But don't forget about frozen custard. Our Hungry Hound hasn't. And he's got a great suggestion in lake view where they're known for their "concretes."
Fans of Ted Drews in St. Louis know what I'm talking about when I say "concrete."
It's essentially a blizzard, or an ultra-thick shake, made with frozen custard.
Since they opened nearly 10 years ago, the folks at Scooter's have made the concrete a staple among the city's best frozen summertime treats.
They come, pretty much all day long, in search of thick, creamy, frozen custard. But fans of Scooter's know that there is much more than just the standard vanilla and chocolate lazily coming out of the two machines there are also concretes.
"It's fruits, candies, anything we have on our menu we'll blend in and it's a concrete. Typically, it's so thick so that when you finish blending it you can tip it over and it won't fall out," said Mardi Moore, co-owner of Scooter's.
One of their most popular is the CFNBC, or caramel fudge nut brownie chocolate chip concrete. As you can imagine, combining the sweet chips, fudgy-nutty brownie and smooth caramel with the dense vanilla frozen custard is an afternoon nap waiting to happen. For a fruitier spin, the cherry pie concrete features the aforementioned fruit preserve, plus graham cracker pie crust. Strawberries, Reese's peanut butter cups - really, there is no limit on what you can turn into a concrete. Moore says the reason theirs are so good, is the low amount of overrun in their custard.
"We take one gallon of liquid and make 1.2 gallons of ice cream which is 20 percent overrun in the ice cream biz," Moore said.
And that's what makes the custard dense and smooth. Plus, the fact it's made fresh everyday means it never hard-freezes and has time to build up ice crystals. The big ice cream companies, meanwhile, have to add butterfat to their product, to smooth out those ice crystals - something frozen custard lacks.
"Because it has less air, smaller ice crystals build up, less ice crystals means a smoother texture, and that's why we like our frozen custard," she said.
Scooter's Frozen Custard
1658 W. Belmont Ave.
773-244-6415
http://scootersfrozencustard.com/
Also mentioned:
Lickity Split
6056 N Broadway Ave
773-274-0830
www.lickitysplitchicago.com
Andy's
108 N State St
312-422-9800
www.eatandys.com
Also:
Bolingbrook
260 S. Weber Rd.
630-378-9590
Evanston
719 Church St.
847-864-8009
Greg's Frozen Custard
1490 S Lake St. Mundelein, IL
847-837-4175
