McCann Kathleen - Milwaukee Frozen Custard

Published by American Palate

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2016 by Kathleen McCann and Robert Tanzilo

All rights reserved

All images courtesy of the authors unless otherwise noted.

Cover image: The Glendale Milky Way, inspiration for Als Drive In on TVs Happy Days. Courtesy of John Eastberg.

First published 2016

e-book edition 2016

ISBN 978.1.62585.717.0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016942426

print edition ISBN 978.1.46711.861.3

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Greg Dumais, Ed Mack, Katie Parry and the team at The History Press. And thanks to everyone quoted or profiled in the book.

Thanks, too, to many folks who shared information and photographs, made important connections and more, including Samantha Alfrey in Special Collections at the University of Illinois at Chicagos Richard J. Daley Library; Dave Begel; Jennifer Blomberg; Karen de Hartog at Shorewood Historical Society; Beth Dennik at Gilles; John Eastberg; Heather Porter Engwall at the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board; Thomas Fehring; Fred Fischer; Richard Gagliano; Tim Galloway; Daniel Goldin and the staff at Boswell Book Company for being enthusiastic supporters and partners; Jule Groh; Carlen Hatala at the city of Milwaukees Historic Preservation Office; Professor Stephen Hauser; Colleen Henry; Carol Krigbaum at the Whitefish Bay Historical Society; Susie Littlefield and Jane Crisci at Kopps; Kelly Mallegni at Bartolotta Restaurant Group; Jason McDowell; Angie Montoto; Alice Orlich; Paul Pitas at Culvers; Earl Smith and Scott Turner at Kohr Bros.; Melissa Smith and the folks at Focus Brands/Carvel; the staffs at the Milstein Division of the New York Public Library, Milwaukee County Historical Society and Milwaukee Department of City Development; and Brooke VandeBerg, Kristina Gomez, Jennifer Pahl and the staff at Milwaukee Public Library. Thanks also to the folks who joined us on our mission to do, ahem, research at as many of the custard stands mentioned in this book as possible, especially our two littlest and most enthusiastic taste testers. It was difficult work, but it had to be done.

For updates, more photos and other information and to submit feedback, visit https://www.facebook.com/milwaukeecustardbook.

1

INTRODUCTION

Milwaukee is known as Brew City thanks to its once prominent beer-brewing tradition, but the city has another claim to fame: frozen custard capital of the world.

Here, names like Leon, Gilles, Kopp and Culver are as well known as Miller, Best, Blatz, Pabst and Schlitz. And often they conjure deeper memories and stronger opinions than their beer-brewing counterparts. And while beer-drinking culture is reserved for adults, Milwaukeeans of all ages indulge in the passion for custard.

SERIOUS BUSINESS

Frozen custard makes people happyat least, thats what Americas amusement park proprietors who met for an informal convention in New York opined in 1932, according to a United Press International article. The attendees included frozen custard among four things that best to contribute to the worlds happiness. (The other three were bumper cars, carousels and roller coasters.) Whether or not your average New Yorker at that time would have agreed is unclear. But in Milwaukee, past and present, custard is serious happiness.

Frozen custard looks much like ice cream to the uninitiated, but it is denser and creamier thanks to the inclusion of egg yolks. When you eat it, the superiority of frozen custard is immediately clear. Even those who grew up eating other frozen dessertsthere were plenty of A&Ws and Dairy Queens serving ice cream and soft-serve in the areacan readily agree that custard just tastes better, even if theyre unsure as to why.

Scooping up frozen custard on a busy night at Kopps Frozen Custards stand in Greenfield.

But thats where the agreement ends.

Nearly everyone has his or her favorite frozen custard stand and will defend its superiority with vigor. That said, were all happy to explore different custard stands, if only to reinforce our existing preference. The only other food that engenders such passions among locals is the Friday night fish fry.

The question of whose custard was superior was aired in August 1981, when a blind taste test was conducted at the Hyatt RegencyMilwaukee hotel. Differing news accounts pegged attendance between 500 and 2,000 folks who turned out for the black-tie affair, dubbed Custards Best Stand. Vanilla samples from thirteen stands were scored on appearance, texture, flavor, aroma, sweetness and body. The panel of 25 judges was chosen from a pool of 375 applicants and based on a written test of custard knowledge. It took the judges two hours to complete their sweet, if filling, task, which included custard from Gilles, Kitts, the Fudge Pump, Kopps, Pign Whistle, Als, Le Ducs, Northpoint, Pops, Petroff s and three Town Pride stands. In the end, Kopps copped the title, with Kitts taking second and Town Prides Teutonia Avenue stand finishing third.

Such an inclusive taste-off hasnt been attempted since mostly because custard purists eschew packing it in ice for travel, which changes the consistency. But there are plenty of instances of informal custard outings for which groups travel to a number of different stands in one day, including Marquette Universitys student government custard crawl held in fall 2015 as part of its back-to-school activities. Stories of wedding parties stopping off at a custard stand between nuptials and reception are not uncommon, sometimes because the couples romance began under the neon lights of that particular drive-in. When native Milwaukeeans living elsewhere return home for a visit, a trip to the custard stand is a must, and sometimes, it is the first stop after exiting the airport. For some, that first custard fix is even more immediate thanks to the Northpoint Custard stand located in General Mitchell International Airports main concourse.

WHY MILWAUKEE?

Though fresh frozen custard began in earnest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, it is Milwaukee that can surely claim the title of frozen custard capital of the world. Why?

Numerous ideas have been floated over the years as contributors to the perfect storm for frozen custards adoption here, among them Wisconsins dairy tradition, access to fresh cream and the proximity of the University of WisconsinMadisons Dairy School, believed to be the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere when it began offering dairy foods courses in 1890.