Entry No. 83 — the New Orleans file — filed under: drive-in
Ted's Frostop
Frostop started in Springfield, Ohio in 1926 and peaked in 1958; about thirteen drive-ins survive, and the giant rotating mug bolted above this one on South Claiborne is the chain's original piece of signage grammar. The root beer is the reason to come — 22 flavors cold-brewed in batches and held at exactly 36 degrees, which the restaurant will tell you unprompted, poured into floats and shakes as well as straight. Food is the Lot-O-Burger, fresh hand-pressed beef fully dressed on a sesame bun for $7.95, escalating through a Double and a Big Bopper for people making bad decisions, plus roast beef and hot sausage po-boys and a rotating plate lunch that puts red beans on Monday and crawfish étouffée on Friday. There is free pinball and free video games inside, video poker for anyone over 21, and covered outdoor seating that fills with Tulane students since the stadium is directly across the street. Breakfast — shrimp and grits, ribeye and eggs — runs first thing in the morning.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in New Orleans — never the same twice
The story
Frostop began in 1926 as a root beer stand in Springfield, Ohio, opened by L.S. Harvey. It grew into a drive-in chain of some 350 locations, peaked in 1958, and then did what drive-in chains do. About thirteen survive. This one exists because Ted Sternberg, a New Orleans native, came home from the Korean War and bought a Frostop franchise in 1955, putting it up at Claiborne and Calhoun, where it has stayed ever since. The 14-foot neon root beer mug over the roof is the chain's signature piece of signage and one of the few still doing its job.
The root beer is the argument. It's cold-brewed in batches and held at exactly 36 degrees — a number the restaurant volunteers before you ask — built on 22 flavors and poured straight, over ice cream in a float, or into a shake. The food keeps the chain's inherited vocabulary. The Lot-O-Burger is fresh hand-pressed beef, fully dressed, at $7.95; it escalates to the Double at $11.45 and then the Big Bopper at $13.55, which the menu explains as two grilled cheeses with bacon. Roast beef and gravy ($15.75) and hot sausage ($11.45) po-boys hold up the local end.
Sternberg retired after Katrina, and since 2008 the place has been locally owned by Gordon Stevens with siblings Keil, Peter and Margaret Moss. What they kept is the plate-lunch calendar — red beans Monday, meatloaf Tuesday, spaghetti and meatballs Wednesday, white beans Thursday, crawfish étouffée and fried catfish Friday — plus a real breakfast of ribeye and eggs or shrimp and grits served before 10:30. Inside there's free pinball and free video games, and video poker for anyone over 21. Outside there's covered seating that fills with Tulane students, the stadium being directly across the street.
What it's like
Order at the counter, then find your own table — inside under fluorescent light, or outside on the covered patio, which is the better seat unless it's August. Root beer arrives in a frosted mug. The room runs on Tulane students, families with strollers, and regulars ordering what they've ordered for decades, and turnover is quick because nobody lingers over a $7.95 burger. The pinball and video games are genuinely free, so play while you wait. Two things to plan around: it closes at 5 on weekdays and 3 on weekends, so this is never a dinner, and Tulane home games turn the whole block into a parking problem.
The move: This is an early date, not a late one: get there by 4pm on a weekday, split a Lot-O-Burger and a roast beef po-boy at a covered outdoor table, and order one root beer float with two straws. Then play the free pinball until they start wiping down the counters at 5, and walk it off through Audubon Park a few blocks away.
📍 Before you go Hours are Mon–Fri 7am–5pm and Sat–Sun 8am–3pm — it closes before dinner, so nothing here works after 5pm. Breakfast is served 7–10:30am weekdays and 8am–12:30pm weekends. Counter service, then find your own table; parking is a small lot off Calhoun and street spots on Claiborne. Tulane home-game days turn the whole block chaotic since the stadium is across the street. Phone 504-861-3615.
- 📍 New Orleans
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 3100 Calhoun St, New Orleans, LA 70125
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- The Tree of Life (Etienne de Boré Oak) — Audubon Park is a short walk downriver, and the de Boré oak is the correct use of a full stomach and a 5pm closing time.
- Cure — Ted's stops serving at 5; Cure, in a converted Freret Street firehouse about a mile away, is only then getting going — a clean handoff from root beer to cocktails.
- Hansen's Sno-Bliz — A mile toward the river sits the other early-closing Uptown holdout built around a machine somebody made by hand — shaved block ice against cold-brewed root beer, roughly March through October only.
More weird in New Orleans
Good to know
What time does it close, and when is breakfast?
Monday–Friday 7am–5pm, Saturday–Sunday 8am–3pm. Breakfast runs 7–10:30am on weekdays and 8am–12:30pm on weekends. Nothing here works after 5pm.
Where do I park?
There's a small lot off Calhoun plus street spots on Claiborne. Tulane's stadium is directly across the street, so on home-game days assume the block is unusable and plan another day.
What should I order the first time?
A Lot-O-Burger ($7.95) and a root beer float. If it's a weekday, the plate lunch is set by the day — red beans Monday through crawfish étouffée and fried catfish Friday.
Are the games really free?
Yes — the pinball and video games cost nothing. The video poker machines are a separate thing and are 21-plus.
Is it still a drive-in?
Not in the carhop sense. It's counter service with covered outdoor seating; the 14-foot neon mug and the Lot-O-Burger name are what's left of the 1950s franchise it started as.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-08-26