Sweet Surprise At Dairy Godmother

Visitors to the Dairy Godmother on Aug. 16 got a sweet surprise. Besides the carnival of sorbet colors, uncommon custard flavors (like spicy Mexican Chocolate) and yogurt-based puppy pops, customers got an up-close view of television in-the-making as The Cooking Channel set up shop for a day of filming in the Dairy Godmother's custard laboratory.

The Cooking Channel, a sister network to the celebrity chef-laden Food Network, called on Del Ray's answer to ice cream because of its unique flavors and neighborhood feel. (While we're on the subject, the other locations to be featured in this episode are most likely ice cream establishments, but please don't refer to custard as ice cream! This is akin to calling mere sparkling wine a champagne in some circles; the difference being custard has at least 10 percent milk fat and very little air beaten into it as compared to ice cream).

Supervising producer Emily Benson from IW Productions in New York said that stumbling upon the Dairy Godmother was really a simple matter of thorough investigation.

"We do a lot of research," Benson said. "We read a lot of food magazines, we go online, we listen to what people have to say. Sometimes people go on the website and offer up their own ideas. We're all sorts of foodies and the Cooking Channel caters to foodies. We're always reading food magazines and listening to where people have gone and going to restaurants ourselves."

"Unique Eats" is the title of the network's show that will feature Del Ray's own Queen of Custard, Liz Davis, and her recently unveiled ice pops. A new season begins Nov. 21 and the ice cream episode will showcase the Dairy Godmother among three other frozen treat locations.  

"We travel to places all across the country that do something extraordinary and unique with their food; ingredients, process or techniques," Benson said. "The thing with the Dairy Godmother [is] the fascinating ice pops that they make here with really exciting ingredients."

Though the flavors change frequently, a glimpse at the current offerings on the Dairy Godmother website go way beyond the old school versions of primary colored-pops in orange, grape and cherry. Vietnamese coffee, cantaloupe with chiffonade of mint and grilled pineapple pink peppercorn are just a few of what's on the ice-pop menu.

Phoung Yokitis, 43, of Rosemont, was visiting the Dairy Godmother with her two daughters, Grace, 7, and Chloe, 4, while the crew was grabbing shots of the ice pops in a makeshift popsicle stand. They were waiting for Grace's teacher to stop by with a dog, but remained entertained by the film crew's portable studio lights and large cameras that rendered the ice pops in full color close-ups on a large format screen.

"We live in the neighborhood. We've been coming here for years," said Yokitis, and quickly added with a smile, "more often than we should."

Certainly President Obama's visit did nothing to deter the constant parade of media traipsing through this local treatery, and in that regard Yokitis somewhat laments the fact that her neighborhood custard place has achieved national fame.

"It's always been a great, wonderful, little place for us," Yokitis said. "Then all of a sudden the President came and all of these other media outlets. It's actually been a place that's our little thing, and it's no longer our little thing. It's great for Liz and it's great for the establishment, but the secret is out. Good food is hard to contain."

Even before the cameras came knocking on Davis' magic wand-adorned door, she garnered reams of print press. And The Cooking Channel shoot was not the first time a camera crew had filmed the magic of her milk-infused creations. The Travel Channel and the local PBS station have both featured The Dairy Godmother in their series of shows.

"We were also in a show in the Philippines and everything I said was translated into Tagalog," Davis said.

So, do we have to worry about the Queen of Custard being wooed by the bright lights of New York or Hollywood? According to her majesty, there's no danger that she'll give up her crown to host her own cooking show in a custard version of The Food Network's Everyday Italian a la Giada De Laurentiis.

"[The shoot] really made me realize I couldn't be that person on the cooking show," Davis said.  "I like to make the stuff. I don't have the patience to show people how to make the stuff."

So, forget the primping, entourages and talk show appearance of the current breed of celebrity chefs.  All Davis really wants is "to make some really fabulous pops."

That's not to say she hasn't already been giving lots of thought to her spin-off series. Her pops, which were the stars of the taping, are a ratings pleasers that are sold under the Pop Culture brand, and Davis is actively seeking a small but suitable space to launch the next installment of these (mostly) non-dairy frozen treats.

Let's hope the next generation of Pop Culture stores will be too tiny to accommodate the bulky lights and heavy camera equipment required for taping a show.  This way the Dairy Godmother's Pop Culture ice pops at least have a chance of remaining our little neighborhood secret.