Florissant Custard Battle: Doozle's

For the second week of our frozen custard battle, our panel of lucky judges sampled Frozen Custard.

Like Fritz’s, it sits on South New Florissant Road, though closer to the Interstate 270.

The red and white exterior has a modern fast-food look instead of a retro '50s style. You can park your car and order at the front counter, or take advantage of the convenient drive-through to satisfy your creamy dessert needs.

Staple flavors of chocolate and vanilla soft serve complement a flavor of the day. It also offers a variety of premade treats including ice cream sandwiches made with custard, drumsticks (a sugar cone filled with custard and topped with a crunchy chocolate coating and nuts) and ice cream cakes made with custard.

Doozle's even offers something for man’s best friend—frozen yogurt dog bones to help your pooch cool down in the summer heat.

In addition to custard, Doozle's offers a wide variety of hard ice cream flavors.

Our judges sampled sundaes, scoops and banana splits. Here are the verdicts:

Creaminess : 7
Available Flavors:  4.5
Available Toppings: 9
Cost Effective: 4
Seating: 6.5

All three judges agreed that Doozle’s custard wasn’t as creamy as they expected, but it was still good, as observed by Catherine Krummey.

I tried a banana split with chocolate, vanilla and the special of the day, fat-free orange. The orange was amazingly light. In scorching heat, when you desperately want to keep pumping something cold inside your body, this would be remarkably refreshing.

It tasted like a mellow orange sherbet where the dairy eliminated any acidic tang. However, alongside the creaminess of the regular fat custards, it was downright watery.

Mickey Pietrzak said he found the custard’s flavor good but not as creamy as expected. He tried the namesake Doozlesticks concrete.

“I loved the crunchy texture of the nuts and broken cone with the chocolate," he said. "I’d certainly get it again.”

Doozle’s excels at the extras. The cheesecake bites that topped my chocolate custard were a worthwhile dessert in their own right.

While the extra chewy, rich, slightly oversized chocolate chips topping my vanilla were unidentifiable as “brownie bites,” they were still a great flavor and texture addition to the custard.

“The people working there seemed happy to be there,” Pietrzak said.

I couldn't agree more.

When I visited, the people behind the counter were laughing. They joked with me while I waited, playfully teased one another, and honestly seemed to enjoy their jobs. That’s remarkable in fast food, and a testament to the management.

Next week, we’ll weigh the pro’s and con’s of Doozles versus Fritz’s and give you our final verdict on the best frozen custard in Florissant.