Scoop Dreams: Mix Up

The frosted malt ($3.75 for a single) at Weber's Premium Custard and Ice Cream is a slice of Cleveland folklore. When Nathan Weber opened his first custard shop in Rocky River in 1931, chocolate malt was a hit flavor. Legend has it that someone at Higbee's department store stole the recipe but couldn't replicate the custard's firmness. The texture was closer to a thick milkshake, which is how the department store sold it. Now Weber's serves the creamy malt, which is richer than a traditional chocolate ice cream shake. It also borrows from the department store to name a phenomenon that occurs whenever someone tries to drink the shake and winds up with a face full of custard. "We call it the Higbee's bonk," says owner David Ford, who bought Weber's in 1996. People who had the Higbee's dessert as kids often come to Weber's to get a taste of nostalgia. "People come in and have religious-type experiences all the time," he says. Ford credits the original ice cream machines, built the year Weber's opened and the last ones of their kind ever made, for delivering on the familiar taste of the frosted malt. "This is vintage ice cream, the old standard," say Ford. "It's not the cheap way, but it's the right way." 20230 Lorain Road, Fairview Park, 440-331-0004, webersvintageicecream.com