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The Dairy Godmother, New Owner Russell Gravat on Mount Vernon Avenue in Del Ray - Authentic Milwaukee-Style Frozen Custard


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So I'm planning a return visit...but don't know what to get!! :)

I want the vanilla custard, but there are too many confusing mix-ins and toppings to choose from. Help!

Plain vanilla custard is my favorite, and my benchmark for comparing custard joints. When I want variety at DG, I tend to look to the sorbets. No mix ins required.

Have fun exploring!

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Disagree entirely about Carls. I had some ice cream (well, I call it ice cream) at Carl's a week or two ago -- it's nice enough if you happen to be in Fredericksburg (like, finally blowing your top on I-95 and bailing) but not at all worth a special trip.
I'm wondering if Carl's had made changes in the last couple of years, as like Ilaine, I was there recently (after lunch at Allman's - still great) and while Carl's was good, it wasn't nearly as good as I recall from 2 years ago and many visits before that.

I also think Neilson's is the best in the area, and I like Dairy Godmother, but it's not as rich, to me, as Neilson's. Not that I wouldn't be happy to live in proximity to a place 1/2 as good as Dairy Godmother.

Thanks,

Kevin

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I went on my semi-regular Cheesetique/Poblano/Dairy Godmother swing today. Got some of the homeade marshmallows at Dairy Godmother today -- vanilla flavored (they also had lemon). I hadn't been able to try them before as they said they don't carry them in the summer. Darn those things are good -- square, lightly powdered and light and fluffy. Not nearly as dense as the marshmallows you buy in a bag. I want to try the lemon next time!

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Apparently, yesterday was rockweller day at the Dairy Godmother. I'm rarely in that part of the world, so rarely get to go. But, was in Alexandria yesterday so made sure to make a stop at DG. I ended up choosing a custard flavor that is totally not me--New York Cheesecake. It was fantastic. If there was a negative, it was that I couldn't resist gussying up perfection by making it into a sundae with sour cherries. Individually, both were great. The sum was, unfortunately, equal to less than the whole of the parts. Each were good, but it detracted from them to pair them up. Nonetheless, I managed to choke it down!

As KOK said, although there are beter custard places in the world, I would be thrilled to live in proximity to a place half as good as DG.

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Apparently, yesterday was rockweller day at the Dairy Godmother.
Yes, I was there too. After an afternoon of blasting shotgun shells into unsuspecting flying orange discs, the vanilla custard with turtle topping (fudge, caramel and toasted pecans) was just perfect yin. Excess, yes. Wretched, no way. I thought about adding sour cherries but resisted, and instead finished up sharing one of those etherial lemon marshmallows.
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You gotta try the marshmallows.
You know, I have no interest in her marshmallows. I've never much cared for marshmallows. People keep saying home made marshmallows are nothing like the jet puffed things. So finally, I made my own. Maybe it was my recipe, maybe it was my technqiue. But I still thought, <shrug>. The DG's are probably better than mine, but I just don't think I'm a marshmallow person. More for everybody else!
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The infamous brat night starts tonight at 6pm. Live accordion music,German potato salad,kraut w/ apples,frozen custard and apple crisp! First come,first served.The brats are Klements Miller stadium brats of racing sausage fame.

The Dairy Godmom is taking donations for Dairy Relief,the only charity whose sole purpose is to provide dried milk to people in need. Last year milk was sent to North Korea,Haiti,Ghana,Columbia and Mexico.Go to www.dairyrelief.org for more info. The Dairy Godmother matches all contributions to this great charity. Please stick a few dollars in the jar.

