Danny Dines: Busy Bee Frozen Custard

Summer is here, and so is another entry in the ice cream diaries. You want more ice cream content, and I am here to deliver.

This week, I had the pleasure of trying Busy Bee Frozen Custard.

As some of you know, I was a food judge a month ago at the Duke City Foodie Festival. It was there that I discovered Busy Bee’s and that I tasted some of the most delicious custard.

“We love the custard because we can take a lot of pride in it; we know that the quality is the very best that you can find. We make it all now within our store. We make everything here except for the A&W Root Beer and the hot fudge,” co-owner Kay Castillo said. Castillo owns Busy Bee Frozen Custard along with Ross Bird and Helen Martinez.

Busy Bee Frozen Custard is a local ice cream parlor that has become a premier destination for custard and a sweet oasis of delicious treats.

Now, if some of you are like my dad, you’re probably wondering one thing: What is custard?

“The difference between regular ice cream and custard is egg yolk,” Castillo said. “What happens when you put a yolk into an ice cream base is it makes it thicker and heavier because it is basically protein. Protein does three other things; one of those is it holds flavor much better than regular milk, so it only takes half the amount of regular sugar as regular ice cream.”

I walked in the front door and immediately noticed that the place was packed, but the line moved quickly. As I scanned the room, I saw customers with cones, sundaes and one particular fellow with whipped cream all over his face … what a vibe.

I did notice that Castillo knew every customer by name and had little conversations with everyone while slinging ice cream … that is one Busy Bee.

Besides scoops of ice cream, Busy Bees also offers many other enticing food items including Dirt Worms Sundae, root beer floats, milkshakes, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate (covered in your choice of nuts), and frozen lemonade, which is their vanilla custard blended with organic lemonade.

But if you are just here for the scoops, the flavors of ice cream featured on this day were vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream, butter toffee, Nutella, coffee and mint chocolate chip. You also have the choice of a regular cone, a waffle cone or a chocolate cone.

I decided to order the Brownie Bomb Sundae and the Turtle Sundae — wo sundaes on a Sunday.

The Brownie Bomb Sundae comes with two scoops of vanilla custard between hot brownies and topped with hot fudge.

The Turtle Sundae comes with two scoops of vanilla custard, pecans, hot fudge, caramel and whipped cream.

Both came out in a flash and looked absolutely magnificent.

I ate the Brownie Bomb Sundae first, and the first thing I noticed is that I got cookies and cream custard instead of vanilla. Another happy surprise was that all of the sundae rested on top of a chocolate waffle bowl. The custard was thick, creamy and delicious. The brownies were warm, gooey and fudgy. From the hot fudge to the frozen custard to the crunchy waffle cone, each spoonful had amazing texture.

Next, I headed for the Turtle Sundae. Again, this sundae was stacked on a delicious chocolate waffle bowl. Now, let me make something clear: I love thick ice cream. If you like it thick, then this is the custard for you. Every spoonful of vanilla custard continued to be divine, and with the combination of toasty pecans, sweet caramel and hot fudge, we have pure happiness in every bite.

I finished both Sundae’s in less than seven minutes (official time: 6 minutes 43 seconds).

Busy Bee’s is your classic friendly neighborhood ice cream shop, and I urge you all to bring the family out here. There is something for everyone.

Both sundaes cost $9.

If you would like to contact Busy Bee Frozen Custard, call at 505-508-4915

Busy Bee Frozen Custard, 6845 Fourth St. NW, Albuquerque, is open 2-8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 1-8 p.m. Sundays. They are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Where should I go next? Email me zunigasauce@gmail.com