> IT'S SATURDAY afternoon at Fentons Creamery & Restaurant in Oakland, and
> the
> old-fashioned ice cream parlor is packed, as always. A little girl in a
> leotard celebrates with her family after a ballet recital. People of all
> ages, groups large and small, feast on burgers and tuna melts, giant
> milkshakes and decadent old-fashioned sundaes made with ice cream crafted
> on
> the premises. Comfort food, with a side of memories.

> No wonder when the going gets tough, one of the characters in
> Disney-Pixar's
> film "Up" simply longs to hang out at Fentons again. In these challenging
> times, ice cream shops continue to offer an opportunity to indulge in
> affordable pleasures. On a hot summer day, it's hard to beat a thick,
> creamy
> milkshake.

> Scott Whidden, president and master blender of Fentons, says shakes are
> one
> of the top-ordered items on hot summer days.

> "I can talk about them until the cows come home," he says with a laugh. "I
> think we're spinning somewhere in the vicinity of 600-700 milkshakes a
> week.
> We're coming into our season, and if the weather stays with us on a great
> week, it might be as many as 1,100."

> All that blending takes a toll on their mixers. "We burn through probably
> two of those multi-mixers for the summer."

> He likens their mixers to cement mixers, because they literally take a
> solid
> and turn it into a liquid. "We don't want to add very much milk in there,
> because that's not going to make the milkshake

> That, in turn, puts unavoidable strain on the motor. "Well, it is
> avoidable," he adds, "if you want to make a thin milkshake, (but) that's
> against the law of gravity of Fentons. You're supposed to be able to turn
> it
> upside down and it stays."

> He doesn't advise taking the shake to go, as it won't taste right. "That's
> the beauty of a fresh milkshake. It's cold, it's fresh, all the texture is
> right then and there."

> A SHAKE OF NOSTALGIA

> Kate Pryor, owner of Tucker's Supercreamed Ice Cream in Alameda, is also a
> big fan of the old-fashioned milkshake.

> "A lot of fast food places make milkshakes, but ours are real milkshakes,
> made with real ice cream, in the can, and I think people appreciate the
> difference," she says.

> "I think it kind of takes you back to a simpler time, makes you feel good.
> When you've got a milkshake in front of you, what can be wrong with the
> world?"

> The Alameda native bought the popular business in 1990 from Marshall
> Tucker
> and his wife, Verda, who opened the original ice cream shop in 1941. "I
> grew
> up on Tucker's," she says. "Mrs. Tucker said she always wanted to adopt
> me."

> In 2000, Pryor moved the shop to its current location, housed in a larger
> space adorned with Mediterranean architectural details. There's also
> seating
> outside on a sweet little patio in the back, encased by pink ivy-covered
> walls, where patrons can sit under a flowering jacaranda tree on a warm
> day.

> Upstairs, there's a little room where they make the ice cream, five
> gallons
> at a time, always early in the morning. Pryor shares that her favorite
> shake
> features fresh banana, a little chocolate syrup and toasted almond ice
> cream. "The banana has to be good and ripe," she adds. "We also make our
> own
> whipped cream."

> Asked about the ratio of ice cream to milk, she says, "There's only enough
> milk to actually make it blend, so it's about 95 percent ice cream."

> The milkshake is served in old-fashioned glasses with the overflow in the
> classic steel cup, accompanied by pretty pink straws and long spoons. "To
> me, ice cream needs to be chewed, as well as licked," she say, especially
> when you're working on a milkshake made with nuts or chips that offer up a
> pleasant little surprise at the end.

> While nutritionists might not recommend making a habit of it, she says
> some
> of her customers indulge in milkshakes as a meal. "I've got a couple of
> people sitting here eating milkshakes for dinner tonight. It's a gorgeous
> day, and they came here from the beach." Are they sharing? "No, they're
> not.
> It's dinner!"