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For the love of God, everyone must go to the Dreamery tonight for their awesome pepita, or pumpkin seed, custard. Unbelievably pumpkiny and delicious. Wish I could describe it better, but I can't. It is just awesome.
You just decided my evening. I'm craving all things pumpkin these days and the Creamery is damn good. Plus, those gooey marshmallows always make my day!
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You just decided my evening. I'm craving all things pumpkin these days and the Creamery is damn good. Plus, those gooey marshmallows always make my day!
it's not pumpkin in the sense of cloves and nutmeg. It's a completely different and incredible flavor. There are also cornmeal cookies with pepita that are great too.
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Pepita today....Pumpkin tomorrow and Saturday :lol:

Bonaire it sounds like you can feed your pumpkin jones for the next 3 days (and buy some quarts to stock your freezer) :)

Pumpkin is also scheduled for November 21, 22 & 23 (but only they're only open from 9-1 Thanksgiving day).

The last time we were there (Pecan Pie :) ) we witnessed the definition of a truly devoted dog owner: a guy coming in at 8:45 p.m. on a cold and windy night solely to purchase a puppy pop.

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Bonaire it sounds like you can feed your pumpkin jones for the next 3 days (and buy some quarts to stock your freezer) :)
SWEEEEEEEEEET. I'm wondering if it's inappropriate to set up camp outside....I can subsist on marshmallows and custard, right??
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You all will be happy to know that after much confusion and skepticism about the raves of Dairy Godmother (see post #83), I am officially a believer. Every time I am going home to fort Washington from National Airport (which lately has been about once a week) I always, always make a detour to go to the DG. I even keep the calendar in my car so I can prepare to go no matter what day I’m getting off the plane. It has now become the highlight of my work-related traveling.

So thank you once again oh great Rockwellians for encouraging me to venture out of my geographic comfort zone and try something fun and new. Because player hatin (creating an unfounded aversion for something purely because it’s popular (I also call it the Thaitanic Phenomenon)) on famous random places in non-frequented locations is totally uncool.

And yes Cooter, the pepita was to DIE for!!!

Peace & Many Blessings,

LaShanta

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From the DG's latest email:

"There are frozen custard pumpkin pies available as well as the pumpkin sandwiches on the ginger cookies. This used to be more of a fleeting Thanksgiving treat but folks have been clamoring already so we have been providing. It's hard to get tired of pumpkin when it is available such a short time each year."

I had some of the pumpkin frozen custard yesterday -- absolutely delicious. Not too spicy and very pumpkin-y. Like the most perfect pumpkin pie you can dream up, yet smoother and creamier.

:):):lol::blink::)

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From the DG's latest email:

"There are frozen custard pumpkin pies available as well as the pumpkin sandwiches on the ginger cookies. This used to be more of a fleeting Thanksgiving treat but folks have been clamoring already so we have been providing. It's hard to get tired of pumpkin when it is available such a short time each year."

I had some of the pumpkin frozen custard yesterday -- absolutely delicious. Not too spicy and very pumpkin-y. Like the most perfect pumpkin pie you can dream up, yet smoother and creamier.

:):):lol::blink::)

So my best friend is a fanatic about pumpkin ice cream from Babcock Hall Ice Cream. This weekend in her honor I had a pumpkin shake from DG. Wow. It is hard to describe the perfection that is the pumpkin shake. Do you think they ship? :-)
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How on earth has it been 18 months since someone posted about the Dairy Godmother? Is there another thread...

Well, I am remedying this with a public service announcement...

Banana Pudding Custard through close tonight. It is perfect for a hot day like today.

You're welcome! :lol:

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How on earth has it been 18 months since someone posted about the Dairy Godmother? Is there another thread...

Well, I am remedying this with a public service announcement...

Banana Pudding Custard through close tonight. It is perfect for a hot day like today.

You're welcome! :lol:

It's not for lack of business! I passed by there last week and it was packed. Hmm....I'll have to check out tommorow's flavor for an after-dinner treat.

eta..just checked-mint chocolate chip, then blueberry cheesecake.

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The day after Obama's visit to The Dairy Godmother the line was out the door at 8:00pm. Despite the long line the wait was not bad and all the credit goes to the staff behind the counter. The line moved quickly because they were calm, efficient and friendly at the same time.

Don't let the long lines scare you away, the custard is as good as ever. I had chocolate with marshmallow and sprinkles which was the perfect end to a great weekend.

