La Michoacana Premium is a franchise of ice cream shops started by Marco Andrade in 2008. The first shop was opened in Aurora, Illinois, but there are now over 80 branches across Arizona, California, Colorado, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Why People Love the Colorful, Handmade Paletas of La Michoacana Premium
Gonzalo Guzman
August 9, 2023
La Michoacana Premium offers over 40 flavors of paletas, all made in-house.
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With its brightly colored exterior, La Michoacana Premium entices customers in for one of its over 40 flavors of paletas and ice creams. Some even travel across state lines for their refreshing treats.
Photographer Gonzalo Guzman spent the Fiesta del Sol weekend at the Pilsen location of La Michoacana Premium for a look at what keeps their loyal patrons coming back again and again.
One particularly popular branch can be found in a former Church’s Chicken on Blue Island Avenue in Pilsen.
La Michoacana Premium’s paletas and ice cream draw people from all around. When Guadalupe Luna lived in Pilsen about 10 years ago, the shop was one of her favorite places. She still brings her family in from Indiana to enjoy its treats.
For some people, a visit to La Michoacana Premium is more a part of their ordinary lives. Ken C stopped by after church for a scoop of his go-to ice cream flavor, cookies and cream.
While people like Ken enjoy the ice cream, one of the big draws of La Michoacana Premium is its colorful variety of paletas, like those enjoyed by Chicago residents Summer Perez and Briana Lugo on a warm Saturday afternoon outside the shop.
The paletas and ice creams are made in-house every day, starting an hour before the shop opens at 7:00 am. A trained paletero like Guillermo Zaamudio might make around 1,500 paletas a day.
Zaamudio, whose current favorite paleta flavor is strawberry cheesecake, began working at the Blue Island branch of La Michoacana Premium three and a half years ago at the prep station. Now he is a back-of-house manager.
The liquid base of each paleta is prepared differently, then poured into a mold. Popsicle sticks are inserted before it is placed in an ice bath. Once the bath has gotten cold enough, most batches only take about five minutes to completely freeze.
After the base has frozen, the molds are removed from the ice bath and run under warm water to release the paletas.
Each paleta is then packaged and stored until it is ready to move to the customer-facing coolers.
The motto of La Michoacana Premium is, “If it’s not premium, it’s not Michoacana.” While many similar shops also use the name Michoacana, the owners say that what sets their products apart is the fresh fruit and high quality ingredients used in their ice creams and paletas.
Noe Govea and Evelyn Ortiz-Govea opened the Blue Island branch in 2015. Noe was doing deliveries for another Michoacana Premium when the owner asked if he would be interested in starting his own location. Eight years later, they own two shops. Their son, Anthony Trejo, was just 11 when they opened their first branch. He now works as a manager at their Oak Lawn location.
“Who doesn’t like ice cream? I believe—whether you love sweets or you don’t love sweets—one day out of the year you will want to have an ice cream or a popsicle,” Evelyn says.
Hyde Park resident Ricardo Marquez and his son Julian stopped by the neighborhood for hot pot, but then dropped by La Michoacana Premium afterwards for dessert.
Esmeralda Bernal and Juddah Johnwaun drove several hours to Chicago from the Quad Cities for a reprieve from their lives at home, and stopped in to savor some paletas while they were in town.
Jen and her daughter Julie have less of a distance to travel to enjoy arroz con leche and coconut paletas—they’re from neighboring Little Village.
Among the many flavors of paleta available, one of the most popular is escamocha, seen here in Guillermo Zaamudio’s hand. It contains fresh papaya, melon, strawberry, and red and green apples in a mix of lime and orange juice.
Along with paletas, ice creams, and aguas frescas, the shop also has savory offerings like a famed walking taco.
One of the most popular desserts is the sweet and spicy treat known as la mangoneada, consisting of fresh mango ice cream topped with tajín, lime juice, and chamoy. Anthony Trejo says that the shop can go through five to seven buckets of mango ice cream on a busy day.
Given how busy the store can get, La Michoacana Premium’s drive-thru makes it particularly popular among families…
like Brighton Park residents Jorge Ledezma and Lupe Martinez, who brought their daughter Oona and some out-of-town friends for a sweet summer treat. The couple owns the record label No Sé Discos, which was recently featured in a WTTW story.
Paletas provide a cooling reprieve after a hot day outside. Carolina Gallo visited La Michoacana Premium with George Kim after spending the day at the street festival Fiesta del Sol, which she attends every year.
The store gets particularly busy after 10:00 pm on weekends.
At night, it’s not uncommon for a line of cars to wrap around the shop and stretch all the way to the McDonald’s a block down the street, according to Anthony Trejo.
It’s never too late for a refreshing paleta.
