Kopp's

Kopp's, the best of the best of Milwaukee custard stands (although nothing beats the atmosphere at Leon's) does not have it's own LTH thread. Not that there is much left to say about Kopp's, but I wanted to record that last night was especially great.

It was crowded when we got to Kopps at about 6 PM, and I think the crowds really made the custard better than ever. At Kopp's you see the four custard machines behind the counter. The liquid base goes in the top and in front of you comes a thick band of custard, like a moving ice cream glacier. Ordinarily, it falls into tub, to be scooped out as needed. On a busy night, like last night, the ice cream is being scooped nearly as it is being made. The freshness leaves the ice cream smoother than ever, the flavors more forward than ever. If you do not understand how great Kopps can be, visit on an especiallly crowded time like last night.

While there are 3 Kopp's locations, the easiest one to get to from Chicago (I think) is the Greenfield location. You can either get off of 94 at Layton and drive about five meals west or take 894 to 76th, where it is just a few blocks south.

http://www.kopps.com/

Vital Information wrote:drive about five meals west

That's an interesting way to put it...

JimInLoganSquare wrote:

Vital Information wrote:drive about five meals west

That's an interesting way to put it...

I did not build my figure by walking to Kopps



Sometimes a cigar is NOT a cigar, huh?

so... what were the daily flavors? and more important, what are the daily flavors when I go on Friday?

I never go to Milwaukee without checking:

http://www.kopps.com/

Jonah

I live in Bloomington, IL, haven't been to Kopps in probably six years or so, and I still drool whenever someone mentions it! Culver's and Coldstone just aren't remotely the same.

You are right Kopps deserves its own post. The real crime is that Kopps was left off the list of 50 best restaurants in the world. Adria cannot make anything better than a Kopps butter burger.

bellringr says:

Culver's and Coldstone just aren't remotely the same.

Yeah, but when was the last time that Kopp's served a walleye sammich?? Huh? :^)

In Kansas City, we've got no Kopp's; but we DO have Culver's, and a local custard shoppe that knows about Kopp's pretty significantly...

Geo

Vital Information wrote:The liquid base goes in the top and in front of you comes a thick band of custard, like a moving ice cream glacier.

A friend of mine nicknamed these "the custard sphincters."

Still didn't stop me from eating there.

JoelF wrote:A friend of mine nicknamed these "the custard sphincters."

Still didn't stop me from eating there.

Gross! Won't stop me from eating Kopp's either though.

Kopp's Port Washington Road, Milwaukee


Enjoy,
Gary

Kopp's fries: closest thing to In-n-Out fries this side of the Rockies. at least on Saturday it was. oversalted tho.

Culvers which i had for first time this weekend, tastes like plain ol soft serve compared to Kopp's.

VI mentioned something about 'plain' flavors being best; the strawberry we had, w/ mixed frozen berries, is by far my fave. tho i do agree as a virgin experience, vanilla is required.

add: the silver spring location/port washington rd location in Glendale, IMO, is the easiest to access off the expressways. nary a turn needed.

add2: today's flavor is Watermelon. wow. talk about ODD... buttery watermelons...

I love the caramel cashew. I lucked out the first time I went to Kopp's and it was the flavor of the day. It occurred to me that perhaps they were all that good, but I didn't like the chocolate as much. I agree that vanilla is the benchmark for frozen custard.

Has anyone ever ordered onion rings?

Last week my husband, daughter and I each enjoyed a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla. The chocolate was really, really good -- but we all agreed that the vanilla really brings home that delicious custard-y flavor better than the chocolate.

While we usually stop at the Brookfield location, this was our first experience with the original Kopp's. We'll be back in Brookfield on Sunday.

Suzy

Has anyone ever ordered onion rings?

We've had the onion rings. Large rings, crunchy batter. Pretty darn tasty if I recall. Burgers are large and messy.

I love Kopp's and make a point of stopping when I'm in the area. (The Brookfield location is the only one I've visited.) Mr. X was sorely disappointed that his chocolate malt was made with vanilla custard and chocolate syrup. He believes the base should be chocolate (custard, ice cream, etc.) with additional chocolate syrup as necessary. I always just get a custard cup (usually chocolate, sometimes a flavor of the day), so I couldn't give him any guidance on the malt ordering. He knows now to order just custard.