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The day after Obama's visit to The Dairy Godmother the line was out the door at 8:00pm. Despite the long line the wait was not bad and all the credit goes to the staff behind the counter. The line moved quickly because they were calm, efficient and friendly at the same time.

Don't let the long lines scare you away, the custard is as good as ever. I had chocolate with marshmallow and sprinkles which was the perfect end to a great weekend.

I have GREAT staff this summer.We were not any busier than usual today,Father's Day,a Sunday in the summer.We will see what the rest of the week brings. Glad everything was OK.
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I have GREAT staff this summer.We were not any busier than usual today,Father's Day,a Sunday in the summer.We will see what the rest of the week brings. Glad everything was OK.

You know, this story just didn't have the media frenzy as President Obama's other restaurant trips - perhaps the novelty of it is wearing thin in the minds of both the national and local press. Still, a presidential restaurant visit will ALWAYS be the top story on this website, because this is what we do, and what we support.

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You know, this story just didn't have the media frenzy as President Obama's other restaurant trips - perhaps the novelty of it is wearing thin in the minds of both the national and local press.
Really? Moms blogs, NY Times, CBS news, Huffington Post and other media picking it up isn't frenzy?? I *know* that Liz's team will be great at fielding everything and I do hope that things skyrocket business-wise, but I just have to disagree respectfully with the press-part.

PS. Hillvalley: Am extremely drooling over your selection. Sounds like a trip with gebaby this week....

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The day after Obama's visit to The Dairy Godmother the line was out the door at 8:00pm. Despite the long line the wait was not bad and all the credit goes to the staff behind the counter. The line moved quickly because they were calm, efficient and friendly at the same time.

Don't let the long lines scare you away, the custard is as good as ever. I had chocolate with marshmallow and sprinkles which was the perfect end to a great weekend.

You can get toppings? Why have I never done this before?

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Really? Moms blogs, NY Times, CBS news, Huffington Post and other media picking it up isn't frenzy?? I *know* that Liz's team will be great at fielding everything and I do hope that things skyrocket business-wise, but I just have to disagree respectfully with the press-part.

PS. Hillvalley: Am extremely drooling over your selection. Sounds like a trip with gebaby this week....

Unlike the other places visited,the press was not allowed inside. This was personal visit,not official.However......check out these shots a customer took. I bet Theresa will never go anywhere w/out a camera again!! I like the yard sale sign behind the president's head.I also like the finger licking by POTUS! http://bit.ly/xnE4M

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Unlike the other places visited,the press was not allowed inside. This was personal visit,not official.However......check out these shots a customer took. I bet Theresa will never go anywhere w/out a camera again!! I like the yard sale sign behind the president's head.I also like the finger licking by POTUS! http://bit.ly/xnE4M

Thos pictures are great! Did the president get to skip to the front of the line?

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<!--quoteo(post=139286:date=Jun 23 2009, 02:04 PM:name=Cook&Bottlewasher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Cook&Bottlewasher @ Jun 23 2009, 02:04 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=139286"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Unlike the other places visited,the press was not allowed inside. This was personal visit,not official.However......check out these shots a customer took. I bet Theresa will never go anywhere w/out a camera again!! I like the yard sale sign behind the president's head.I also like the finger licking by POTUS! <a href="http://bit.ly/xnE4M" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/xnE4M</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Thos pictures are great! Did the president get to skip to the front of the line?

Well,the crowd parted when he walked in so he came to the front but he did not realize what he was doing. No-one cared.Trust me.

It was very busy today but super smooth due to my great employees and some hard work and planning.I'm glad you reported smoothness Friday night Goldenticket.

This new format is disconcerting.Did we get a warning about this? Change scares me!

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Well,the crowd parted when he walked in so he came to the front but he did not realize what he was doing. No-one cared.Trust me.

It was very busy today but super smooth due to my great employees and some hard work and planning.I'm glad you reported smoothness Friday night Goldenticket.

This new format is disconcerting.Did we get a warning about this? Change scares me!

Sat. night was smooth too. Long line, but went quickly. Flavor of the day + choc. syrup=whoa!

