By Steven Ryan/CNC Staff Writer
Wed Jun 18, 2008, 09:42 AM EDT


It is being touted as frozen custard’s first stand in the Bay State.

With summer quickly approaching, Sherborn resident Mary Pat Dauria has given area frozen dessert fans something new to look forward to. She’s opening Massachusetts’ first franchise of Abbott’s Frozen Custard, a national chain based out of Rochester N.Y., which has stores in New York and Florida.

Abbott’s comes to Great Plain Avenue in Needham Center, just months after Caffe Mucca Blu, which served gelato and ice cream at its store in the same area, closed its doors last winter. Mucca Blu was formerly the popular ice cream haven The Big Dipper.

Abbott’s will set up shop in the former home of Flueckiger Realty at 934 Great Plain Ave. and, at press time, was slated to open Thursday, June 19.

Frozen custard is similar to ice cream. It is made with eggs in addition to cream and sugar. At first sight, it looks like soft-serve ice cream, but is much richer.

“A food critic once said a frozen custard stand is ‘where God gets his ice cream,’” the company’s Web site, www.abbottscustard.com, reads.

Dauria said the frozen treat is created through a very slow churning process. She and her husband grew up in Rochester, N.Y., and “essentially grew up” on frozen custard.

“In 2004, we talked about how much we missed it and wanted to bring it here,” Dauria said.

Dauria felt Needham was a perfect location for the frozen custard franchise, and is also planning a service window at the location to take advantage of pedestrian traffic.

“In 2004, we really decided on Needham, with its demographics, green right there [on the Town Common], a lot of foot traffic and a lot of old-time Americana,” Dauria said, noting Abbott’s Frozen Custard was founded in 1902 and seeks to evoke nostalgia.

“Needham has been very supportive of us,” Dauria said. “It’s something new. There really isn’t another true ice cream place in Needham. This is a niche they really wanted to fill.”

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