Our Favorite Frozen Treats in St. Louis

hello again and welcome to Arch eats my name is George mayhe I'm Cheryl bear and we are in the middle of summer in St Louis and it's hot as it can possibly be it's oppressive the perfect day to talk about frozen treats Frozen Novelties specifically ice cream and Frozen Custard don't you just want some right now I mean that's all you want you don't want to turn your oven on you want to do nothing except immerse yourself in an ice bath and eat some of these stre we're going to talk about 12 of our favorite places some you've heard of and I bet some you haven't and we're going to end this episode appropriately with a rant about melty ice cream specifically melty hard pack ice cream which we've all worn on our shirt from time to time this episode of arch eats is sponsored by Augusta Winery but as we always do we're going to start with what I can't stop thinking about this week I've got a good one Cheryl I don't I forget what yours is well mine is you want to talk about the taste of Summer besides ice cream a BLT it's a classic I mean it's a in some way it's an ovenless you know entree here so a BLT to me it just it showcases one of the best things about summer which are glorious ripe Tomatoes I know we can get them all throughout the year but I mean there's it's not the same at all and I recently had some incredible ones from Howie Farms I don't know if you've ever had their Tomatoes I actually picked them up at the Boulevard Farmers Market the Sunday market there they're also at Ferguson and um I think they're at one other I think they're at the Tuesday night Tower Grove Market but I had their heirloom and it's one of those really like gnarly you know knobby kind of pretty but they're tasty it was so juicy it was the kind where you slice it thick drips down your arm as you're like eating this but the key you know usually use the R's bacon duk's Mayo you have to do I'm a Duke fan 100% you know just some nice crispy lettuce I like you know just like Iceberg just like the crispest lettuce you can get but Joel Crespo formerly of the you know gorilla street food Joel I ran into him actually at the Sunday farmers market at the Boulevard and he's out of the business now but he's still doing a lot of stuff on his own and he told me the bread you have to get for it is is the milk bread at Kim's Bakery it's a Korean bakery in Chesterfield wellit that's a good tip it is such a great tip and he's right they uh bake this bread fresh every day they it doesn't come sliced but they will slice it for you on request so go ahead and call ask when it's going to be ready for the day I think he said usually midafternoon but the thing about this is it's so like light fluffy and Airy that it gives you that perfect C crispness you want in a BLT without you know sometimes you eat it it scratches the roof of your mouth and you're like o I don't know about this this is perfect because it's like cushy and crispy at the same time Perfection that is what I cannot stop thinking about is the quintessential do you to spread you do and I don't I'm usually like a griddle person like I butter griddle or grle no I think this this is just classic toast that's how I like my BLTs it's just a classic toast it's so simple and perfect I eat all my BLTs in the summertime because of the summertime Tomatoes I eat it I eat 10 or 12 of them and then I don't have it until the next June yeah that's that's why they're there it's the best it's to me it's the best way to enjoy a summertime tomato absolutely what I can't stop thinking about this week is the best deal in town on a Splurge item all right and I'm already ra my think how much you want to splurge on but this I'm talking about kind of speaking of sandwiches the lobster roll that's available Stars every Friday and Saturday lobster rolls as you know they're not even cheap in Maine they're 30 35 something dollars in main this lobster roll is is $21.99 incredible it's Inc an incredible deal at $21.99 they serve them both ways main style and Connecticut style the Connecticut style is served on a Brio span and the main style is served on the traditional you know kind of openface hot dog bun but anyway it it's the the chef at stars a chef named TR you can always remember his name Chef Tre I love the chef he's from the east coast and he said I grew up eating these things and making these things I'm telling you it's spot on uh knuckle and Claw meat and a little bit of uh onion and some mayo and not much else and it is it's just spectacular comes with a side of really good pasta salad a legit serving not just this little 2 O excuse me what did you spell Ramin yeah ramkin style the pasta salad is delicious the lobster roll is delicious both of them are $21.99 Friday and Saturday at stars call ahead because they run out of them I'm telling you you'll thank me later this is the best affordable Splurge in town I ordered one and I wanted to go back and get another okay because you know