Fun With Carbs

If I had my way, I’d try out new restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day. But budgetary, dietary and geographical restrictions prevent me from channeling my inner Guy Fieri. With that in mind, I’ll be having guest bloggers share their far-flung dining experiences here from time to time.

My former colleague Sandy Csizmar, a web producer at the Hartford Courant, received a delicious surprise this weekend when her husband, John, took her on an impromptu road trip to Sonic Drive-In in upstate New York. As New Englanders are pretty obsessed with Sonic, Sandy was stoked to finally try it out. She was nice enough to share her experience with us all…

“For all of you in Connecticut who have been Sonic-deprived for so many years, you may have heard the rumors that at least one Sonic will be opening soon in our great state.  In a stroke of brilliance, my husband decided we needed a day trip to the nearest Sonic – a 75-minute ride to Wappingers Falls, NY.  And it was worth every minute of the drive.

I had no idea where we were going, so when I saw the glowing red letters  looming ahead, my stomach growled with happiness.  I’d never tried Sonic before.  I immediately posted where I was eating to Facebook and Fun With Carbs maven Leeanne Griffin responded quickly with “Their burgers are great!”  But there were so many other choices.

We pulled up to one of the many drive-in parking spots and drooled over the menu for several minutes, before deciding on a Sonic Cheeseburger for me, a Super Sonic (double) Cheeseburger for John, an order of cheese tots (tater tots covered in melted cheese – they have fries too, but we wanted to try some unique things) and the Frito chili cheese pie, basically chili nachos made with Fritos.  To order, you press a button on the menu board, someone takes your order and then you can pay by credit card using a card swipe right on the board, or pay your carhop with cash when they deliver your food.

The tater tots were very good – a nice change from french fries.  The Frito pie was delicious though the chili was a little too spicy for my taste.  But the burgers were heavenly.  A decent-sized beef patty on a tasty bun with crisp, cold lettuce and tomato, chopped onions, pickle slices, ketchup, mustard and mayo, all wrapped in white paper to make it easier to eat.  Everything was brought out quickly, hot and fresh, by our roller-skating carhop.  I think Greater Hartford has some of the best burger joints in the country, but without a Sonic, we just aren’t complete.

And for those who have seen the Sonic commercials, the drinks are THAT good.  We shared a peanut butter fudge shake, a thick concoction that tasted a lot more like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup than I’d have expected, and a cherry limeade, with fresh lime wedges.  Both were delicious and refreshing.

But here’s how much we really liked Sonic.  We did some Christmas shopping in the area, caught the movie “2012″ at a local theater, then decided to go through the drive-thru for another quick snack for the ride home.

We ordered onion rings to share, a blue coconut slushy and a cranberry iced tea.  The onion rings were good, but the batter had a different flavor – sweet and a bit like yellow cake batter.  We liked ‘em though.  The blue coconut slushy was tasty, but didn’t have enough coconut flavor.  I especially loved the cranberry iced tea, which used unsweetened tea making it very refreshing.

With three rumored possibilities so far for a Sonic in Connecticut – Wallingford, as listed on careerbuilder.com, on the Berlin Turnpike, in the old Krispy Kreme building in Milford – I think we’ll have one by early next year.  But after my first (and second) experience, I vote for all three!  Find Sonic of Connecticut on Facebook to find out the latest news.”