Randy's Frozen Custard: Gummy Bear Concrete
If you are a casual reader of this blog, you might have seen the title of this post and thought, Lizzy didn't you quite recently go to Randy's? The more dedicated reader has had their curiosity piqued as they have now realized there is a Randy's Frozen Custard and an Andy's Frozen Custard down at the Lake. But don't worry, casual or dedicated, all of my readers are dear.
It is quite curious that the names of the two frozen custard places at the Lake differ by only one letter. They are also only a few blocks apart. However, there are other, much larger differences between them besides the name and the location. Andy's is a multi-state chain while Randy's is a mom and pop shop (quite literally) with a location in Osage Beach and Columbia.
Although they didn't have anything like the jackhammer I had at Andy's (a concrete with any sauce of your choosing down the middle of the concrete), Randy's did have some unique offerings I I don't think I've seen at another frozen custard place.
For starters they had the original Ozark Turtle Sundae. Much to my disappointment this sundae did not contain any real turtle. It was the ice cream version of turtle, with pecans, caramel, and hot fudge. So not actually unique at all, although I do think they use local pecans.
What was unique was two of the topping/mix-in choices. Nerds was one that caught my attention, and the other was gummy bears. I don't think I've seen those options anywhere else before. I've seen ice cream shops with gummy bears as toppings, but not as a concrete mix-in. I'm not usually been a gummy-bear-as-ice-cream-topping kind of girl, but I figured I might not have another opportunity for such an experience like this, so I'd better give it a whirl.
Why am I rhyming. What.
Because I know you don't care about my thoughts on prose or poems, here are my thoughts on this concrete. First, my thoughts on the gummy bear as mix-in experience. I couldn't see many gummy bears as I looked through the clear cup, and there weren't a lot in my first few bites. But that changed as I worked my way down and there was at least one per bite by the end. Because concretes are made so quickly, when my concrete was handed to me, the gummy bears weren't quite cold yet. This was nice, they were barely cold enough to be a little chewier than a room temperature gummy bear. It was also kind of cool how as I ate the concrete, the gummy bears got colder and thus chewier. This forced me to slow down my concrete eating, which can be relatively quick, especially when the custard starts to melt. Because it took a bit of work to chew the gummy bears, my eating strategy was to take a bite, let the custard melt, and swallowed it, then eat the gummy bear. So not often while eating this concrete did I get the experience of tasting the custard and the gummy bear at the same time. Which was okay, because Randy's vanilla custard is definitely on the sweet side and it would have been a lot of sugar at one time. However, at one point I got an orange gummy bear and the combination of it and the custard tasted like a dreamsicle and it was pretty wicked. Lastly, this custard was hard, but not the most dense. There was some air in it, and as it melted it kind of got frothy. I got the regular size, which was smaller than a Ted Drewes regular size, but also cheaper. A Ted Drewes regular can be too big at times. I thought this was the perfect size for a concrete.
It is quite curious that the names of the two frozen custard places at the Lake differ by only one letter. They are also only a few blocks apart. However, there are other, much larger differences between them besides the name and the location. Andy's is a multi-state chain while Randy's is a mom and pop shop (quite literally) with a location in Osage Beach and Columbia.
Randy's and Andy's also have almost the exact same ice cream statue.
Although they didn't have anything like the jackhammer I had at Andy's (a concrete with any sauce of your choosing down the middle of the concrete), Randy's did have some unique offerings I I don't think I've seen at another frozen custard place.
For starters they had the original Ozark Turtle Sundae. Much to my disappointment this sundae did not contain any real turtle. It was the ice cream version of turtle, with pecans, caramel, and hot fudge. So not actually unique at all, although I do think they use local pecans.
What was unique was two of the topping/mix-in choices. Nerds was one that caught my attention, and the other was gummy bears. I don't think I've seen those options anywhere else before. I've seen ice cream shops with gummy bears as toppings, but not as a concrete mix-in. I'm not usually been a gummy-bear-as-ice-cream-topping kind of girl, but I figured I might not have another opportunity for such an experience like this, so I'd better give it a whirl.
Why am I rhyming. What.
Because I know you don't care about my thoughts on prose or poems, here are my thoughts on this concrete. First, my thoughts on the gummy bear as mix-in experience. I couldn't see many gummy bears as I looked through the clear cup, and there weren't a lot in my first few bites. But that changed as I worked my way down and there was at least one per bite by the end. Because concretes are made so quickly, when my concrete was handed to me, the gummy bears weren't quite cold yet. This was nice, they were barely cold enough to be a little chewier than a room temperature gummy bear. It was also kind of cool how as I ate the concrete, the gummy bears got colder and thus chewier. This forced me to slow down my concrete eating, which can be relatively quick, especially when the custard starts to melt. Because it took a bit of work to chew the gummy bears, my eating strategy was to take a bite, let the custard melt, and swallowed it, then eat the gummy bear. So not often while eating this concrete did I get the experience of tasting the custard and the gummy bear at the same time. Which was okay, because Randy's vanilla custard is definitely on the sweet side and it would have been a lot of sugar at one time. However, at one point I got an orange gummy bear and the combination of it and the custard tasted like a dreamsicle and it was pretty wicked. Lastly, this custard was hard, but not the most dense. There was some air in it, and as it melted it kind of got frothy. I got the regular size, which was smaller than a Ted Drewes regular size, but also cheaper. A Ted Drewes regular can be too big at times. I thought this was the perfect size for a concrete.
I definitely enjoyed both Randy's and Andy's, so make sure you make time for both on your next trip to the Lake!
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