Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Crazy Custard: Binnie Loco

Binnie Loco is a new frozen custard shop in a strip mall on Third Street, just west of Vermont. The opening of any frozen custard shop in LA is notable as the hearty midwestern treat is none to available here, so I had to try it.

If you haven't had a proper frozen custard before, you must do so. It's a rich ice cream served out of a soft serve machine, sort of like soft serve with a kick. In the frozen north of the country, particularly in Wisconsin, it's the frozen dessert of choice.

Binnie Loco is sort of a hybrid, serving mid-western style frozen custard, Latin American liquados and loads of toppings look like they are straight out of Pinkberry. It's an only in LA culture clash.

The frozen custard comes in two flavors: vanilla and dulce de leche. I enjoyed both. They were super creamy, rich and had nice flavor. The only complaint I had was a slight chemical taste on the finish. Despite that, when I finished a cup of vanilla, I wanted more.

The toppings aren't much to talk about and they don't have any flurry-style blend, which would probably be good, but they do have liquados.

I tried a mango liquado. Unlike a traditional liquado, which is a mixture of fruit and milk, this one was more of a shake, mixing frozen custard, ice and a mango syrup of some kind. The mango flavor was nice, but I could have done without the ice, which diluted the creaminess of the dish.

All in all, I enjoyed Binnie Loco and it's a great stop after going for Salvadoran at El Palmar or Oaxacan at La Morenita, as it's less than a block away from both and any decent frozen custard is a welcome treat in our neck of the woods.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Silky Smooth Frozen Custard www.silkysmoothcustard.com has been open nearly 4 years now in the Beverly Center Mall! No soft serve Custard can compare...this is the real deal with the dairy mix IMPORTED from Wisconsin! Check out Silky Smooth on Yelp
http://www.yelp.com/biz/silky-smooth-ultra-creamery-los-angeles#hrid:Zo21v-yEBf8t_rNvG3usEA/query:silky%20smooth
And, check them out on Fox TV!!
http://myfoxla.cityvoter.com/winners/myfoxlas-hot-list/91/specialty-food-and-drink/ice-cream-shop
Please spread the word or yet another custard shop will fail in SoCal like so many before. Beware though that locals dislike the word "custard" and that is the sole reason frozen custard has failed to catch on in Calif all these years!!

D said...

I just had some yummy frozen custard in Vegas at a place called Luv-it...I think. Ordinarily I shy away from frozen custard because I just don't like the word "custard",but this stuff was delicious.