I'm very picky about Seafood so I'm telling you you have to try this I will be cautiously optimistic it was my first one and I'm s I've seen the sign every time I go in there and I've either come when they've run out or you know just just didn't make it happen but oh my gosh I'll be I'll I'll see you there this weekend all right sounds like a plan so that's what we can't stop thinking about we'll be right back the heat is on break out your sundresses and sandals and head to Augusta Wine Country on Highway 94 visit Augusta Winery for a real taste of their terroir in America's first wine region sample award-winning wines and dance to live music on weekends cool down in the evening hours at Augusta winery's second sip Saturday and Friday Night Live Events featuring live music spirit and craft brew tastings giveaways and local vendors for hours directions event details and dates visit Augusta winery.com and now back to the show we're going to move along to other summertime treats ice cream custard you know we decided not to take in snow cones or IES or gelato we're going to limit this cuz we had there's plenty to talk about keep it to ice cream and custard it's still a full episode's worth so uh why don't you go ahead and start I know we each have you know several that we're excited to talk about yeah and like you said earlier some of them are very well known some a little bit off the beaten path I'm going to start out with one that I just it it's one of my favorite just places in town in general because there's such a joyfulness about it and that Sugar witch the Ice Cream Sandwich they the best the best they're so wonderful deep deep south City klet I think it is just the loveliest people bonded over a shared love of ice cream sandwiches two partners in business and life they decided to launch this concept started out as a popup kind of thing or they were doing stuff out of uh Ben pra's Airstream at AO and a mini air they got a brick and mortar in an old Bakery in klet and they're so wonderful they make their own ice cream for them they make the own cookie for it so the ice cream sandwiches are what they're known for they have a whole bunch of them named after different witches throughout like you know kind of you know fiction like the Ursula Alaba wit is my favorite the alphaba is delicious and I'm not usually a mint chocolate chip person but theirs just hits the right note it almost tastes like a thin mint it's like a mint chocolate chip ice cream a minted salted kind of brownie cookie for the sandwich part and just absolutely wonderful it's kind of got a toastiness to it that that's just perfect I haven't found one of those that I didn't like I mean it's so good and they're they're Square I think they're six seven bucks a piece there's not much packaging to them they're almost nondescript like what is this little yep goodie here but oh my gosh they're the best in town wonderful the other thing I love there is their Choco Tacos they you know that used to be like the classic ice cream truck novelty right and do a riff on that they like hand dip their waffle stuff it with their ice cream they add sprinkles to it Whimsical lovely perfect for summer like bring the family bring yourself bring whoever that's wonderful my next one is one that I think people from St Louis think I'm well I'm from St Louis but you know people think I'm a blasphemer but I love silky Frozen Custard silkies might be my favorite Frozen Custard in s Louis I go toed we have I go to the one in Ellisville and the reason I like it first of all it stays solid a little bit longer than other Frozen custards that you get we're talking later on about like how everything gets so melted instantaneously you end up with ice cream soup but this stays firmer a little bit longer it has a little bit more of like a Savory note to it I'm not saying it's not Savory but you really get this like egginess and this cream this richness to it the vanilla I always get classic vanilla everyone thinks it's so boring but I love it it's the little black dress of ice cream I've said that you know many times but um I think they're wonderful head to silkies if you want Frozen um Frozen Custard my daughter uh loves the pineapple she gets it mixed in with fresh pineapple oh my gosh that's a very refreshing summertime she gets a concrete like that yes it's wonderful it's kind of like the idea of like Dole Whip you ever had that but a little bit richer but it still has that lovely pineapple cream taste to it so those are the first two off mine I'm going to stay in the fruit mode and I'm going to take you to Mr E cider donut and Frozen Custard Stand in Belleville Mr E is Mr eard it's at this Belleville Farm Complex and I had some Peach custard there fresh peach custard and it was delicious it had the same qualities that you were talking about that's really important that solidness to it it's not goopy or sloppy it's very hard on the cone and oh my gosh that complex over there is insane