Hungrygrrl

Growing up in buffalo new york, we had the most amazing frozen custard stand. It was called Anderson’s and they sold only vanilla and chocolate custard, lemon ice, and roast beef on these special kummelweck rolls (”beef on weck”).

The line would wrap around the parking lot in the summer, but we waited patiently, knowing the custard we be meltingly good, fragrant with vanilla and swirled into a teeteringly high cone.

After softball games it was too far to drive to Anderson’s, so we went to Dairy Queen instead, debating between a blueberry blizzard and a chocolate dipped vanilla cone. The custard wasn’t quite as good, but at that age we didn’t really care.

Old school frozen custard is modeled after the traditional custard stands like Anderson’s, serving only vanilla and chocolate with a calendar of daily specials. The walls are painted bright green and decorated with faded pictures of Seattle highschools, while worn elementary school chairs dot the seating area.

My first trip was on one of those 90 degree days and I decided to try the kahlua chip, the flavor of the day. The home-made waffle cone was a nice touch, but the flavors were muted as if underwater. The texture was more rich than Dairy Queen, but it didn’t win me over.

I went back a few days later to give them a second chance, braving the 60 degree weather to try another flavor, this time my old standby vanilla with Reese’s peanut butter cups smooshed in to make a “concrete” (which looks suspiciously like a DQ blizzard). Here again the flavors were muted, with almost none of that rich vanilla fragrance. The topping selection was limited to the usual suspects—butterfingers, heath bars, gummy worms, sprinkles and a few others.

Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by all the other ice cream choices we have, by Ben & Jerry’s and Molly Moon’s and the umpteen gelato stands that keep sprouting up, but it feels like old school is a little TOO old school.  They haven’t strayed enough from the old custard formula. Not everyone needs to make salted caramel ice cream, but if you’re going to do vanilla custard, make it the most purely amazing vanilla you can make it and give us the best toppings you can find, like Theo chocolate, homemade granola, or Seattle cherries.

Will old school make it? Well… not everyone wants to wait in line at Molly Moon’s. But I fear they’ll end up being just a substitute for good old Dairy Queen.

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Old School Frozen Custard

1316 E. Pike St.
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 324-2586

oldschoolfrozencustard.com