After moving to Cedar Lake in 2016 from a suburb of Chicago, we quickly realized that our favorite frozen treat wasn’t available close to our new home. We would drive our kids back to our hometown of Berwyn, IL a few times during the summer season to our favorite ice place, just to satisfy our craving.
An opportunity arose in late 2019 when we were driving past a little white building at 9720 W. 133rd Ave, as we did most every day. This time we noticed a “For Lease” sign in front of it. A small local business (Frank’s Backyard BBQ) was moving down the road to a larger location, due to their success. We both knew what business would be perfect for that little building…an Italian Ice shop! We called the owner & ended up signing a lease for one year, having zero knowledge on how to make Italian Ice & no equipment to get started! We purchased the machine to make the ice & spent the winter months testing recipes, making ice in our home garage. We shared the test batches with friends & neighbors to receive feedback, which they gladly accepted!
After experiencing negative effects from food dyes with our own children, one of the most challenging, but important obstacle to overcome for us was to make all of our ice naturally, without syrup, dyes, gluten, artificial flavoring or additives. With the rising number of people who are sensitive to dyes, gluten & dairy, we wanted to create a delicious and fun frozen dessert that can be enjoyed by almost everyone for a reasonable price.
Now, that we had some flavors down…all we needed to come up with was a name! All of our favorite places had names like, “Gina’s”, “Freddy’s” or “Johnnie’s”. We wanted to keep tradition. We decided that we wanted to honor the man who has been there for us countless times throughout our lives, Amy’s father, Michael Vito Salvatore. When we called him to ask him his preference of either naming it “Michael’s” or “Vito’s”, without hesitation, he replied “Vito’s”.
We opened the door to Vito’s in May of 2020 with our small family behind the counter & only 7 flavors! We weren’t sure if anyone would even show up opening day…that was also the beginning of the COVID pandemic that year. The reception from this town & surrounding communities was amazing! We sold out the first night and had to close early & remain closed the following day to hire/train employees & of course, make a whole lot more ice!
The property we were leasing at 9720 W. 133rd Ave sold in late 2022, which brought us to our current location at 7210 W. 132nd Ave. Our location may have changed, but receiving a great tasting, quality dessert with friendly service has not. Stop by and let our family serve yours!

Thanks for your support!
Dave, Amy, Damon & Cuyler Larson