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For all you Muggles out there, don't miss the rarely seen Dementor's Kiss* flavor - available today and tomorrow only!

Lots of other fun Harry Potter-related things going on too - coupon for a free cone for those in costume (a real one, according to the website - not just scar or glasses); lightning bolt cookies; and godmother wands in the various house colors (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravensclaw, and Slytherin).

And, very generously, if you do a good deed by throwing your spare change into the roiling cauldron, it will be matched by The Dairy Godmother herself and donated to children's literacy.

*a hauntingly blue color with star and moon sprinkles

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ESP...

Tonight, my sweet tooth is kicking in, so I decided to check out the Flavor Of The Day Forecast at The Dairy Godmother (Strawberry), and was excited to see that this Sunday is Brats Night! Immediately after, I found this in my email.

It must be a sign. ;)

Greetings!

The long awaited brat night has returned to Del Ray.

It will be on Sunday,March 14th from 6 to 8pm. Let's kick off the first evening of Daylight Savings Time!

We've got Klements brats of racing sausages fame,German potato salad,sauerkraut with apples as well as all the rest of the treats and sweets.

Please meet our accordion player,Paul Przedpelski,who will be joining us again.

This will be our sole brat night so don't miss it! We will close for 15 minutes at 5:45 for set up and the shop will be cleared.

Sincerely,

The Dairy Godmother

P.S. Irish soda bread,too!

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darkstar, I tried the milkshake at Dolcezza. It was very thin but utterly delicious. I kinda wish you hadn't told us about it, though, since it's going to be a continual temptation. Also, the milkshake I had at DG this weekend (Mozambique) was so thick it was barley drinkable, so I guess alot depends on the clerk who's making it. I think but am not sure that I overheard that the pumpkin milkshake will be back the first weekend in October, in time for the Del Ray Art on the Avenue festival.

Is the pumpkin milkshake available all the time in the fall, or only when "pumpkin" is the Flavor of the Day?

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I was having a relatively rare hell-bent sweets craving the other evening, and had dinner (yes, dinner) at The Dairy Godmother, which was absolutely packed, with a line inside extending all the way to the end of the zig-zagging dividers, and wrapping around back into the restaurant with the back heading towards the restroom area (mercifully not out the door). It took a good ten minutes to reach the front, but like usual (although it had been awhile, probably over a year), it was worth it. I got a Large Sundae ($4.21, which, with tax, rounds up to an even number) with fresly extracted chocolate-vanilla custard side-by-side, the free almonds topping, my other topping (crushed nuts because I didn't feel like fruit), and no whipped cream even though it was gratis. This was a very small "large," but I thoroughly enjoyed it once I resisted the street temptation to start in on it walking down Mount Vernon and E. Del Ray Avenue. The Dairy Godmother remains as it has always been: a gem, rivaled only inside the beltway by what Frozen Dairy Bar *used* to be. This little sundae, very small for a "large" by today's standards, is enough to keep The Dairy Godmother strongly ranked in Italic in the Del Ray portion of the Dining Guide.

"The Mother of Us All" (1947) libretto by Gertrude Stein, music by Virgil Thomson.

When I Tweet about a review, I'm going to begin including links so people can retweet and get the word out. In this case, it's here; one day, I'd like to have this done for everyone via a simple icon. There actually *is* a simple way to do it now, using the "less-than"-looking icon on the top-right of where you're reading right now, to the right of the post number (#150 in this case), but it's clumsy, so a straight link like this one is better, and you can simply click on "Retweet." Please do - Liz Davis deserves it, especially after all the hectoring we gave her about her near-name-change to "That Custard Place in Del Ray." I'm *so* glad she didn't name it that, aren't you? Anyway, the link for retweeting, once again, is here. Sharing my posts on social media (Facebook and Twitter) are two ways you can say "thanks" for the work I do here and for keeping this place free, secure, and commercial-free for you. "Liking" the post is a nice gesture, but sharing it on social media is much more powerful (I won't stop you from doing both!) :)

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