The Other Biggest Story In History
By Mitch Berg
I remember when I was a kid, listening to my dad and his friends talking about “Coors Beer”. Unavailable east of Montana, the stuff was supposedly the nectar of the beer-drinking gods.
And then, word spread across the state; Coors was going to be available in North Dakota!
Now, this was way before my beer-drinking days (I didn’t really start drinking beer for real until I went to Europe; I actually had exactly one beer all through high school, a story I’ll save for another time), but the general reactions were…
…well, pretty much the same as the one I had when I finally had a Coors, sometime in college; it tasted like puddle-water that had come from the wrong end of a well-hydrated goat.
All that waiting, all that anticipation…for what?
So I always get leery when Big Things from Out Of Town come to town.
At any rate, it seems Sonic – “America’s Drive-in” – wants to come to the East Side of Saint Paul, according to City Hall Scoop, which got the, er, scoop at, um, city hall:
We called Kathy Lantry this afternoon.
“It’s true,” she said. “When I told my 17-year-old son, he just went ballistic… Someone on the District 1 board heard about it and said, ‘Oh my God, I can have a cherry lime-ade slush!’” The nearest franchise seems to be in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
“I don’t really understand what the deal is with Sonic,” Lantry added later. “It seems almost like some kind of cult thing.”
Indeed. I blame cable TV.
Although my kids have never been closer than 250 miles to a Sonic, they visibly slaver whenever a Sonic ad comes on the tube; the Discovery channel runs one Sonic ad or another during pretty much every spotbreak.
Sheesh. First Culver’s, then Krispy Kreme (defunct, alas) and now Sonic. What’s next for the East Side? Starbucks?
I’m amazed (or perhaps ignorant) that a Dunn Bros hasn’t opened up across from 3M yet.
Mmmm. Dunn Brothers.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I have never lived somewhere there WASNT a Sonic, but I have noticed that also. People from places that dont have them insist on going. The slushes are good, I will give them that. Plus you can now pay with the debit card at the speaker. Wish we could get a Culver’s though. I went to one in Lincoln, Ne. Not bad at all.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Hey, I’ve been to the Sonic in Fort Dodge Iowa!
Actually Culvers is the best chain ever. When they first came here, the closed one was in Savage, so I’d take a Saturday afternoon to drive over and dine along Hwy 13.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Oh, for you conservatives here…..Culvers is a bit of a cult favorite with a couple of National Review contributers. One already posted that they should have a staff meeting at one while in town for the convention.
Since he’s retired, I don’t suppose Wm Buckley will be sighted at the East St Paul Culvers.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I had never heard of Culvers before. Apparently they are in the Racine area, a couple of co-workers used to live out there and knew of them. We drove by one in Lincoln and he practically jumped the median to get to it. I now know to keep my eye out for one while traveling.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Excellent! Sonic’s Cherry Limeades are a thing of legend, and I’m rather fond of their breakfast burritos. The food there isn’t particularly great, but the drinks more than make up for it…
July 27th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Like Coors, Culvers, Krispy Kreme, Trader Joe’s, and most recently Fat Tire (another Colorado beer), I believe that Sonic will turn out to be yet another vastly overrated product whose allure is almost entirely based on its scarcity in the local market rather than any real quality.
July 27th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I kinda like Culvers, although it’s no second coming.
Trader Joe’s, I kinda dig – as long as you buy on special. But the big problem is, it’s totally aimed at people who don’t have kids; their packaging is all aimed at people cooking for one or two. I cook for three, so I gotta be careful. But they have some good deals on neat stuff, and I’m looking forward to their Woodbury store.
Krispy Kreme – nice donuts, but I’m not a big donut fan. I read once upon a time that the Twin Cities was the only major metro area where bagel joints outnumber donut joints. I’m proud to say I helped with that.
Fat Tire – I used to get flown to Denver about monthly, back in ’98 and ’99. Fat Tire was *decent* beer; a little better than Leinie’s. Certainly not worth paying microbrew prices, but not bad.
Sonic? We’ll see. Goodness knows my kids’ll make us go there.
I’m seeing a white-trash-epicurean tour to the East Side: burgers @ Culvers, drinks @ Sonic, dessert @ KK…
July 27th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Oh think of the opening day hype!
I’ve ate at Sonics in Springfield MO and Cleveland.
No big deal.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I actually admire a company that can create a huge hype over, ummm, a huge hype. No one is better at it then Krispy Kreme. All kinds of free advertising over an okay but not always exceptional product.
Although I would like to check out Traders Joes when they open their east Metro location.
July 27th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I used to hit Sonic quite a bit when I lived in OKC.
“Who’s playing the guitar solo?”
“Steurmer, Darryl Steurmer”
“Great, great sandwich”
July 27th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
An obscure eighties pop-culture reference from JB?
Someone check that space-time continuum…
July 27th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Sonic’s Cherry Limeades
Mmmm. Lime.
