Frozen Treats, Good Eats Make Premo's an Oak Lawn Favorite

Good food, great service, phenomenal frozen treats—that’s what it’s all about at Premo’s Drive-In at 5540 W. 95th St. Formerly a seasonal restaurant, Premo’s is now open year round, which means customers can enjoy its traditional American fare and delightfully decadent soft-serve custard ice cream any time of year. Premo’s has been loyally serving the South Side for well over half a century, and its finely-aged charm shows. The décor is quintessential, 1950s Americana. Pink and white wall tiles, vintage menu boards, and old-fashioned bar stools remind customers that some things really do not change, says owner Louis Georgacopoulos. Go for dinner but make sure to stay for dessert because few places can top off a summer evening in Oak Lawn like Premo’s frozen custard.      

Oak Lawn Patch: Premo’s has been an Oak Lawn delight for quite some time now. Can you tell us a little bit about the restaurant’s history? 

Louis Georgacopoulos:  I’m currently the fifth owner of the store. It opened in the early 1950s, maybe even before that but we haven’t been able to get an exact date, and it was originally Zale’s Custard. Norm Premo bought it in 1960 and that’s when the name changed. I’ve owned the restaurant for the last 12 years.

Oak Lawn Patch:  How has the restaurant changed over the last 12 years that you have owned it?

Georgacopoulos:  For a long time the store was seasonal and always closed in the winter. Now, we’re trying to let our customers know that we are open all year long, but also to emphasize that we serve really good food, not just ice cream.

Oak Lawn Patch:  In your experience, as the owner of a locally-grown business with an established history, where should time and money be spent when it comes to advertising?

Georgacopoulos:  Right now it’s kind of tough to say. We are doing some types of internet advertising to get more of an internet presence, but it doesn’t seem to return as much.  We do have a texting offer that sends coupons directly to people’s phones and that’s been working pretty well.

Oak Lawn Patch:  After the economy took a steep downturn, Americans began to move away from the “culinary experience” of expensive dining toward a more local, people-centered atmosphere.  Do you feel Premo’s has benefited from this?

Georgacopoulos:  I think the economy hurt us a little bit too. I do see people coming into the store when we have our Wednesday promotions.  We have $1.00 hot dogs days and currently we are offering a $2.99 beef sandwich after 5 p.m.  I do see people coming in for that but I don’t see a growth in business sales.  It seems like people are looking for a value more than anything else.

Oak Lawn Patch:  At Premo’s, a line out the door usually means summer is near.  How busy does it get during the summertime?

Georgacopoulos:  It gets very busy during the summertime, thankfully.  That’s when it gets tough because the store is old and has been there since the 1950s so there wasn’t much thought put into parking. The original owners didn’t think of it as a big-time restaurant, but things like property taxes and increases in minimum wage have made it necessary to hang around all year.

Oak Lawn Patch:  Premo’s definitely has the charm of a typical 1950s burger joint.  Do you think customers are attracted to Premo’s because they feel nostalgia for a simpler time?

Georgacopoulos:  I think it gives people the feeling that there is one thing that hasn’t changed. People get comfortable with that. We hear a lot of stories about people who met in line and became friends or got married and so I really think that adds to the experience.  I actually went to Oak Lawn High School and, at that time, we had open campus so I used to come to Premo’s to get chili dogs.

Oak Lawn Patch:  Customers love your treats because of the delicious, soft- served custard.  What is your most popular flavor?

Georgacopoulos:  Vanilla outsells every flavor 5:1.  When it comes to sundaes, it’s a toss-up between the hot fudge and strawberry sundaes.     

Oak Lawn Patch:  Do you make the ice cream at the restaurant?

Georgacopoulos:  The ice cream was originally made in the store but, because of its small size, we now have a dairy in Aurora that makes the ice cream for us.

Oak Lawn Patch:  How are new menu items created?

Georgacopoulos:  Some things are suggestions from customers, some are from the girls who work here, and sometimes you get a little surprise after making a mistake. We had a lot of sugar cones and they would break so one of the girls came up with the idea of making a Drumstick Glacier—chocolate cone dipped with nuts and pieces of sugar cones.  It has all of the ingredients of a Drumstick blended into a Glacier, our version of the DQ Blizzard. 

Oak Lawn Patch: What is the hardest part of owning a local restaurant?

Georgacopoulos:  This kind of store demands a lot of hours. Because it’s a little store we try to keep an emphasis on family.  So if one of our girls has something they need to do we end up replacing the hours, which is fine, but sometimes it gets tough.

Oak Lawn Patch:  So—the question everyone wants the answer to—what makes your frozen custard so good?

Georgacopoulos:  Our ice cream is a true custard soft serve and it has a lot of butter fat which makes it taste very good. We don’t eat a ton of it, but what we eat is really good.  We make sure that good ingredients go into the ice cream and all of our food.  We buy and marinate the chicken ourselves and we’re always looking to our suppliers to make sure they provide us with the highest quality ingredients.

Oak Lawn Patch: How would you describe Premo’s frozen custard?

Georgacopoulos: I think Premo’s is just a good-old, American burger and shake joint where you can get a fairly priced meal that’s pretty good—and if you’re looking for a treat afterwards then that’s a bonus.

Premo's Drive-In is located at 5540 W. 95th St. in Oak Lawn. Premo's is open from 11am-9pm daily; and 11am-10pm daily Memorial Day through Labor Day or until the last customer is served.