> MASTER THE MILKSHAKE

> Plenty of great ice cream parlors are willing to serve up a great shake -
> Loard's, Baskin-Robbins, BurgerMeister in Alameda, Val's Burgers in
> Hayward - but with a little creativity and a decent mixer, a thick, rich
> shake also can be made at home.

> Adam Ried, author of "Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes" ($24.95, W.W. Norton),
> includes tons of advice on appliances and techniques, plus more than 100
> inventive reinterpretations of the classic milkshake - often using sorbet
> instead of syrup.

> Ried, the kitchen equipment specialist on "America's Test Kitchen" and
> "Cook's Country from America's Test Kitchen" on PBS, says he's "always on
> the prowl for the next idea.

> "Basically the book, unfortunately, came out of bad habits, like too many
> things in my life do," he says. "I was mauling my way through a pint of
> Double Rainbow chocolate sorbet one night, and I don't know why it struck
> me, but I've never made a milkshake with sorbet, let's give it a shot!"

> He was pleased with the results. "Sorbet has so much more flavor, and is
> so
> much more intense than syrup, which is what I'd always used my whole life
> and I think most people use." He made a mocha milkshake with coffee ice
> cream and chocolate sorbet, "and it rocked," he says. "It was really
> good."

> The next day, he began experimenting with other sorbet flavors in
> milkshakes, really liking those as well. Not only did he now have enough
> material for his column, the ideas kept flowing.

> His go-to shake is Mocha-Cardamom, which evolved when a friend was
> visiting
> and taste testing the mocha shake for the newspaper column. Ried says he
> hadn't put the spices away from baking something, and his friend grabbed
> the
> bottle of cardamom and sprinkled some in his mocha shake. "He's spent time
> in the Middle East, where coffee and cardamom is a really common
> combination. Instantly, the column went from shakes with sorbet to shakes
> with fun, easy flavor twists."

> SHAKES WITH A TWIST

> Another favorite shake is the Chocolate-Guinness. "I'm not much of a beer
> drinker," he says, "but I love that combination. I've made it at friends'
> houses, for desserts for brunches even, and for people coming over to
> watch
> TV. And people really seem to like that."

> He also really likes the Mexican Chocolate Shake with Chipotle and Almond,
> and the Lemon-Buttermilk Shake.

> Ried credits his sister, Amanda Hewell (who used to cook at Chez Panisse),
> with helping to develop many recipes in the book.

> Asked what the secret is to making great shakes at home, he offered this
> advice.

> "I can distill it down to two things," he says. "If you have thick,
> viscous
> or solid ingredients that are going to flavor a shake, like Nutella or
> honey
> or nut butters, put it in the blender with the liquid first and blend that
> up to make sure the flavor gets broken down in the liquid so it will
> disperse well once you put the ice cream in.

> "No. 2 would be to soften the ice cream. That is key! I usually leave it
> out
> on the counter for about 15 minutes. The ratio of liquid to ice cream is
> tiny, so if the ice cream is too solid, it's a pain to blend them."

> Ried says he began working on the book "before the economy went south,"
> but
> that milkshakes are "kind of well-suited to the new economic reality. You
> get a lot of joy for a relatively modest investment.

> "Milkshakes seem to strike this emotional note with people, and these are
> fun because it's just the right balance of familiar and nostalgic and a
> little bit new wave and exotic."

> When asked what his next book might be about, he jokes, "My doctor
> suggested
> maybe I'd like to write something about the wonders of lettuce with plain
> lemon juice."

> # Fentons Creamery & Restaurant is at 4226 Piedmont Ave., Oakland,
>   510-658-7000, and other locations.
> # Tucker's Supercreamed Ice Cream is at 1349 Park St., Alameda,
>   510-522-4960.
> # BurgerMeister is at 2319 Central Ave., Alameda, 510-865-3032, and other
>   locations.
> # Val's Burgers is at 2115 Kelly St., between B and Center streets,
> Hayward,
>   510-889-8257.

> ... Cheese:  Milk's leap toward immortality
> ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12