there's uh I know there's Peach custard until mid August and then they go to something maybe I know there's pumpkin in the fall but there's a specialty Sunday called an apple knocker that has a Big Slice of Dutch apple pie with caramel and pecans that's good there's a donut Sunday with their homemade cider donuts that's perfect I would recommend the the apple cider slushie which is really good or you can go to The Cider shed which is right next door that has a can get a flight of all 12 of their ciders and it barely fits on this 4 foot table we're looking at it's insane it's this giant board with with 12 ciders anyway I don't know if you've been over there but the General Store over there is is it's massive it's not like you know Wallies or bies big but it's really big and it's got all kinds of things I mean just it is it's a general store um the muffins there are as big as softballs and and there's something there called a humble pie which is the size of a Danish but it's made with a pinched pie dough not very humble sounds pretty no decadent pie and and I took the apple caramel walnut one and picked the pieces of the crust off and dipped them into my peach custard yes you did that's it sounds brilliant anyway that is a that's over in Belleville another place in Belleville that that I like to visit it is the white cottage and anybody that's a St Louis and that Ventures over there has probably heard about it because it's been there for 77 years yeah I've heard about it but I've actually never been so you have to tell me it's just outstanding they're it's you know family-owned the cherry garden ice cream is made with fresh cherries the blueberries made with fresh blueberries I had some banana ice cream that was so good and and it it's that homemade it's like Grandma used to make kind of a little bit grainy it's not doesn't stick you know it might fall apart just a little bit not super sweet I mean really really good ice cream there you know they roast and salt their pecans they make their own Prine topping everything's homemade there they've got 25 flavors at any one time if you want to you can try 15 of them by ordering the pig Trot 15 scoops of ice cream five toppings whipped cream a cherry and a Twinkie that is outrageous that's like a food competition or something to it's someone put it on a scale it weighs 6 lbs costs 35 bucks but anyway might cost you your life I I had a single scoop of ice cream and was perfectly happy there the but the white cottage has been there uh like I said for decades they've got Smash Burgers sandwiches fish sandwiches pork tenderloin sandwiches so you can do the whole Monty there if you want to and it's always open Monday through Sunday I think 11: to 10 p.m. oh that's really I mean worth the trip it's it's 30 minutes from my house and and I would go over there again for some of that banana ice cream well that sounds like a lovely place but I have another classic and this is one you know I'm not I'm not telling any secrets to anybody with this but Crown Candy you can't talk about ice cream in St Louis without talking about Crown Candy you know I was just talking about BLTs and I'm thinking oh my gosh they're known for their BLT uh the heart stopping BLT I think it is but um you know and all their chocolates and their candies and stuff but I love a classic chocolate malt and I think the reason is you go in there and it has such a nostalgic feel to it and it's not fake Nostalgia this is legitimately an old old institution yeah yeah it's like it's like guses pretzels dad's cookies it's as big of an institution as we have yeah it as St Louis as the arch I really think you know you come to St Louis you go to a Cardinal game you see the Arts you go to Crown Candy like it is that sacred here um The Malt the milkshakes they serve them in those frozen cups you know you get your you know you get your glass but then you get the extra on the side and the and the ice is crystallized on the outside it's just you get you get the chocolate a chocolate malt I do chocolate but I also like butterscotch I do love butterscotch I order a chocolate banana malt and a and a nap oh cuz it's so much stuff yes it is and it's so delicious anyway my standing order oh that's so great Crown Candy so I'm talking about the old school with Crown Candy I would say the relatively you know it's not brand new anymore but kind of of the newer School shall we say is um God how much do you love Isis plain and fancy have you've you've been I take it oh sure well it it's night and day from Old School to New School exactly night and day this looks like a science experiment you go there there's like steam Rising you know you feel like someone's in a lab coat back there doing something but it's the Nitro it's like it's flash Frozen with Liquid Nitro liquid nitren which is not a quiet process it sounds like a jet engine oh yes and kids of all ages love to hear this stuff being made it's justred yeah I think that's what I love