(Background Note: I love love LOVE almost anything lime. Key lime pie. Gimlets. Limeade. Lime sherbet. Lime tortilla chips. Am currently working on developing a lime-ified tabasco sauce (to go with my collection of conventional tabasco sauce (yaaaa, McIlhenny’s!)). However, Sonic staff, please be advised; while a “Cherry Limeade” might be a good thing, removing the Cherry would improve it 100% right off the bat. Assuming you don’t already have a Limeade. That is all)
July 27th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
I had a customer in the South at one time that was right near one of the original Krispy Kreme stores. There is nothing quite like getting one of those beauties right after they exit the glaze waterfall. MMMMMMM…donut. Stopped in a 7-11 in Denver this week that was remade as a Kwik-E-Mart for The Simpsons Movie hype and had a donut that was covered with pink glaze and sprinkles. It reminded me why I stopped eating donuts. Stale, tasteless and awful. When you have had the best right after it was made, you have a hard time eating the day(s) old stuff that KK sells in the C-Stores. By the way Mitch, where are the good bagels “joints” in the area? I moved here 4 years ago and haven’t found any good bagels. Please don’t mention Brueggers or Pantera, er Panera unless you want me to get that face Chad the Elder must get when he’s offered a Bud.
July 27th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Mitch has also been observed imbibing G&T with…..Lime!
July 27th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
I fell in lust with sonic while living in Alabama. They made (make?) a jalepeno` cheeseburger, and that was all it took. I began to become withdrawn, closing off even my closest friends… unless they brought beer. My “rock bottom” came when… well, it never really came! I moved back to Minnesota, made my own burgers, and lived a normal life. Until the day Culver’s came to town and my addiction began again, but with a new drug… the Butterburger Deluxe!
Sonic, while good, is pretty much like Culver’s… a better burger than the evil Big Fat chains, but not as good by a damned sight as the little joint in the middle of Podunk.
Hardee’s goose is cooked.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Have to wholeheartedly agree with Mitch on the lime thing…and, as Kermit brought up…”almost” the best part of a G & T is the lime! We even have some lime basil growing in the garden this year…I’d have to say it’s a cut above regular basil.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Oh, one more thing…Culver’s has a pumpkin shake or malt in the fall that is REALLY good. It sounds like it wouldn’t be good, but believe me it is…sprinkled with a little nutmeg on top….Good thing I live 130 miles away from the nearest one.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
What we really need in MSP is a Dunkin Donuts. Every time I am in Chicago, I make sure to stop by and get some donuts. Mmmm donuts.
July 28th, 2007 at 8:02 am
You people are on crack. There is nothing more delicious than freshly made Krispy Kreme donuts. Granted, they don’t travel well, but they’re all sugar and fat. They tend to congeal. But fresh from the store, you can’t beat ’em. Certainly not with Dunkin’ Donuts!
July 28th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
There used to be several dunkin donuts in the cities. I’ve spent many a late night/early morning in the DD that used to be on Brooklyn Blvd about 1/2 mi east of Zane Ave N. I also remember Winchell’s and Mr Donut. donut shops. Mr Donut was better than DD ever was.
July 28th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Clown,
They had a KK in the Mall of America a few years ago – I think it closed recently, along with most of the other KKs up here. They had their big conveyor running alongside a glass wall, so you could watch the whole process, from dough to counter. And hot off the line, they were mighty tasty, and a whopping 250 calories apiece.
Seflores,
The best bagel shop in town, Gelpe’s on Hennepin (a very traditional kosher bakery), regrettably closed a while ago. Not sure where you find REALLY good bagels; of all the mass-market ones out there, Brueggers are the least objectionable. (shrugs).
July 28th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
@Bill C
Blasphemy!
July 28th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Brueggers: acceptable. Dunn Bros: exceptional. Coffee is like corn, absolutely fresh is the best.
July 28th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I have never been to a Sonic. They put one in Rapid City several months ago and it is booming. I drove by it today and there was a line of cars waiting to get in-more than a block long. I gues I don’t understand waiting in line to get “fast” food.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Mmm! Beer!…
Mitch Berg jogged a memory for me, talking of his first encounter with Coors Beer.I remember when I was a kid, listening to my dad and his friends talking abo……
July 29th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Unlike Mitch, I had more than one beer in high school and grew up in Colorado. We agree on Fat Tire and present day Coors, and the cult factor certainly came into play with those products. But in his Dad’s time and some of mine, Coors was a different beer. It was non-pasteurized, which limited its geographic market and shelf life. Extending distribution and becoming a national brand meant Coors gave up on such tight quality control.
Getting bigger meant getting worse, a common American tale.
I don’t know when they changed how they made and shipped the beer, but I’d testify that the Coors I drank in 1960s was a far, far better beer than it was by ’80s.
July 29th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I’d testify that the Coors I drank in 1960s was a far, far better beer than it was by ’80s.
The court will stipulate to that.
Getting bigger meant getting worse, a common American tale.
Three cheers for Summit, then, which is expanding and, IMBLBDO, hasn’t lost a notch in the quality department in almost 20 years.
July 30th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Kermit observed: “Coffee is like corn”
If you eat them, you can see them again later, in your poop.
July 30th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I think someone (perhaps LearnedFoot or Yossarian) has cracked angryclown’s account. 😉