— Visit Philly · Philadelphia Top 10 Guide · created over 2 years ago
Viva la bendy straw! In Philadelphia and The Countryside, the options for sweet frozen beverages are limitless. There are classic black-and-whites in hamburger havens and booze-infused whips in restau-bars. There are shakes with kid sensibilities and shakes made with a connoisseur’s cocoa content; shakes from far-flung lands and shakes blended harmoniously with locally made Tastykakes. The following is a look at a few of Philly’s coolest sips in town:
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Traditional shakes made with exquisite homemade ice cream (flavors like cherry vanilla, black raspberry and licorice stand alongside chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) make the old-timey Franklin Fountain a destination for shake enthusiasts.
There’s only one shake on the menu at Jose Garces’ Village Whiskey but the ’Nutter (more likely named for fluffernutter than Philly’s Mayor Michael Nutter) is a doozy, with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, bananas and Maker’s Mark.
At PYT at The Piazza at Schmidts, the boozy ice cream cocktails are called “adultshakes,” with varieties like The Bubble Ohh (vanilla ice cream, jimmies and Three-O Bubble vodka), the Jon Valdez (espresso ice cream, Kahlua and Patron) and the ?uestlove, named for the famed Roots drummer (Frangelico, Bailey’s Irish Cream and vanilla ice cream).
When vanilla and chocolate just aren’t cutting it, the Vietnamese restaurant Nam Phuong has a tasty shake solution: a creamy blended avocado concoction that is as rich as it is comforting.
If the occasion demands it, Max Brenner (also known as The Chocolate Man) has a menu of milkshakes that redefine decadence: Hazelnut Chocolate Cream, Strawberry White Chocolate and Banana Split Latte.
In Italy they’re called frappés, and at Philly’s famed Capogiro gelateria, the frozen drinks can be ordered in a rainbow of tempting flavors, from cashew and rhubarb to Turkish coffee and Nutella.
A longtime favorite of Ridley Park residents, Charlie’s Hamburgers was founded in 1935. Throughout that history, black-and-white milkshakes made with Pott’s ice cream have played a starring role.
For the serious chocolate aficionado, Golosa grades its shakes by the cocoa content (56% and 70%), and there are other intriguing variations, including Spiced and Spicy Chocolate, Salty Chocolate and Caramel and Chocolate Cardamom and White Pepper.
At the Aussie Ants Pants cafe, the Violet Crumble milkshake—vanilla ice cream whipped up with bits of a chocolate-covered honeycomb candy bar and topped with a crown of caramel whipped cream—is a thing of rare and exotic beauty.
In Philadelphia it doesn’t get more classic than Bassetts, the local ice cream company founded in 1861. Though many local eateries will make shakes from Bassett’s ice cream, it’s worth a trip to the Reading Terminal Market stand for the real thing in one of more than 40 flavors such as butterscotch vanilla, green tea or mocha chip.
As a park-side burger shack, SquareBurger in Franklin Square is almost contractually required to serve great milkshakes, and they come in classic vanilla or chocolate (with or without malt) or Cake (with a monthly changing variety of Tastykakes blended in).
Leave it to a celebrity chef to reinvent the classics: Bobby Flay’s Burger Palace has three signature spiked shakes (Vanilla Caramel Bourbon, Pineapple Coconut Rum and Mocha Kahlua Vodka) in addition to a host of virgin shakes and malteds in tempting flavors like dark chocolate, pistachio and cola.
Fishtown’s Sketch has become a destination not only for burger lovers but for shake-craving vegans and lactose-intolerants. In addition to real milk drinks, they serve dairy-free shakes in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint chip and pistachio.
The shakes at ice cream parlor Scoop DeVille are made with fat-free fro-yo (vanilla, chocolate, black cherry) sugar-free ice cream (vanilla) or old-fashioned ice cream (among the choices: butter pecan, Moose Tracks and rum raisin). All can be blended with a choice of dozens of mix-ins.
The nostalgia-themed local chain Nifty Fifty’s takes its shakes seriously, starting from homemade ice cream frothed in the style of old-time soda fountains. The result is a thick, spoon-supporting concoction in flavors both familiar and exotic, like black forest cheesecake, that have won the restaurant a slew of awards.
The Knight Rider milkshake at Mayfair’s Burger Bar at Gallo’s Seafood is spiced up with Kahlua, but for the teetotalers, there are also more innocent shakes in flavors like Mudslide and Monkey Business.
