Saturday, September 11, 2010

Saturday treat: Nielsen's Frozen Custard

It being Saturday and all, we had a hankerin' for some good ol' ice cream eatin'. We decided on Nielsen's Frozen Custard -- 3918 Highland Dr., Holladay, UT 84124; 801.277.7479.


For those who haven't tried it, frozen custard is a different animal from ice cream or gelato. Ice cream has a high butterfat and sugar content, but it also has large amounts of air whipped into it during the freezing process, which makes it light and yet heavy on the tongue simultaneously. Gelato, on the other hand, has a low butterfat and sugar content, and the taste of its ingredients is far more more pronounced (i.e., lemon gelato really tastes like lemon, not cream and sugar). It also has almost no air whipped into it, so it's dense and assertive on the palate. In contrast to both ice cream and gelato, frozen custard is very fatty and very dense and very sweet.

And Nielsen's does frozen custard pretty darn well. They're signature creation is called concrete. It's essentially frozen custard made into a shake. Concretes come in two basic flavors: vanilla and chocolate. We had a vanilla concrete with strawberries.

The richness of the frozen custard made it silky smooth on the tongue. Meanwhile, the acid in the fresh cut strawberries (as opposed to those pitiful frozen or canned strawberries used so often) cut through the fat in the custard and provided an nice contrast of flavors. Our regular concrete costs about $5. A mini costs around $3.50. Reasonable price for a product that will make you think twice about going back to yet another ol' ice cream cone.

(Note: Nielsen's has a good vibe to it. It was populated by numerous families playing together, which made my son happy. Also, the workers are all teenagers. In all the times I've been to Nielsen's, never an adult I've seen. But, hey, with stuff this good who needs grownups.)

Rating: 7.5/10

Nielsen's Frozen Custard (SLC) on Urbanspoon

3 comments:

  1. If you like Nielsen's Frozen Custard, you should try a new place. Lanta's Frozone in West Valley City has incredible Frozen Custard. They even have Frozen Yogurt made in the same fashion with little air whipped in. It is marvelous.

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  2. The reason you never see an 'adult' working there is because there isn't one. A couple of us are in our very early twenties, but most of us are teenagers

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  3. Lanta's doesn't hold a candle to Nielsen's! Nielsen's is so creamy and flavorful, while Lanta's is chunky, bland and full of ice chunks. I gotta call a spade a spade.

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