Sometimes you just have to give healthy eating a night off.
The place to indulge is Mikie’s Restaurant.
Messy burgers. Dripping chili dogs. Creamy milkshakes.
Come with a voracious appetite. Count your blessings, not the calories.
Step up to the counter that’s a replica of the front of a red 1957 Chevrolet. You get an orange traffic cone with a number to put on your table for your order, which is delivered within minutes. You barely have time to wander around to admire the Corvette and “Hot-Rod Girl” posters.
The bright ’50s-style diner is the genuine article, complete with super-friendly service. The website says it began as a franchise of A&W when it was built in 1957 and since 2002 has been Mikie’s as it is known today.
Start with a dessert that you consume with the meal. Milkshakes come in traditional flavors, as well as blackberry, peanut butter, pumpkin, mocha, butterscotch and banana— topped with whipped cream ($3.59-$4.39). Mix flavors or make it a malt at no additional charge. Or mix ice cream with soda for a “Frostie.”
“Deeply satiating deliciousness,” is how Herald social media master and Everett native Ben Watanabe proclaimed the milkshakes.
“The frozen treats at Mikie’s are my favorite in the city and probably the county,” he said. “Whatever recipe sorcery Mikie’s conjures for its shakes, the results are thick, creamy and flavorful.”
My husband, Max, slurped his chocolate malt cup dry. He left behind only a few specks from the sesame seed bun topping the pile of meat from his Grandpa Triple Burger ($5.99), which had three patties of juicy goodness. I wonder how many grandpas like Max can’t resist ordering it as a badge of pride. Not only is there a burger in their honor, it also gives them permission to binge beef at an age when their doctors and wives nag them about high cholesterol.
“Man, that was a good burger for a grandpa,” Max said.
There is no Grandma Burger, but I didn’t feel slighted. All this granny needed were rings. Onion rings. Pure bliss.
Oh, and I ate a bacon double cheeseburger as a side dish ($5.99).
Ben, a hipster worried about his physique (he recently turned 30), chose the standard deluxe burger, a single patty sans cheese ($3.89).
“Everything on there is chunky — the oozing ketchup and mustard, the crunchy onion, even the sliced tomato, and definitely the ground-beef patty itself,” Ben said. “Knowing I wanted to try my darnedest to not overdo it with less-than-ideal summer body food, I’m glad I didn’t go for a larger burger, which would have been a gut-buster. So the good news for any would-be summer bod or revenge-bod or whatever-bod seekers is that a lot of the food groups are covered, in a cursory way: Protein—check. Grain—check. Fruit—check. Vegetable—check.”
Hold on, Ben. There’s a grilled chicken sandwich served on a whole wheat bun ($5.89). And you can add bacon for $1.60. But when the food’s this good, sometimes you just decide to give in to temptation, in moderation.
He also got a blackberry shake.
“Thank heavens it’s so far away from our office,” Ben said. “Wait, what? It’s only like five blocks away. So long, summer bod/revenge bod-Ben. Hello, blackberry milkshake bod-Ben.”
Mikie’s Restaurant, 4532 Evergreen Way, Everett; 425-252-6162; www.mikies-restaurant.com.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sundays.
Don’t miss: Blackberry shake. Onion rings. Grandpa burger.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