Preach on! I get visably angry when I see the "3 Day Flavor Forecast" has Tiramisu, Cherry Pie, Cookies n' Cream, or any number of flavors that is fantastic compared to the flavor that day. So then I just settle for a turtle sundae.

cjkrautk wrote:Preach on! I get visably angry when I see the "3 Day Flavor Forecast" has Tiramisu, Cherry Pie, Cookies n' Cream, or any number of flavors that is fantastic compared to the flavor that day. So then I just settle for a turtle sundae.

I just happened to be in Milwaukee today and enjoyed a tiramisu custard at Kopp's. Wow. It was intense, with a big choclatey swirl through it and substantial pieces of lady finger as well.

We had been planning to go up to the MAM for a while to check out the Masters of American Comics exhibit and were able to make a nice food day of it as well. At first, I thought my Kopp's burger tasted a little too McDonald's-ish, but as I got further into it where the "works" condiments were all mingling and adding some more flavor action, I changed my mind. Not a burger destination, by my lights, and I am not sure I could make a habit of having both a burger and fries as well as a custard, but it did make for an overall tasty lunch.

Then we wandered around downtown trying to reconstruct a path to Usinger's based on a handful of printed google maps (who don't know that I-794 is closed). We made it, and were able to bring back a nice array of sausages for the back-yard grilling that was already scheduled with the rest of our families who didn't make the trip.

(PS, if you're at all inclined to enjoy an exhibit called "Masters of American Comics," I recommend checking it out, except it closes next weekend. It's dense, with all the text in most of the art making the exhibit a much different experience than most art museum shows, but it's really nicely done. And the Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is really stunning, especially on a beautiful sunny day like today.)

germuska wrote:And the Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Santiago Calatrava, is really stunning, especially on a beautiful sunny day like today.)

It is an architectural marvel for the ages, I know, but I do somehow think less of the place after seeing it used as a backdrop in the new television commercial for Lipitor™.

E.M.

We hit Kopp's today on the way back from picking up Thing2 from Boy Scout Camp today.

Flavor of the Day was Turtle Sundae, which MrsF had. I had a taste, with nice chunks of pecan, good caramel flavor. I had the Sundae of the Month, French Silk: chocolate custard, whipped cream, chocolate shavings and chunks of pie crust. It really replicated the taste and mouthfeel of a Baker's Square French Silk -- something about the whipped cream must have made it spot-on. Thing2 had a sundae of some sort.

Note: The Jr-sized Sundae of the Month is a good deal: $3.25 for a pretty good-sized sundae, looked similar to Thing2's $4.95 one in volume.

Before last week, it's possible that I hadn't had frozen custard since I was six or seven. We used to head up to Door County quite a bit (my grandmother lived there), and pretty much all I remembered of frozen custard was it completely blowing my little mind. My adult mind found it slightly less mindblowing, but it's quite something.



I will say, the look of the place is... not what I expected. But between the courtyard that looks like a Battlestar Galactica location shoot and an interior that looks like a dream sequence from The Big Lebowski, I dug it. I kind of like that the selection is limited and rotating. Adopted from the little fella's teacher, "You get what you get and you don't pitch a fit," is a common refrain in the house these days, and it's good for me to be reminded of my own lesson from time to time.



Just how much butterfat do they cram into this thing? Criminy. Somehow this feels like it must be the product of a jolly, rotund, 8000 pound cow. I know the vanilla has been chided elsewhere as having something of an artificial flavor, and while I don't get that, I agree that one doesn't get the sense they dumped a truckload of vanilla beans into the hopper. But man, that stuff's rich. Almost too rich for me, which I consider a personal shortcoming, not one of the custard. The little fella, astoundingly, picked pomegranate. A little tart, fruity balance worked remarkably well. Good call, buddy.

Kopp's custard is so good that I don't even care what 'The Flavor of the Day' is
http://www.kopps.com/FlavorForecast.aspx
but order the Day's Flavor with waffle cone(extra).-Dick