Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 28, 2006
It was a hot summer night (as if there's any other kind in South Florida) and we were in the mood for ice cream. But not just any chain-store brand.
We wanted something special.
We found it at Charley's Frozen Custard & Tropical Treats.
This small, brightly decorated parlor, tucked away in a huge strip mall off Military Trail in West Palm Beach, turns out some of the best soft-serve we've found locally. But what makes it special — at least to our Northeast-raised taste buds — is that it doesn't come straight from the soft-serve machine in the tradition of Carvel. Rather, it's left to chill a bit in a cooler. The result is something that's a cross between soft and hard ice cream, a texture that strikes us as just right. (Apparently, that's the way they prepare their custard in the Midwest — or so the parlor's genial proprietor, Charley Willoughby Sr., tells us.)
In addition to the standard vanilla and chocolate, there's a specialty flavor of the day, from chocolate peanut butter pretzel to cherry cake batter. It gives you a reason to keep coming back. Then again, the vanilla is good enough an excuse to revisit — it has the real, subtle flavor of vanilla, not the harsh, artificial kind.
You can have your custard straight (a single serving runs $2.50) — or you can have it in the restaurant's version of a sundae, called a sandcastle ($3.50 to $4) in keeping with the tropical theme. You can also take it home — pints are $5, quarts $7. Other menu items include familiar parlor treats (banana splits, root beer floats, milkshakes) and something called Palm Beach Snow — their version of a sorbet.
Sugar-free offerings are also available. And if you want to make a small meal out of a visit (and groove to the big-band music that's always playing in the background), hot dogs are on the menu as well.
Oh, and say hi to one of the Charleys while you're there — it's a father-and-son operation.
Charley's Frozen Custard & Tropical Treats, 2919 B N. Military Trail (in Crosstown Plaza — near the Manhattan Diner and United States of Fitness gym), West Palm Beach, (561) 683-0075.
Click Here for more reviews of Charley's.