iceberg dead ahead!

Since many Utahns shy away from the standard everyday vices - drinkin', smokin' and cussin' - they have raised desserts to an art form as a way to cut loose a little.  Particularly ice cream, or so I hear, and now that it's really summer (90+ all week!), I feel that it's important for me to do the research and report back to you here.  There's little sno-cone/shave ice shacks popping up all over the place, and Nielsen's Frozen Custard ("home of concrete!") calling my name, but the first entry is the Iceberg Drive Inn, now celebrating its 50th birthday.

There are locations all over the state (eleven, in fact), one in Idaho and two in California, but I went to the Original Iceberg at 3900 South, 900 East.  It's hard to miss: red and white striped, right on the corner, with a drive-thru window, walk-up window, inside counter and several umbrella-ed tables out front.  The Iceberg serves your typical fried fare - burgers, fried chicken bits, hot dogs, corn dogs, fries, etc. - but what it is renowned for is its shakes. 

When I started at my job, several people told me that the Iceberg is absolutely, positively, THE place for milkshakes in the valley.  They come in two sizes, "mini" and "regular," and the mini was about twice as big as I needed it to be.  I ordered a chocolate malted shake (a classic, and my total favorite), waited a few minutes and then was flabbergasted when the counter clerk handed me a medium sized cup piled high with ice cream, so high, in fact (inches above the rim) that the medium cup was sitting in a large cup to catch the drips. 

It was huge, this mini, and ridiculously thick.  Like, never in a million years was I ever going to consume this through a straw - which is why the shakes come with spoons.  I actually got in my car, stopped at three different shops, leaving my partially-eaten shake in said car in 90+ degree heat, and it STILL hadn't melted completely after the third stop.  Now that's thick.  (I acutally prefer a milkshake that you can sip through a straw as opposed to a mountain of soft serve whipped with malt and a smidgen of milk, but criminy, am I really going to complain about this?  No, no I am not.)

The best part about the Iceberg celebrating its 50th birthday this year is that if you go in on your birthday, and show proof of it, you get a free shake.  I believe this promotion lasts until March 2011, so you better believe H and I are going to take advantage on our respective birthdays.  Swallowing another year will go down much more smoothly with a superthick chocolate malted.