I ranked every concrete from Andy's Frozen Custard. From treats with whole pie slices to Oreo chunks, they're definitely not created equal.
Lara Walsh
- I compared seven concretes from the Midwest-based chain Andy's Frozen Custard.
- I wasn't a huge fan of the triple-chocolate option because it was a little too rich for me.
I grew up on the West Coast and first discovered frozen custard when I moved to the Chicago suburbs for college. Since then, I've been a fan of the Midwestern staple, which is made with egg yolks and usually has a smoother, thicker texture than ice cream.
In recent years, however, the frozen dessert's popularity has grown beyond the Midwest, partially due to the US's largest frozen-custard-only chain, Andy's Frozen Custard.
The Missouri-based chain, which has over 150 locations across 15 states, is famous for its concretes — frozen vanilla or chocolate custard blended with other ingredients like fruit or candy.
Recently, I headed to my local Andy's to try all the concretes available and see which were best. Here's how the frozen desserts stacked up, from worst to best.
I thought the triple-chocolate concrete was a little too rich.
The triple chocolate was the only concrete I tried with a creamy chocolate-custard base.
It was blended with chunks of rich, sweet chocolate-chip cookie dough and ribbons of melted chocolate chips.
This concrete was good, but I thought it was overwhelmingly sweet and chocolaty, with nothing to cut through that flavor. I was only able to eat two bites of it.
The Snowmonster combined berries and chocolate, which sounded delicious.
As a big fan of strawberries and chocolate, I was very excited to try the Snowmonster.
The concrete looked appealing, with an even distribution of melted chocolate chips and large, sliced strawberries mixed throughout the vanilla custard.
This concrete lived up to my expectations, and I could easily try the custard, strawberries, and chocolate all in one bite. I just wish the melted chocolate chips, which tasted like the dark variety, would've been the milk kind instead.
The Chi-Town Razz, which is specific to Chicagoland locations, was great.
The Chi-Town Razz is a flavor specific to Andy's locations in the Chicago area.
It resembled the Snowmonster but had raspberries and hard-shell chocolate mixed into the vanilla custard.
However, I liked this dessert more than the Snowmonster because the hard-shell chocolate added a satisfying crunchy texture to the otherwise creamy mixture.
The pumpkin-pie concrete tasted like a creamier version of the classic dessert.
The pumpkin-pie concrete had an entire slice of the dessert blended into the vanilla custard.
When I took a bite, I thought the concrete tasted more like a creamy pie than ice cream, with strong notes of cinnamon and pumpkin in each bite. To me, the vanilla custard felt more like a rich whipped cream.
This flavor could be polarizing — you really have to love pumpkin pie to enjoy it — but I'd order it again. My only criticism is that the crust didn't add any texture or contrasting flavor.
I was surprised by how much I liked the butter-pecan option.
I wasn't expecting to love the butter-pecan concrete as much as I did. This dessert had vanilla custard blended with butterscotch drizzles and roasted pecans.
The rich flavor of the butterscotch and pecans perfectly complemented the sweet creaminess of the custard. Plus, the nuts provided a delicious crunch in every bite.
This is a perfect option for someone who likes simple ingredients with a lot of flavor.
The nutty waffle crunch had a great texture and tasted delicious.
The nutty waffle crunch's vanilla custard was topped and blended with the star of the show: crispy, golden, waffle-cone chunks. The dessert also came with a medley of crushed nuts and melted chocolate chips.
I enjoyed the simple yet delicious combination, which provided a good mix of sweet and savory flavors.
Notably, I didn't see this one listed on Andy's website, so I'm not sure if this concrete is specific to the location I visited.
The BootDaddy was my favorite dessert from Andy's.
The BootDaddy had a combination of Oreo-cookie chunks blended with crème caramel, drizzles of hot fudge, and vanilla custard.
The hot fudge — one of the best things at Andy's, in my opinion — had been evenly layered throughout so it didn't melt the custard.
This made the dessert taste like a cookies-and-cream-type treat with buttery caramel and delicious dark fudge. I'll definitely order this again.
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