Sarah and Burgerology

Location: Burgerology, Huntington, NY

Person: Sarah 

Dessert: Campfire Milkshake

The possibilities were endless. Not literally, but it sure did seem that way. I skimmed past the burger selections, straight down to the milkshakes. For me, it came to a showdown between The Campfire and the Chocolate Factory, but ultimately I had to go with The Campfire. For my cousin, the choice wasn’t so hard; she easily decided on the Cookie Doughnut.

Across from the two of us, sat my cousin’s best friend, Sarah. They met when they were three years old, lived across the street from one another, and had frequent bike races up and down the block. Sarah opted for The Rainbow Cookie. As we waited for our shakes to arrive, she told me that she’d lived in New York all her life and is now a speech pathologist. She humors me with stories from her work, stories full of vomiting kids and urine-splattered walls.

We were sitting in the back of a restaurant called Burgerology and surrounding us were walls covered with chalkboard, the numbers of pi, diagrams of burgers, and portraits of Albert Einstein. To complete the laboratory theme, our servers walked around wearing lab coats.

When the shakes came, the first thing I noticed was the cup. It was a mason jar completely coated with graham cracker crumbs that were stuck to the glass with a layer of frosting. Of course, the first thought that ran through my head was “Wow, this must be a pain to clean” and so I made it my personal mission to scrape off and eat as much of the coating as I could. And let me tell you, I did a great job.

Anyways, after marveling at the glass itself, I finally got to marveling at the milkshake. Taking my first sip, I was astounded at the vanilla base mixed with pieces of graham cracker. Often, the primary complaint that people voice about outrageous milkshakes are their overly-sweet nature. This, however, was perfectly balanced and between the flavor of charred marshmallow and vanilla ice cream, there was nothing left to be desired. On top of the shake, sat a perfectly golden toasted marshmallow and a graham cracker.

While I was stunned and overcome by the flavor and appearance of the milkshake, Sarah fed her baby, Coco, little dollops of whipped cream off the top of her shake. Coco was born last July and has so much to say and so many places to go, but despite her best efforts, can’t yet talk or walk. She’s got an insatiable desire to move and to share her thoughts and she is an expert at rolling her tongue and talking to ceiling fans. 

I have to say, I’m not normally a milkshake kind of girl; I mean, why sip your ice cream when you could lick it. Regardless, this milkshake was something that I could not pass up. But I’ll save the entirety of my shake versus ice cream rant for another time. Here’s to Coco’s baby steps and over-the-top shakes,

Anokhi