Their milkshakes bring Connor Shaw to the yard. Literally.

Christina Austin-Russell grew up on Columbia’s food scene. For more than 20 years, she and her family (including her mom and co-owner, Cheryl, as well as her sister, husband, niece, aunt, you name it) have made the Rosewood Dairy Bar a home away from home. And the customers feel the same.

“Everyone always talks about our customer service and how great it is,” she said. “You come here and get food with a smile.”

How could anyone resist smiling at a menu that includes all of your favorite summer guilty pleasures?

Namely ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream.

Russell says, on average, workers fill Rosewood Dairy Bar’s machine four or five times a day with bags of ice cream that yield 2 1/2 gallons per bag.

The latest craze is the ice cream sandwich, made with two black velvet chocolate cookies that are rolled in either sprinkles or nuts.

“But one of our best-sellers is ice cream cones with sprinkles,” said Russell. “The college kids seem to love our sprinkles, and that’s a majority of our business. The sorority girls come here at night and ask for a small ice cream cone with sprinkles and a cup of sprinkles on the side. They love ’em.”

But don’t discount the popularity of the hand-spun milkshakes, which she says they also make a ton of. And with more than 15 flavors, there’s a veritable cornucopia of combinations.

“We have people that come to get caramel, Oreo, chocolate and pineapple,” said Russell. “There’s one girl that comes here and every time tries a different combination of four different milkshakes.”

USC football alum and Chicago Bears quarterback Connor Shaw would frequent the location and order a chocolate milkshake with peanut butter and fudge so often, they named the combo after him. (Fun fact: He’s the only person to have a Dairy Bar milkshake named after him.)

“We have customers that walk up to the window, and we know exactly what they’re getting. They don’t even have to ask. They get out their car, and everybody knows what to fix,” said Russell.

This story was originally published July 12, 2017 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Their milkshakes bring Connor Shaw to the yard. Literally.."