint also was expanded.

Diners in the restaurant’s latest incarnation will find themselves in comfortable contemporary surroundings to compliment Colonial’s comfort food. Stone and cypress wood facings present a clean, uncluttered look, with fireplaces adding to the welcome.

“We wanted to create an elevated atmosphere with a contemporary feel,” said Colonial President Clinton Anderson, Tom’s son and the fourth-generation owner.

Complementing the contemporary atmosphere is an expanding menu with healthy choices and seasonal favorites, along with the addition of craft beer and wine offerings.

“The key is our continual evolution in staying on top of the trends. You have to keep competing,” Clinton said.

Right now, Colonial’s fall line-up includes tasty pumpkin pancakes, and an Oktoberfest menu with Bavarian bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato pancakes, red cabbage and a pretzel appetizer.

Founded in 1901 as the St. Charles Pure Milk Company by Clinton’s great-grandfather, Simon Anderson, the firm evolved from a dairy into a full-fledged restaurant business. The name evolved too, from Anderson Dairy to Colonial Ice Cream to today’s Colonial Café.

With the contrasting atmospheres of its locations, Tom said, he views Colonial not as a chain of restaurants, but as a collection of restaurants.

There are two in St. Charles, with the East Main Street location and another at 552 S. Randall Road. And there are Colonial Cafes in Elgin, Aurora, Naperville, Algonquin and Crystal Lake, for a total of seven locations staffed by 350 employees.

All the Colonial restaurants serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, with all-day breakfast. Each has a special room for meetings or parties.

Now, Colonial is getting ready to roll out a new menu. A new side-dish called cheesy grits puts a northern take on a southern favorite.

More seasonal menus are on the way, for Thanksgiving and Mardi Gras.

“People think ice cream, but in reality we’re all about our food,” Clinton said, noting that Colonial’s new food creations are developed at its Randall Road restaurant.

Of course, there’s nothing like a Colonial ice cream treat for desert. Perennial favorites remain the Turtle Sundae, and the gigantic Kitchen Sink.

Many people assume Colonial still makes its own ice cream, but in fact has not done so since 1963, when a fire destroyed the company's plant in downtown St. Charles.
Today, Colonial Ice Cream is made at a Rockford dairy.

“We control the production,” Clinton said. “It’s our formula.”