Frozen Custard

[Joe H]

For the last 25 years I have done an annual driving trip for business that now totals almost 8,000 miles in the U. S. over about 30 days. It has allowed me the opportunity to search for bbq, hamburgers, pizza and, perhaps my greatest love, ice cream and frozen custard. I should also mention that growing up in D. C. I was a regular customer in the '50's at both Reindeer on Colesville road by Second Avenue (across from Sears) and Gifford's at Georgia and Sligo. Reindeer like the Polar Bear on Georgia avenue just south of Walter Reed had an ElectroFreeze machine. The very same one that the Frozen Dairy bar used to operate on route 50 and which Carl's in Fredericksburg still does today. As does Klein's in Harrisonburg.

As part of the trip I've had friends rave about Milwaukee's Kopp's and Leon's, Rochester's Abbott's and St. Louis' Ted Drewes. Over the years I've been to all of them. Many times. In fact I've now been to all four Kopp's and have probably had 20 or more of their daily flavors.

Al, who opened Milwaukee Frozen Custard, is probably the only person I've known who has eaten at as many places as I have. Seven or eight years ago I cannot tell you how much I respected him for what he brought to the D. C. area. His obsessive love of frozen custard resulted in my wife liking it enough to once tolerate my driving from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit Kopp's when I told her that Kopp's was THAT much better than Al's place in Chantilly.

Well, Al has expanded and it's not the same. While he was never on par with Kopp's, Leon's or Culver's he was good enough. But not anymore.

Over the past several years a number of places have opened to challenge him in the D. C. area: Neilsen's in Vienna (currently the Washington area's best frozen custard), Del Rey Dreamery (which, while loved on this board, has a wonderful ambience and a passionate owner with decent custard that I have wanted to like but just can't give it the applause that everyone else seems to, a place whose name I forget on King Street in Old Town that is a step below Del Rey and the ever expanding Kohr Brothers from Jersey.

Kohr Bros. is interesting: their original location in Seaside Heights has an EletroFreeze machine that puts out awesome custard! Perhaps not quite as good as Carl's or Harrisonburg's Klein's but certainly better than what is found on the boardwalk in Ocean City today.

Neilsen's is a Utah operation started by someone who travelled to Milwaukee and worked in Kopp's for a while, then left and moved to Utah to open his version of Kopp's. Frozen custard, traditionally is 11 or 12% butterfat with very little air in it. Kopp's is an unheard of 16%-incredibly rich. Neilsen's does not approach this but on a recent weekend I had Del Rey and Neilsen's one hour apart and the Vienna store was MUCH richer.

Neilsen's does not make a big deal of the daily flavor, certainly not like Del Rey, nor Milwaukee Frozen Custard not even the nationally expanding Culver's. It's almost an afterthought for them. And they are also closed on Sunday.

In the early 1960's I remember my family stopping in Fredericksburg at Carl's and thinking that it was nowhere near as good as either the Reindeer or Polar Bear near where I lived in Silver Spring. A year ago I stopped at Carl's about two or three days after a trip to Kopp's, thinking the same thing. For comparison I also stopped at Milwaukee Frozen Custard and felt that Carl's was much better-at least for it's vanilla base. I probably believe that Neilsen's is better than Carl's, perhaps even better than Harrisonburg's Klein's. I know that Neilsen's makes a better concrete than Ted Drewes in St. Louis which invented it!

D. C. does not have anything on the level of Milwaukee's best, Kopp's. Yet Carl's and Harrisonburg's Klein's (NOT the same as the Klein's of Manassas and Opal) compete with Rochester, Buffalo and St. Louis' best along with Neilsen. And, if Del Rey, just had some richer custard she might top Neilsen.

[bilrus]

I think it is tough to compare the "soft-serve" varietym plain vanilla custard like is found at Ted Drew's and (if I remember correctly) Milwaukee Frozen Custard and the hand-dipped, flavored style served at Del Ray.

[The Doctor]

Yet Carl's and Harrisonburg's Klein's (NOT the same as the Klein's of Manassas and Opal) compete with Rochester, Buffalo and St. Louis' best along with Neilsen.

Where were you getting custard in Buffalo?

[Joe H]

My last visit was about five years ago and I stopped first at Ted's on Niagara Falls blvd. then, almost across the street, was Andrson's. I've actually been to both of these a number of times.

Del Rey is no different than Milwaukee Frozen Custard, Neilsen's, Harrisonburg's Klein's or Milwaukee Frozen Custard-they all scoop it from the freezer after the custard has slid own a tray from the custard making machine. Carl's still has a 1950's vintage ElectroFreeze as does Klein's in Harrisonburg whose custard is richer than Carl's-for me, better. Del Rey is NOT as rich as Neilsen's nor as "smooth" if you will for their base vanilla. Their flavors are very good but Neilsen's are, too. I have not had Del Rey's chocolate.

