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Dine
The Sonic drive-in, with its retro look and rockin' and rollin' carhops, invites you to have fun with your food.
By CHRIS SHERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 13, 2003
So McDonald's is on hard times and the nagging ninnies of nutrition are nattering away about the evils of fast food (even if they lost the first lawsuit). A thoughtful, latte-loving nation seems to be saying that burgers and fries are so 20th century.
Don't bet on it. We don't think so, says Sonic with a very loud SQWONK.
That's more than the buzzer for Incorrect Answer. It's the voice of the intercom that sends carhops rolling to your car loaded with bacon cheeseburgers, cream shakes and, brace yourself, Tater Tots and Frito pies.
Yep, it's just as it was in the happy days when this chain invented the drive-up burger stand in Oklahoma 50 years ago to deliver food as "fast as the speed of sound." Don't laugh. The speed of Sonic's revival and expansion may be faster.
If you grew up anywhere on the southwestern path of Route 66, Sonic may be where you hung out with your first boyfriend in your first car and ate your first deep-fried Pickle O's.
If you never heard of Sonic, get ready. The chain has quietly boomed to 2,500 locations, steadily spreading east and north and into Central and Southwest Florida in the past few years. It has crossed the Skyway, opening two Sonics in Pinellas in winter with more on the way: Four franchisees each plan four to six units in Pinellas alone.
That kind of success ain't based on selling tofu. No sirrreeee bob, this is fast food the way Ray Kroc intended but maybe never dared, no holds or fat grams barred and few carbs spared either. No food is too gooey. You can get wilder stuff at the fair, but Sonic is open daily.
The Googie look of a Sonic and skater-waiters zipping by to a soundtrack of Finger Poppin' Time while you sit in your minivan pretending it's a '57 Chevy will trigger nostalgia glands. But it's not just Sha Na Na fantasies at work here.
After being stuck in drive-through land for two decades, Americans may find drive-ins an improvement, a better way to avoid getting out of your car for anything (carhops even pick up the trash). And being a server on a roll seems perfect for a generation that had wheels glued to its feet at age 6.
Where Sonic goes retro and postmodern simultaneously with the most fun is on the menu. Long ago and far away Sonic had burgers No. 1 (with mayonnaise), No. 2 (with mustard) and the fancy Dixie (mayo, mustard AND ketchup), but nowadays it can't stop playing with its food.
Although its burgers are thin and unexciting, Sonic is one of the few chains to carry hot dogs, corn dogs and BLTs. The last comes on that bizarrely thick form of puff bread called Texas toast, but this is one place it works; Texas toast holds its shape better than squishy buns.
Sadly, I must report that Sonic has wraps, too, but at least one is a chili pie, not Caesar salad: chili, cheese and crunchy Fritos wrapped inside a tortilla. Take that, sprout-eaters. Jalapeno slaw or very crispy bacon can be added to anything.
Then there's the true siren: Tots or fries? Does anything out there taste of childhood as much as those little puffs of potato? Baby's first fast food could put you back in a high chair. Fries are crisply done, not up to Checkers' standard, but close; they did wilt under chili and cheese.
And at breakfast, served all day, how about pancake on a stick? That's like a corn dog, only with sweet batter around a sausage link and thick syrup for dunking. Plus fruit taquitos.
Drift into drinks and desserts and you'll know that Eric Cartman and the South Park boys have tied up Willie Wonka and taken over the factory. Sonic started out as a root beer joint and carries my brand (Barq's). The restaurant is famous for its limeades punched up with cherry or strawberry but that's not enough for millennial child's play. (Call me a stick in the mud, but limeade is better straight.)
How about fresh fruit slushes with lemon and berries, perhaps the most healthful menu item? The old root beer float now is made with any soft drink and with a dozen extra flavors like green apple watermelon and blue coconut you can add in at 10 cents a shot. And this is for kids who haven't seen a martini list or schnapps shelf.
Ice cream may start out plain vanilla, but things get twisted pretty quick. Pride of the dessert line are cream pie shakes -- banana cream (or coconut or chocolate) -- pie you can drink. (Kenny goes to heaven here.)
The result is a menu with more twists, colors and flavors than an Xbox game, but the staff navigates it with ease and grace. The menu dares you to make orders as complicated as possible, but on my visits, they never got one wrong on the intercom or on the tray (and if they did, you wouldn't be a mile away when you found out). And on one visit, they sorted my order into a couple of combos that save a buck or more.
Skaters are even better; they jump curbs and bump tables, collecting bruises without spilling the goods, then readily go for extras. I thought they were worth a tip as well as a smile.
This is dangerously fun food, but fun to eat once in a while. The greater perils, to me, are cultural and economic. When a beloved regional chain becomes a not-so-big-Mac nationwide, it makes us all a little more the same. And it sticks it to the independents (and smaller chains like our own Steak 'n Shake) as well as Ronald.
For an old fashioned chizburger-chizburger or a hot dog with punch, you'll have to keep on cruising. Now I am getting nostalgic, but they are still out there.
8651 Ulmerton Road, Largo (727) 539-8058
4625 66th St. N, Kenneth City (727) 547-7041
(Plus more than 30 other Florida locations; visit www.sonicdrivein.com for the Sonic locator.)
Hours: 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Kenneth City is open until 10 p.m. weekdays.
Details: Credit cards accepted; drive-in service; outdoor seating only; no alcohol.
Prices: $1.09 to $3.99.