Ted Drewes Frozen Custard sits on old Route 66 in St. Louis, and it’s the reason “concrete” is a dessert term at all. Ted Jr. invented the concrete here, a frozen custard blended so thick that servers still flip the cup upside down at the window to prove it won’t fall, and travelers making the classic Route 66 St. Louis food stop have ordered it that way ever since. For anyone wondering what a concrete dessert actually is, this is where the answer, and the original recipe, both still live.
Ted Drewes Sr. opened his first frozen custard stand in Florida in 1929 before moving to St. Louis and establishing the Chippewa Street location. Ted Jr. developed the concrete, a frozen custard blended with mix-ins at such low temperature and density that the finished product holds its shape when the cup is turned upside down. The server demonstrates this at the window before handing over the order.
The Chippewa Street location sits on what was Route 66 before the highway was decommissioned, which gave Ted Drewes a specific place in the American road trip mythology of the mid-20th century. Route 66 travelers stopped here as they drove from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Bon Appetit named Ted Drewes one of America’s greatest ice cream shops. The New York Times has covered it. The custard is made fresh in the original machines, and the lines are still legendary on a summer night…