The little chain opened Saturday with its take on Italian ice, custard, frozen yogurt, and other treats. I probably don't have to tell you. The employees were talking about serving 2,000 people for the free cone promotion on opening day, according to Morty Abzug.
If you weren't in those crowds, then you should definitely stop by. Meadows sells custard and Italian ice, and they swirl it a thousand ways -- sundaes, banana splits, and shakes. They even sell espresso, and they have several variations where they pour coffee over custard or swirl them together.
Even with the coffee, it's pretty much like Rita's. We tried a gelati -- the Rita's-style creation with layers of ice and custard. They're both delicious -- good flavor, smooth texture. With all this summer heat, it's just a fun to sit outside and eat something cold. Mrs. HowChow and I probably prefer Rita's black cherry ice, and we love the King's Contrivance fountain. But the desserts are close enough that I'm not sure that I'd drive past Meadows to get that black cherry. The Meadows custard will taste delicious on the benches there.
There is a great dinner to be had at the Harper's Choice village center. You eat dinner at Maiwand Kabob and then walk across the parking lot to Rita's. Meadows just went into a shopping center with a bunch of restaurants. Where would you eat before walking over to Meadows?
Meadows Custard
Hickory Ridge Village Center
6470 Freetown Road
Columbia, MD 21044
NEAR: This is in the Hickory Ridge center near the Giant. It's off Cedar Lane north of Rte 32 and south of Howard County Hospital.
My family really likes Hickory Ridge Grill. The Greek specialties are great and the staff/owner make this a great local restaurant that I think is a hidden treasure.
ReplyDeleteIt is highly recommended.
Minor correction: the lady said they served 2000 customers. She did not specify that they all partook of the free cone promotion. Meadows Custard did charge for some items.
ReplyDeleteWould definitely head to Hickory Ridge Grill! It's a family favorite of ours as well...completely agree with the first posting...super, super nice owners.
ReplyDeleteLuna Bella is a another great choice in this village center - yummy brick oven pizza.
There's a fairly new Peruvian Chicken place nearby too, Chick'n Pollo...we've been once for take-out and thought the chicken was excellent...have been following the postings about their alfajores on this blog and need to try them next time.
Would love to try out the Japanese steakhouse again, Maruha, but our kids are PETRIFIED of the flames on the grill right now (they do the traditional onion stacked volcano like most teppanyaki grill places)!
PLENTY of delicious choices in Hickory Ridge village center and so glad to see Meadows Ice Cream arrive - looking forward to trying it!
Meadows is a small chain based in Johnstown PA. I think their ice cream is great...and much better than Soft Stuff. Just my opinion. If they can provide customer service that doesn't require a long wait, then they might replace them as the place to go.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your good work, Mr. HowChow. Saw this thing-a-majig and thought of you and your site: http://aboutecho.com/echo-demo.html
ReplyDeleteI came in here to post about Hickory Ridge Grill. My family loves it and most of the people there remember us even though we don't go as much as we would like to.
ReplyDeleteI have family in DC and VA that have even picked it as a place to go for family gatherings. (And they hate to travel).
Favorites are the Gyro Platter or the Carbonara.
I think Rita's is hard to beat, but I'll have to give Meadows a try.
ReplyDeleteHere are some of my words on Rita's from last year http://dc2scaggsville.blogspot.com/2009/07/water-ice-is-nice-thanks-ritas.html
Hickory Ridge has some wonderful restaurants! Hickry Ridge Grill, Luna Bella, Maruha Steak House & Sushi, Peking Chef & de Chich'n Pollo. I tried Meadows on Saturday and I can honestly say that I won't be crossing town anymore to visit Rita's. Meadows custard & Italian Ice were both delicious (and free on their opening day)! As a resident of Hickory Ridge, I am really happy to have Meadows as a part of our Village Center! And I'm looking forward to many summer evenings sitting around the fountain enjoying a cool cone!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Hickory Ridge Grill -- awesome food and service. George and his friendly staff run a great restaurant and I love going there with the family. Food is awesome -- gyro platter, grilled salmon, linguini alla Lucca, great burgers, great salads, I could go on and on!!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter who is lactose intolerant can have the Meadow's Custard with no issues.
ReplyDeleteI started going to one of the "Meadows" great frozen custard stands in Western Pennsylvania almost 60 years ago, just a few years after the chain first started. It was always the "go to" summer treat (and year round for that matter) when I was growing up and remains so to this day. Their frozen custard can't be beat. It is simply superb and is of truly "old-fashioned" quality. It is authentic frozen custard (hard to find these days) and not simply "soft ice cream". I had been willing to make side trips of some distance whenever I went to Pennsylvania just in order to get to one of their stands or locations. For that reason, I was thrilled to see that they now have some locations in Maryland, much easier to get to.
ReplyDeleteThey always have vanilla and chocolate custard available and they also have two additional flavors (such as raspberry, blueberry, banana etc.) which change every day. One of my other favorites was always a "Black Cow" which is similar to a root beer float. Their menu includes much, much more as well.
The "Meadows" is a treat well worth traveling extra distance to reach.
Yum, Yum, YUM. Finally made it here-- I had been sad when the frozen custard place next to the defunct Forest Diner was torn down, didn't know where I'd get my custard fix.
ReplyDeleteTurns out Meadows had been waiting for me and had much better custard than anywhere else I've been. Espresso was also okay but not special (but reasonably priced). Staff was friendly and efficient (owner and daughter?) despite a long Saturday evening line.
I had a flavor of the day (choc-peanut-butter) half-and-half with vanilla custard. Delicious, smooth, surprisingly rich. I expected side-by-side (from the half-and-half name) but it was more like layered.
The GF had the "gelati", layered italian ice and custard. Vanilla custard and mango ice they had made fresh that day. Vibrant flavors and very good combination.
Medium size is filling for a normal sized adult, I will likely get "small" next time.
We'll be back... regularly even.