JimStr's Profile
Molly Moon's-Capitol Hill (Seattle)
Many places do homemade fudge and fresh berry compote. Many places do homemade waffle cones. Frozen custard places like Peaks and Old School make the *ice cream* fresh on the spot! Somehow though people believe that Molly Moon's is special in these regards. Why? I think Molly or whomever has done a fantastic job marketing a mystique. "This place is so cool you have to stand in line to get it". Even at the very beginning they did whatever they could (including the design of the shops) to get that line formed because then the power of the line takes over. People say "Oh, a line, it must be great". As an ice cream shop owner in the midwest for 10 years it's very interesting. I never thought of that and I have to tip my hat to MM, not for the ice cream, but for the great hype generation.
Ezell's Chicken-- Lake City Way (SEA)
Honestly I don't know why people like Ezell's. I've been there 3 times now and each time the chicken is dry and the skin is sort of greasy/rubbery. I wish there was a better place to get broasted chicken. These places are everywhere in the midwest.
Old School Frozen Custard
I worked for over 15 years in the custard business in some venerable places like Kopp's, Michael's and Cleary's in Wisconsin and have eaten copious amounts of custard at Ted Drewes while conducting classes at the frozen dessert institute in St Louis, so I know frozen custard pretty well. If you were disappointed in Peaks I can understand that, but they definitely have real frozen custard. I think Peaks' custard is fantastic. It's very similar in flavor and texture to Kopp's in Milwaukee and that's been around ~60 years.
I've also sampled Old School and while they have real frozen custard as well, I'm less impressed with their custard for exactly the reason Babette brings up above. The flavors are subdued which is probably due to the lower butterfat/egg yolk concentration in their mix and possibly to inferior quality flavorings like vanilla.
I've not tried chocolate malted custard at Dahlia Bakery so I can't comment on that.
