We like ice cream, and used a trip to our state capitol
yesterday as an excuse to visit one of our favorite parlors, Central Dairy. Their
ice cream is, as their advertisements say, “fresh as a Missouri morning,” or as
I say, “Oh, man….”
Don’t be fooled by the
uninspired façade. The ice cream is good, good, good and good. It is difficult
to choose among their 42 ice cream flavors, but the four of us with all our different tastes and textures, were pleased. They also have 6 frozen yogurt flavors, 5 low
fat varieties, 5 sherbets and 2 no sugar added versions, but this is America,
and we are Americans. None of that sissy stuff for us, right?
 |
| Aubrey and Eric Estrada enjoying a cone. |
There is always a line waiting to get in the door, but
the line breaks down as customers dart between each other trying to look into
the freezers to make the best selection. The 8 or 9 red-shirted servers somehow
always keep track of whose turn it is and get the orders right.
Yesterday, I asked one to
help me choose between the Bear Claw – “A dark chocolate ice cream filled with
chocolate coated cashews and swirled with a luscious thick golden caramel” – and
the Tiger Tracks – “Golden ice cream loaded with chocolate coated cookies,
decadent chocolate truffles and stripes of rich fudge.”
She leaned over conspiratorially and whispered, just
above the din, “try the Muddy River,” which, I thought, was perfect since we
were only a matter of yards from the original muddy river, the “Big Muddy” Missouri.
“Gimme two scopes,” I said.
The Muddy River is “Rich brownie batter ice cream
swirled with butter fudge ribbon and sprinkled with chocolate truffles and
white chocolate flakes,” and boy, is it good.
If you find yourself in
Jefferson City, check out Central Dairy on 610 Madison Street. I’m pretty sure
that’s why GPS
was invented.
was invented.
Oh, man, is right. We lived in Rolla for ten years, and every trip to Columbia for church meetings took us through Jeff City. Stopping at Central Dairy was a required part of any trip. Now that we live far from there, and our daughter moved to St.Louis, we rarely have cause to travel that way. Our small town has several frozen yogurt/custard shops which are definitely good, but none can hold a candle to the original ice cream heaven, Central Dairy.
ReplyDeleteOh, I know exactly what you mean. As a boy, those trips took me to towns that had McDonald’s restaurants, the old ones with the big yellow arches running right through the store. It was one of the highlights of my youth, until my friend Dale took me to an iHop – life was never the same again.
DeleteOf course, now I have an app on my phone that tells me there are more than a dozen McDonald’s within 5 miles of me, so that’s no big deal. Kelly and I ate at the iHop just last night though, still a special treat. Their Colorado omelet is goooooood…
Thanks for writing.
I loved my double chocolate chip very much, but the company was far better. ~Kelly
ReplyDeleteunDeniably Domestic
Kind of an ice cream fun day. Is that what you're saying?
Delete