To Ted’s and Beyond: Our Five Favorite Frozen Custard Stands

July 2, 2015

2:38 PM

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A butter pecan lite cone from Fritz’s, one of the daily specialty flavors at Fritz’s. The flavor calendar posted online gives an overview of each day’s unique frozen custard offering.

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Behold the James Brownie Funky Jackhammer. Vanilla custard blended with brownies and peanut butter with a hot fudge center.

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The St. Louis Frozen Custard raspberry custoozie, a raspberry smoothie blended with frozen custard.

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Three ice cream treats at Silky’s

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Requires no explanation...

When it comes to frozen custard in St. Louis, the iconic faux-arctic chalet that is Ted Drewes on Chippewa turns it up most days and nights. Folks wait elbow-to-elbow in anticipation, some raucous, most patient. Since 1941, frozen custard acolytes have traveled the pilgrimage road, Route 66, to the open windows of the shrine to choose a fave flavor in malts, shakes, sundaes, floats and ice cream sodas. Ted’s original concrete, a shake or malt so thick servers turn them upside down before serving remains the holy grail of frozen treats at Ted’s each year since its inception in 1959.

While this may sound sacrilegious to Ted’s followers, frozen custard exists beyond the Chippewa sanctum sanctorum. Each of the establishments we visited serves cones, malts, concretes, sundaes and more, chapter and verse. For seekers of frozen custard goodness willing to wander roads less traveled, we’ve highlighted notable offerings at each of these alternate stands on the path to custard enlightenment.

Be advised: other custard outposts exist and beg to be explored as well, but for now, we bring you five.

A view customers at Andy’s from Kirkwood Road. The drive-thru lane (out of view) stayed busy throughout our visits.

Andy’s Frozen Custard (multiple locations; we visited Kirkwood)

Andy’s gleams bright on the streetscape of Kirkwood Road, a beacon of neon light atop a grassy hill, awash with disciples of the custard stand that dares to take the sacred concrete one-step beyond, to the Jackhammers. No simple heresy, the Jackhammer (right) blasphemes delightfully.

The wizards at Andy’s base this frozen delight on the core belief that a center tunnel of the topping of your choice – think hot fudge, crème caramel, butterscotch or marshmallow -- encased in a favorite thick concrete could set folks to rockin’ and speakin’ in tongues. Choose any topping, but we liked the gooey hot fudge best. Nirvana.

Factor in this: Andy’s does a dynamite drive-thru business. You can worship at Andy’s altar without leaving the confines of your car. Praise custard!

The wonderful neon and lights at Fritz’s West County location on Meramec Station Road glows on dark summer nights. The parking lot features table seating.

Fritz’s Frozen Custard (multiple locations; we visited West County)

Custard of choice for ascetically inclined disciples whose adherence to strict dietary laws limit the ingestion of fats and added sugars. Yes, Lite 95-percent fat-free and no sugar added vanilla custard exists at all locations of Fritz’s. Full-fat custards in vanilla, chocolate and in a unique flavor of the day such as chocolate malt, mint chip, strawberry, pistachio and more make heavenly choices. Fritz’s publishes a monthly calendar of special flavors if you favor certainty over serendipity.

The day we visited butter pecan ruled as a flavor of the day. Happy Fortuna. My favorite. Yum. We didn’t buy one of the black or brown cow ice cream specialties offered, but if we had, I’m sure the sacrifice would have left us divinely satisfied.

There are plenty of tables and chairs at St. Louis Frozen Custard Factory.

St. Louis Frozen Custard Factory

Home of the fruity Custoozie, the sacrament of choice for fruity-smoothie-followers, St. Louis Frozen Custard serves up a blend of smoothie and frozen custard that nearly brought on a blissful brain-freeze.

This treat goes down easy by the spoonful or slurped through a straw. Available in multiple fruit flavors including peach-blueberry, banana, mango-raspberry, coconut pineapple and more, the custoozie combines clean fruit flavors with super-smooth custard for a uniquely textured frozen refreshment fruit and custard devotees can embrace.

The faithful gather at tables on the patio in front of the stand, sit in air-conditioned comfort in a small inside space or remove to a grassy space set with lawn furniture. Be sure to check out the homage to the sacred honeybee hand-painted mural that cloaks the restroom walls. Like Andy’s, the whole service can be completed en automobile via the drive-thru lane.

And a few select benches at Silky's in Creve Coeur.

Silky’s Frozen Custard (multiple locations; we visited Creve Coeur)

The Turtle Sundae, that holy trinity of hot fudge, gooey caramel and butter-roasted pecans over the creamiest frozen custard, more than justified the 50-mile round trip drive to Silky’s Frozen Custard storefront in Creve Coeur. One Grasshopper concrete bracing and bright and a ‘custard cookie’ put the Silky’s trip at the top of the list for this frozen custard stand hopper.

Add in sparkling glass block walls that reminded me of ice and one thoughtful employee who suggested we order a concrete over a sundae for the grasshopper and the experience enlightened. “Some people find the crème de menthe syrup a little intense,” she said. Good call on that one.

The ‘custard cookie,’ an ice cream sandwich on steroids, comes in standard flavors of mint, chocolate and vanilla, but each day Silky’s offers a special. We drew Peanut Butter and Reese’s. The custard sandwiches, nearly enrobed in a chocolate shell over cookies and custard, tasted sweet, crunched delightfully and added a chocolate taste to each bite. Call me a disciple.

Ted Drewes outpost on South Grand, a small square building set in a blacktop parking lot, serves all the Ted Drewes specialties in a less crowded setting.

Ted Drewes on South Grand

If the custard fits, but the crowds chafe and the hallelujah! shouts of custard lovers annoy, travel to Deep South St. Louis and pay your respects at the smaller Ted Drewes. Less of a church, more of a chapel, this little-know stand doesn’t open until Memorial Day and it closes the day after Labor Day.

Eleven years before Ted’s opened on historic Route 66 (Chippewa) in 1941, this diminutive, non-descript Ted Drewes opened on South Grand near Meramec Avenue. The depression-era baby still stands, squat and square, tiny by comparison to its Chippewa sibling. Enjoy the same frozen treats and skip the crush to preserve inner peace. Amen.

Andy’s Frozen Custard

311 S. Kirkwood

314-966-1075

Sun -Thu: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Fri - Sat: 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Website: eatandys.com

Facebook: Andys Frozen Custard Kirkwood

Twitter: @EatAndys

Fritz’s Frozen Custard

Address: 5 locations; Florissant; O’Fallon, MO; St. Peters; West County, and Wentzville

Summer Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 11p.m.

Website: fritzsfrozencustard.com