Curly fries are just plain fun. Fun to stretch out like a Slinky, fun to dip into sauce and terrific fun to eat. Those seasoned spirals are a must-nom at Tastee Freez, with a sandwich, burger or basket or all by themselves.
We'll get to the "Freez" part in a minute. For now, let's talk about lunch and dinner. Open since 1958, the farthest-north Tastee Freez has an extensive meal menu: hot dogs (including corn dogs and foot-longs), fish and chicken baskets, Mexican dishes, 11 kinds of burgers, 17 types of sandwiches and even a couple of entrée salads.
(The average person probably doesn't go to Tastee Freez with tacos or a chicken Caesar salad on his mind, but it's nice to know those options exist.)
The average person doesn't think "pastrami sandwich" and "Tastee Freez" in the same breath, either. It's probably best to keep thinking that way. The pastrami ($5.95) came on thick-sliced rye, grilled like a panini and topped with Swiss (or would have been, had my dining companion not requested otherwise). The meat was bland and the hot-from-the-grill bread, while very tasty, overwhelmed such pastrami flavor as existed.
"Maybe it's not a good idea to order pastrami anywhere in Anchorage," my friend said.
Another miss was the Cajun chicken sandwich ($6.95), which, while tender and juicy, was almost completely lacking in spice. Even if you don't want your bird blackened, if it says "Cajun" it should have some sass.
Kids afraid of spice? Get 'em the grilled cheese ($3.95), which was perfectly browned and perfectly respectable, or the regular burger ($5.25), which was adequate but not particularly memorable. But it benefited greatly from a stop at the fixings bar, which includes pile-your-own onions, relish, jalapeno and dill pickles.
Both the shrimp and chicken tender baskets ($4.50 small, $7.95 large) were delicious, though. The proteins were perfectly fried, i.e., crunchy but not dried out. As noted earlier, curly spuds are your best bet but you can also get regular fries.
Or even Tater Tots, which tasted the way they taste everywhere: bland, bland, bland, unless well-drenched in ketchup or the cocktail or tangy mustard sauces we ordered with the baskets.
Fifteen flavors of shakes and malts ($2.95 to $5.25) are available, including offbeat options such as marshmallow, peach and blackberry. We chose a raspberry shake because how often do you get the chance? It was sweet but not cloying, one of the oddest and yet most satisfying shakes I've ever had.
A raspberry cone is available, too, in a startling shade of deep pink. That's the favorite color of one of my young dining companions, yet he still went for a dip: chocolate soft-serve dunked in a peanut-butter coating, sort of a reverse Reese's effect that was very tastee indeed.
Cone coatings vary depending on the day; you may see flavors like cherry, chocolate, butterscotch, toasted coconut, blue raspberry and even cotton candy. That last sounds improbable but we found it delicious, the super-sweetness melding nicely with plain vanilla soft-serve.
Another in our group tried the hot fudge cake sundae ($5.50), which was quite good even though it was made with a chocolate muffin rather than the advertised double-fudge brownie. The banana split ($5.95) was excessive and therefore lots of fun, although I needed help finishing it.
In short, Tastee Freez can be more than just a dessert destination. I plan to go back for another shrimp basket in the near future, since shrimp is one of the things I don't cook at home. If the sunny weather holds I'll sit outdoors and get a primo view of the Chugach Range while savoring hot, crispy shellfish dipped into a cold, horseradish-pungent sauce.
I'll be sure to save room for dessert, however. Few things are as enjoyable on a warm, sunny Anchorage day as an ice cream treat. Unless, maybe, that's an order of curly fries followed by a raspberry soft-serve.
Donna Freedman, a former Anchorage Daily News reporter and reviewer, is a staff writer at Money Talks News and blogs at DonnaFreedman.com.
TASTEE FREEZ
*** $
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily (sometimes later on weekends)
Location: 3901 Raspberry Road (at Jewel Lake Road)
Contact: 248-3068 and aktasteefreez.com