so much about it it's not just that it results in this like silken just glorious concoction I mean the texture of this is so perfect and they so many goodies there I like their boozy ones I'm a big uh fan of the big Labowski and they have a frozen dude which is basically a White Russian in ice cream form so 10 out of 10 recommend that but but it's just you know it's visual it's auditory you taste it you smell the smell of the ice cream when you walk in there it like hits every sense it's it's a true ice cream experience yes yes so how do you top that well you know I'm going to I'm going to take you to House Springs oh wow so there's there's something right right there not where a lot of people are familiar with a place called singer ice cream it's been there for two years okay it's family-owned it's it's a true Mom and Pop Shop there's two different Moms and Pops that run it and they they do things differently they make their own ice cream there for instance they use three different kinds of gear Deli chocolate in their chocolate ice cream and they use so many Oreos in their Oreos and cream that it's like Gray colored oh wow in a good way yeah definitely um really small batch ice cream I mean six quarts at a time small so that's it's just incredible it feels very small townish they call it singers because there's musicians in the family there's a there's a karaoke machine there oh that's so wonderful 16 flavors different flavors you know banana pudding Blackberry vanilla turtle mocha Crunch and they do sorbet mango right now it's mango watermelon lemon sorbet but by the time you go it'll be three different ones but I'm telling you it's worth a trip to House Springs again it's about 30 minutes away 30 minutes from from my house anyway but it's just this charming ice cream experience that said there's one in St Louis too there's not a singers but there's that same type of vibe that same type of feel at a place called and you know this place Spoonful of Sugar yes in Benton Park it's the former Cups and Cones the guy that owns it is named Elijah he and his brother and his mother run this place and they do their own ice cream too they're big on candy ice cream Snickers butter finger they do all fresh fruits strawberry peach but they do a bunch of vegan ice creams too the coconut based ice creams there's a a pineapple coconut that tastes like a frozen peanut colada these coconut based ice creams you've had these they're pretty good oh I love them I'm just as happy with them as I am with regular ice cream you think coconut milk I'm not sure about that it's pretty darn good this teeny Place seats 12 there's that cute little patio out back and I'm telling you it's just this charming old toown feeling cute charismatic shop and they even have dog treats that are made with yogurt peanut butter and bananas are you kidding me I'm done that sounds wonderful oh God it's good for the whole family right well my last two are I would say they're kind of like two of these like really just classic scoop shops that have kind of arisen over for the past like gosh decade here well no I guess Serendipity has been around for 20 years so that that's one of them Serendipity I love this place Becky Jacobs is just this you know kind of like force of nature super cool and you know she originally opened in Webster now she's in the Grove but she just does such a good job with that like you know you think of like a Baskin Robin style where it's that classic scoop shop you know you come in it's kind of like that harder style like real deal like close your eyes you think ice cream scoop of that on a cone stack them a little high there I do love that I had a blueberry ice cream there that was absolutely fantastic not too long ago but the things she's doing now that I think so cool we're talking about ice cream sandwiches she's got to build your own ice cream sandwich option now where you get to choose your cookie and you can mix and match so you can have a different top and bottom love so cool and then you fill it with whatever ice cream they're scooping that day so that that alone is worth the visit there and and her shop is now down in the Grove yes used to be in Webster but there is a scoop shop in Webster that uses her ice cream and it's called sylv D's it just opened recently and again they've got just really cool things going on there they've got ice cream nachos that are made with like waffle cone chips they've got old-fashioned sodas and all kinds of soda flavors flats and candy a huge candy selection what what impress me there is I've never seen this a New York City based Swedish candy importer called Bonbon huh and they are the one of The Originators apparently of Swedish Fish and as the owner said this is the real thing Swedish fish from Sweden wow so that's sylv D and Webster that specializes oh that's perfect serendipities ice cream perfect um the other one I this is the last one on my list I do love Clementine I mean you can't talk about