WHAT’S IN A DAME

Bacony shake is a cupful of PB&B

What’s shakin’, bacon?

At Sonic, what’s shakin’ is bacon shakes.

Yes, bacon ice cream shakes.

Peanut butter and bacon ice cream shakes, to be more specific.

I recently noticed the unlikely variety on the drive-in’s “Summer of Shakes” menu board touting 25 Hand-Mixed Flavors, including Pineapple, Chocolate-Covered Strawberry, and Oreo Cheesecake.

Subtly tucked under Peanut Butter Banana and Peanut Butter & Jelly (also a bit peculiar or at least Elvis Presley-ish) it sat: Peanut Butter & Bacon.

I have to try it.

Well, not this visit.

First, I have to work up my nerve and my appetite. And work down my blood sugar and cholesterol.

I decide I’ll shake up my morning, ordering one as breakfast. After all, what says morning more than bacon and milk? Oh, and fruit - it comes with a cherry, in the item description on sonicdrivein.com.

The website also contains - gulp - nutritional information. The 760 calories and 51 fat grams (!) would be a bit hard to swallow (and that’s just the small size; the large contains 1,720 calories and 118 fat grams).

I do consider leaving the whipped topping to conserve calories. But then I consider the snickering (hey, what about a Snickers & Bacon Shake, Sonic?) such a request could generate among the carhops.

So instead, I suck it up and order a small Peanut Butter & Bacon Shake. Um, and a large Diet Dr Pepper, too.

A cheerful, nonjudgmental carhop carries out my drinks.

“Am I the only one to ever order this?” I ask, pointing to the domed foam cup of swine smoothie.

“Oh, no!” she says, volunteering that she has tried the PB&B and likes it.

“I thought it was going to be nasty,” she admits. “But it’s good. You mostly taste the peanut butter,” more than the bacon - the regular cooked kind that goes in the breakfast burritos and on burgers, only cut smaller and straw-sized.

We should note here that Sonic is not the first fast-food entity to offer potable bacon. Jack in the Box (which we don’t have in Arkansas) once offered a Bacon Shake. And other eateries - including Denny’s and Burger King - previously jumped on the bacon dessert bandwagon with bacon sundaes.

But this is the first bacon dessert I’m sampling. Well, no, come to think of it, I once picked at those Pig Lickers chocolate-dipped bacon strips at the Arkansas State Fair. Suffice it to say, this is the first bacon beverage I’m slurping.

Before my first sip, I’m filled with regret … that there is no wager on this (like when co-worker Bobby Ampezzan bet me $50 I couldn’t down two KFC Double Downs in one sitting. Sucker.). I’m swilling this for free and of my own free will.

I take a taste. Just rich, creamy peanut butter … oh, wait, here they are - a few of the crisp-chewy bacon bits that cluster near the bottom of the cup. They don’t disgust, but they don’t exactly deliver either. They’re just sort of there - both in the beverage and in my teeth.

I’m not grossed out, but I’m greased out and full after imbibing about a fourth of the peanut-pork potion.

So I didn’t entirely pig out. But I did give it a fair shake.

Bring home the bacon, e-mail:

[email protected] What’s in a Dame is a weekly report from the woman ’hood.

Style, Pages 29 on 04/30/2013

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