My first visit to Ted Drewes was on a trip to St. Louis about twenty five years ago. After going to Imo's (which I love but admit that it's an "acquired taste") I went to Drewes and remember them scooping the custard like many places did in the '50's and '60's. On a visit to their Chippewa store last year I don't remember them doing this. I actually don't ever remember Tastee Freez or Dairy Queen-even forty years ago-scooping custard. There were a lot of ElectroFreeze machines then that made that style of custard but whatever TF and DQ used was not nearly as good as them. Kohr Bros. franchises are like TF and DQ and do not scoop. I believe there is only one Kohr Bros. left (Seaside Heights on the north end) that still does this-they have an original machine. The difference is enormous! Today, there are several companies that have developed custard makers to reproduce the taste and texture of those early machines. Twin Kiss is another one that was around then; a few of them have survived-there used to be one near LaPlata. Their custard is good but not on par with any of the stands where it is scooped.

Del Rey is very good. It's just not nearly as rich as Neilsen's which I personally prefer. Still, Neilsen's isn't as rich as Kopp's which is the best I've had anywhere. Neilsen's DOES make a better concrete than Ted Drewes which invented it. There is also a place in Youngstown, OH that used old ElectroFreeze machines and had rich custard. It was near the old Idora Park. I've haven't been to it in years but that may have been on par with Kopp's.

By the way, the best ice cream in America-in a restaurant or store-is at Two Amy's which is not known for it. I would put their ice cream in league with what I make with a 30 year old hand cranked White Mountain freezer and Lewes Dairy heavy cream. It is that good.

Kopp's may be almost its equal. Intensely flavored sixteen per cent butterfat frozen custard can be awesome. Even in Milwaukee rich frozen custard is unusual-Kopp's may be the only one willing to do this which means that it costs more.

Edited June 3, 2005 by Joe H (log)

[LittleWing]

Where were you getting custard in Buffalo?

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I grew up in Buffalo, and we regularly went to Andersons and Nina's for frozen custard. With loganberry to drink, of course. Plus all of the places in the little towns around Buffalo have custard stands, like Jac N Mary's near Rushford Lake (about an 1.5 hours outside Buffalo). In fact, when I moved down here to DC I searched for years before finding ONE frozen custard place in NW - Dickey's Frozen Custard (1710 I st). I haven't had the Western NY custard in a while, but from what I remember Dickey's seems comparable.

I just had Del Ray Dreamery for the first time two days ago - like Joe H's comparison with Neilson's, it wasn't quite as rich and thick as Dickey's (or Buffalo-area custard). But the chocolate bordeaux cherry flavor was just a different kind of delish.

I also agree that Two Amy's is one of my favorite places in the area for ice cream - as i wrote in the 2Amy's thread, their rhubarb ice cream was just the right blend of tart & sweet. Another place not particularly known for ice cream is Magruder's (on Conn. Ave in Cleveland Park). Their gelato - especially hazelnut - is creamy & flavorful without being too sweet. You can buy their gelato by the scoop or in a pint container. And speaking of gelato, if you're in NYC, Mario Batali's restaurant, Otto,makes their own gelato in flavors like olive oil, and goat's milk ricotta, as well as more typical flavors like chocolate chip, and caramel.

Thinking about gelato is making me miss the little gelaterias of Spain (and Italy and France....) My favorite is the "yogurt" flavor (it doesn't exactly taste like plain yogurt, but its flavor is impossible for me to describe - anyone want to chime in?) Its especially good alongside a scoop of noisettes.

Edited to add: None of the three Buffalo-area locations, nor Dickey's, scoop. They all have soft-serve machines, but I don't know specifically what kinds of machines are used.

Edited June 5, 2005 by LittleWing (log)

[jparrott]

I love the texture of Carl's, but methinks the vanilla skimps on the flavor.

[The Doctor]

Yes, since moving here 6 years ago, I have noticed a dearth of soft-serve places. Back in Western New York, my favorite custard place was Dee Dee's Dairy in Niagara Falls. I ain't been there in years, though. I'm headed back in a few weeks, so I'll try to get there then to make a comparison to the Dreamery. And I work a few blocks from Dickies, so I'll probably make it there this week sometime. Something struck me as odd about an ice cream place in that part of the city, so I never bothered to check it out.

[GordonCooks]

Abbott's Vanilla custard is a hard one to beat. I've had custard in buffalo (Deedee's) and Ted's in St Louis - it's richer and creamier than both or any others I've tried. There is some inconsistency in the chain though - the one by the lake will always be the standard along with 1 or 2 others. The one near my house tastes slightly "thinner"

[Joe H]

Abbott's Vanilla custard is a hard one to beat. I've had custard in buffalo (Deedee's) and Ted's in St Louis - it's richer and creamier than both or any others I've tried. There is some inconsistency in the chain though - the one by the lake will always be the standard along with 1 or 2 others. The one near my house tastes slightly "thinner"

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"By the lake" is the one just down from Seabreeze? Right? That's the first Abbott's that I went to. There's another one, though, that may be as old on the east side of Rochester-about ten miles or so outside of town. I drove by it once and just had a "feeling" and it was awesome! Looking at a map and trying to remember exactly where (it's been ten years or so) it may have been points to somewhere along route 104. Does this seem familiar to anyone?