ice cream in St Louis without talking about Clementine she's the new OG she is she is I mean she made it on an Oprah's Favorite Things list so I mean come on what more of an endorsement do you do you need and that was for the gooey butter her gooey butter I think Oprah called it the sexiest ice cream she did yeah so I mean ringing endorsement there and it's so fun to see how she started out as this like little Lafayette Square scoop shop and now she's just this like like brand you know and just for we're speaking of Tamara Keef who's who's the she calls herself what is it the flavor temptress yes exactly exactly my favorite there is their coffee ice cream I do love a good coffee ice cream and I think theirs is great they use like just a really decadent deep rich roast in there so you actually get this coffee taste to it so love their coffee ice cream it's fantastic now this guy is the OG uh Ronnie Ryan of Ronnie's ice cream he's been in business for 45 years here he's the best local ice cream manufacturer that nobody knows about he's just totally below radar but he supplies SOS with their French vanilla and has forever when I was at siros we were there Ronnie's biggest customer maybe it still is he supplies the High Point Drive-In Tony's you might have heard of it stobs private label he supplies some uni Opera with those Ronnie's Rocky Mountain experience huge uh drumstick yes um they most of his line is available at another Webster shop called half pint yeah which is next to the frisco barroom and the annex and it's another one of these places that feels like a small town like a like a Lake Michigan small town ice cream store and uh one thing that he has there which I didn't know he makes specifically for them an assai blueberry sorbet oh that's so good it's their number one selling item wow he also has a raspberry sorbet which he's done forever he does a chocolate sorbet never had it he says that's incredible and he does a mango sorbet with a shamoy ripple shamoy is a you know dried fruit chili lime salt wow sounds crazy but he said what other ice cream store in town can offer that I said nobody Ronnie you're the king anyway brown butter salted caramel he does all kinds of cool flavors there but anyway it's Ronnie's ice cream at half pint in Webster really really good stuff you go to Balkan you get your uh saap and then you watch down with some Ronnies I'm telling you it's it's a great experience um and and my last is just a note about the new fountain on delmare now a lot of people are going there and they think it's like the fountain on Locust and there's a full menu there a full menu of food and goodies and dill pickle soup and those kind of things but no this is pretty much a coffee and ice cream shop there are no Savory Foods like they are at the other Fountain people need to know that and there's there's ice cream of Plenty it comes from a place called Cedar Crust ice cream which that was an interesting story Joy gnik who started the fountain on Locust did months and months and months of research she said I became an ice cream geek and she said this is the best ice cream in the country that I could find from Cedar Crest and I'll get in I could get into why it is but I'm not going to but you know you can experience four of these ice creams at the fountain on Del with the it's got a flight of the four world's smallest ice cream cones oh that's so cute they're so cute and it's it's a little companion novelty to to the world's smallest hot fudge Sunday which they also serve anyway that's the fountain on delmare recently open next to Steve's Hot Dogs in this uh delmare maker District that everybody's talking so much about well I do have you know one more just kind of quick thing to add I know we're not talking about like snow cones but this kind of blurs that line between snow cone and ice cream have you ever had bingu the Korean frozen dessert Korean National Dessert yes it's so wonderful it's kind of icy kind of fluffy like a you know like a it's like snow snowball it is like snow but there is milk in it so it's got this creaminess on top of it there is a really great place in um Chesterfield called Spoonful and it's just a bing Su Cafe basically and the thing that's so fun is you can top it with anything you can imagine fruits candies you know you name it it's it's so lovely and it's like you take a bite of it and it just immediately just like melts on your tongue it's so refreshing the one I had was half strawberry and half mango oh perfect delicious delicious so that is something if if someone's interested in trying something a little different kind of off the beaten path there I highly recommend Spoonful it's it's a fun spot I've got a couple quick hits too the best orange twist cone in the area oh who doesn't like that this is at the dairy Haven in Caseyville this is a soft sered cone that's got half vanilla ice cream and half orange sherbet which they're famous for so it's got that really zingy Tangy so