My cousin in Florida tragically lost her husband last week, cancer, and so on Sunday I took to the skies on JetBlue to visit with the family and celebrate his life. A short, barely two day trip, but I managed to hit a good road food spot while I was there, and even got in a visit to a classic car museum!
First, the food. While driving in Sarasota, looking for the car museum, I passed a "Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers" restaurant. I was a bit surprised to see this, as Freddy's is pretty much a midwest chain; but a little further up the road I spotted a "Culver's", so I guess some of the regional chains are expanding into Florida (I know there are also some "Whattaburger" places here).
After visiting the car museum, it was lunch time, so in I went.
Gotta love a place that has a giant ice cream cone on the building! The place was very clean, with a sort of throwback look to it inside. Checked out the menu, and decided on a #10, chili cheese dog with fries and a drink. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good chili dog! And this one was pretty good:
The dog, the drink, and the fries were $6.20, not a bad price, considering the dog was on the large side, and there were enough fries in the basket for two people. picked up the dog, and found a pleasant surprise, it's served in a "New England" style top split roll - something you do not see every day. We get these here on Long Island at the places that serve Lobster Rolls, and of course, this type of roll was served at the legendary "Nedick's" hot dog joints many years ago. I plopped it on top of the fries so you could see it better.
The dog is served with a decent amount of chili, and chopped onions. You can ask for ketchup (!) or mustard as well. I went with mustard, and was a bit disappointed that they only had the yellow type; a little Gulden's would have helped the whole endeavor. Surprise #2, the dog was pretty good; grilled to order on the flat top, not sitting in a pot of slimy water (Burger King), or shoved in a microwave (Dairy Queen), it was cooked perfectly. And, even better, it was a Vienna Beef dog. Known mostly in the Chicago area, Vienna Beef is probably the closest thing you'd find to a brand name dog like Nathan's is in NY. While it was not a natural casing dog, it did have a good texture, and a nice smoky flavor. Of course, if they'd put a little garlic in the thing, they'd really have something! Overall, a good dog, properly cooked, and nicely dressed.
The french fries were the mini shoestring variety that you find in a lot of these places, like Culver's or Steak and Shake. They are probably 2/3 as thick as a McDonald's fry, and they came out hot and crispy. I held one up to give you a little perspective on the size of the things:
They were fine, but came out completely unsalted, so that needed attention. Hot, crispy, and with good potato flavor, they were fine both naked and dipped in ketchup. Overall, dog and fries were well worth the trip.
And then, there was the star of the show; Freddy's Frozen Custard. I've had custard in a couple of places through the years, but somehow managed to miss it at Freddy's. Well, I won't make that mistake again! This was some of the best, creamiest, deeply chocolate custard I've ever had.
They offer all kinds of sundaes, and a 'concrete', which is like a DQ Blizzard, and had loads of toppings available. But I wanted to really taste the custard, so I had it bare, just a single dish of chocolate. The custard is extremely dense, thick, and creamy. Think of the consistency of creamy peanut butter, and you're in the ballpark. The chocolate was very strong, sweet, but not overly so, with a nice finish and aftertaste. It's a rich dish, and honestly, as good as it was, I think I'd stick to just a single serving, as more than that would probably have been too much.
Overall, a good spot to stop. While I didn't have one, the hamburgers here look good to me. They're the same type that you get at Smashburger and some of the other places, a really hot grill, the meat smashed down to develop a slight crispy crust, and nicely topped with fresh lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. Plenty of other options as well, including the ever popular chicken tenders, and a couple of salads. If you pass a Freddy's while you're on the road, stop in, I'd call it 'highly recommended'.
