Where I can ask for something called a “Bananarrilla” and actually watch her peel a banana and stick it in the blender.
As opposed to say, McD’s, where I have to wonder what the banana-flavoring is in the banana shakes.
By the way that was a really good bananarilla.
I always wonder, though: What’s in the Julius powder? Somehow, I never ask. Just make sure there’s lots of pineapple and banana in it.
I once worked at McD in my youth and you don’t want to know what is in their milkshakes…basically some cough-inducing packet of powder in a machine, some water and that is it…I am assuming it is a kind of powdered milk/icecream but it is a far cry from the happy employees scooping in real ice cream and adding milk to the mixture.
Hard to find a good place that makes milk shakes from scratch, and when you do find such a place, it is some absurd price like $5 for a small shake…times like this I do miss the good ol’ days.
Steak & Shake makes pretty good milkshakes, and while they’re not dirt-cheap, neither are they $5. Steer clear of the nasty artificial coffee flavored ones, though. Bleeah. (Oh, their onion rings aren’t bad, either!)
I like Orange Julius, but in my local mall they’re sharing space with a Karmelkorn, and if I get anywhere near a Karmelkorn I lose all pretense of self-control.
I will second that Orange Julius is awesome. My first exposure to them was as a small child visiting the Jersey shore, and it was a once a year treat that I could only get when we went to the beach. I was inordinately happy when they opened a combined Orange Julius/Dairy Queen in the local mall a few years ago. I don’t go to the mall often any more, but when I do, I almost always leave with an Orange Julius in hand.
As for good milkshakes, A&W has really good shakes that are made from scratch in front of you. They only come in one size (your typical fast food medium/large soda), and they’re just a hair short of $3 including tax. I’ve never had the inclination to try the root beer flavor, though I imagine it probably tastes something like what would happen if you put a root beer float in a blender. I can, however, vouch for the awesomeness of their strawberry milkshake.
You Americans really need some Booster Juice franchises. Its like Orange Julius except more fruit less filler. You can choose a number of combinations of fruit to blend together or make your own.
It’s really very good.
I tried this recipe and it was just as good:
http://www.copykat.com/asp/copykatrecipe.asp?recipe=284
so my guess that the mystery powder is powdered sugar, powdered vanilla and powdered milk.
Wearia-
while we don’t have Booster Juice franchises (that I know of) we have loads of other places such as Smoothie King. One place called Jamba Juice makes you feel so healthy when you order (“I’ll have the berry blitz with super femme boost”) until you look at their ingredients and realize that a chunk of what you’re drinking is liquified sherbert mixed with juice!
I love Orange Julius. It’s always reminded me of those little orange aspirins (St. Joseph’s?) that I got when I was a kid.
Mmmmm…Kennedy’s Fried Chicken…or as we like to call it “the other KFC”
Three pieces of fried chicken, a basket of fries, and a 16 oz bottle of soda for five dollars
Milkshakes made with two ingredients - ice cream and milk - for $2.50
With just two ingredients? They don’t add any flavour syrup?
I’ve never been to an Orange Julius, but I do love places where you get real chunks of fruit in a fruit-flavored shake. Sonic does that with their banana shakes, and the one at home used to even garnish your shake with banana slices. Down here, the best shakes by far are at CookOut. Something like 32 flavors of shakes, and they’re all incredible. My personal favorites are the chocolate cherry and the banana fudge, though the watermelon is awfully good, too.
Flavored ice cream would be my guess.
I think Steak ‘n’ Shake makes the best shakes, but Sonic is damn good too, and they have interesting flavor combinations.
There’s a place right across the hall (from Orange Juliua, in the mall) that makes even better shakes, with lots of yummy-yummy fresh fruit and no funky powders, so far as I can tell. However, they do charge an arm and a leg. Orange Julius isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s a good treat.
I spend a summer making shakes and desserts at Steak ‘n’ Shake. The reason that you like their shakes is that they use completely unflavored ice cream (basically, frozen sugar and milk), real milk, and flavor syrup. Nothing to compete with the taste that you ordered. I also find that the real milk helps.
On an unrelated Steak ‘n’ Shake dessert note, their Strawberry Shortcake is actually made from the leftover biscuits that they didn’t use that morning instead of real shortcake. I never really cared for it.