you've got these two instead of it being the same texture these are two different textures Twisted together I'm telling you it's worth the trip to Caseyville just to get one of these guys and uh somebody turned me on to them and then she said I'm telling you they're gravable they're Unforgettable she was right there's another one in town this is a you know we're back to custard I think the best chocolate custard cone in town is at the St Louis Frozen Custard Factory oh for the same reasons that you were saying it's yeah the chocolate's very tasty but it's got that hard texture you you can't you can lick it but you can't really do it you almost have to either bite it or or lip it ever you know what I'm talking about I know exactly lipping you know sounds kind of obscene but that's what you have to do to get the to get the custard off this cone at the Frozen to do yeah well we probably should leave it with that but uh there's another soft serve ice cream that I just had the other night that it was outstanding I'm not sure if you've had this item it's called the works at neon greens the new the new salad place in town this is a vegan ice cream but again don't let that worry you it's it's Thai Basil vanilla and match up right with the the powdered green tea soft serve that's that's made with oat milk and that all sounds kind of a little odd but man it's really tasty but they top it with smoked almonds and some caramelized puffed rice they put some squiggle some caramel sauce on the top and then they stud it with some shards of housemade Sesame brittle so the top of it has this sesame coming out it looks like the scales of a Stegosaurus you know what I'm talking about you got the visual that's so fun it's sweet and it's a little bit Savory but it's one of the best soft sered products I've ever been served wow that sounds impressive I love it well I think the takeaway is there are a lot of unique places there are a lot of Classics and there's a lot on the east side it sounds like we talked about a lot of reasons to go out to the east side for ice cream so and did we even talk about TED Drews oh gosh well I mean I mean that's the elephant in the room and you know what's they're the king they're the best I mean I love Ted Drew like anybody and I have you know a lot of people say I don't go there because it's too busy well you know what here's my theory there are so many new custard places and so many more custard places you've got your fritzes and you've got your andies and you know you got Culver's all over town and Freddy's all over town There's custard everywhere I contend the lines at Ted Drews aren't as bad as they used to be the last three times I've been there it's been very manageable pretty much walked right up so don't get intimidated if you think there's going to be a you know a 25 minute wait for custard T there's absolutely not I've never waited more than three minutes this entire summer I don't think because they're professionals there I mean they know how to move people so and they have such an army of people working there do not be intimidated by Ted Drew it's it's still the best it's perfect it's St Louis it's iconic what isn't iconic there's one thing about ice cream around town this doesn't happen often but when it does it's horrible this is the micro ran of the day melty ice cream ice cream or custard or or any Frozen tree really I mean the the texture is as important as The Taste sometimes they'll dip a cone out of the cabinet and the scoop is so loose on there that You' got to lick like a madman to keep up with it before it falls onto your P you're not even tasting at that point because you're just trying to get the job done no it's not enjoyable and that happened to me the other day and the woman behind the counter said do you want that in a cup I said no I want my ice cream cone served on a cone I don't I ordered a cup I would have ordered a cup yeah I never understand that cup cone thing I mean I do from like a I guess Logistics standpoint but that takes the joy out of it and and I just think you know it's very important to have the temperature and the texture right you know if your dipping cabinets aren't working properly fix them don't service an inferior product especially when it's five bucks a scoop which is has gotten to now that exactly anyway that's that's the rant you have any other well I don't know I mean melty ice cream forget about it's still good ice cream though let's just say ice cream is King no matter what that's it for this week be sure to follow us and share with your friends and we always provide links in the show notes for everything you heard about today and don't forget to hit that subscribe button and follow along on Instagram at St Louis mag and feel free to give us a follow personally at George mayhe and Cheryl A Bear if you loved what you heard show us some love by rating and reviewing us on Apple podcast and if you're 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