Ode to Smoothie King, how I will miss you
October 20th 2006 06:11
I don't know why I never went there my freshman year of college. Instead, I
would go to the nearby Rainforest Cafe in the mall to get my smoothies. It
was a hassle getting to the mall, and it was a hassle waiting at the bar to
order the smoothie, but I think I did it just because I could. Because I was
intoxicated by my new freedom that year, coming from a town where I
couldn't get anywhere or do anything on my own to a town where I could go
anywhere. I think I was awed by the fact that I could go in, sit down at the bar and order a smoothie. It made me feel important, all the more so because I could tell it was a rather unusual thing to do, to come into the bar of this
resteraunt just to get a smoothie. But I could do it, so I did.
After a while, though, the novelty of it wore off and I tired of going all the way
to the mall and having to wait at the bar at the busy establishment. I decided
to try Smoothie King, which was much closer to my school and focused
exclusively on smoothies.
It wasn't love at first sight, but I started going there more and more and
eventually grew to love their smoothies. The first time I went there, I stood
starting at the giant menu above me, trying to figure out what I wanted out of
thirty or forty brightly colored choices. After some time, I had narrowed it
down to two. I was quite shocked, then, when the employee working there
told me that he would reccomend "Angel Food or Carribean Way." Those were the two I had been thinking of! I thought he had read my mind. Apparently, they were the store's most popular. What do you know, for once in my life I was going with the crowd.
I don't know when it was that the smoothies changed from being just
something I got and enjoyed to something that I visibly noticed made me feel
much better afterwards, physically and emotionally. I would walk back to
school after doing my grocery shopping, smoothie in hand, and where I had
been previously worried, tense and uptight, I'd be relaxed, laughing and
singing along with music by the time I got back to school. I started relying on
them to give me energy and make me feel better, and they never failed.
Some of my happiest times in college were walking back from town with a
smoothie in my hand. I took friends there, who were almost always
impressed, got to know the employees a little and even discovered a little
known fact that the Smoothie King by my school was the narrowest Smoothie King in the country. For whatever reason, I found this endlessly
amusing.
When I moved back home to Maine from my college outside of Baltimore, I
was in an emotionally charged, difficult time in my life as I tried to figure out
what to do next. Nothing in life was sure, nothing was easy, but the one thing
I could depend on was the smoothies at the local Smoothie King in Portland. I was so thankful that there was a Smoothie King in my hometown, as it made the transition from school much easier. This store was much bigger, and had tables and chairs to sit at, unlike the one by my school. I went there once or twice a week, always ordering the same thing - having ordered basically the same thing since that fateful first smoothie back in college - Angel Food, which is strawberry, banana, and a host of other add-in ingredients that give the smoothie wonderful taste, texture, and revitalizing power.
Smoothie King smoothies are far and beyond different and better than any
smoothie I have had in my life. Most other smoothies, I find inedible. Many
are made with yogurt or ice cream, which is not a smoothie at all, in my mind. Most other smoothies, I find, have maybe 10% of the flavor and texture of Smoothie King smoothies. Smoothie King smoothies are thick, creamy and somewhat grainy. They have intense, wonderful, true flavors. They don't taste artificial in the least. They don't taste overly sugary or sweet. They have a punch to them, some kind of special ingredient that seems to make it positively melt in your mouth, revitalize you and just make you feel better overall. Sometimes I didn't know what I liked more - the way it felt in my mouth, or the way it tasted and made me feel. Smoothies that are just fruit and juice are at least good - they have the flavor - but not the texture, not the something extra.
I looked forward to coming to Smoothie King every week. It was the high
point of my day in Portland, something to look forward to all week. A
smoothie could kill all ills, at least temporarily. It was a kind of magic.
Whenever I was upset by something and in Portland, I would head to
Smoothie King and soon be feeling much better. I got familiar with all of the
employees who worked there, especially one girl who was there nearly every
time, and I made conversation with them. They recognized me and knew
which smoothie was my favorite. I would come in and without even saying
anything they would ask "The regular?" and I would smile and say yes and talk to them while they were making it.
One day while in Dunkin Donuts, a woman saw my smoothie and told me she
had heard a rumor that they were going to close. Shocked, I asked her why,
and when, but she didn't know. After I left, I fled back to the safety of my
Smoothie King sanctuary and asked the girl working there, who I was on
familiar terms with, if this news was true. "No way," she said, "that's crazy.
We're not closing. I can't believe someone is spreading rumors about us."
Reassured, I left the shop. And came back today, several weeks later, to find
out the woman in the donut shop had been right after all.
I had briskly walked to the store earlier today, eager to get my smoothie and
be on my way to start my day in Portland. As I walked closer, I noticed it
seemed to be dark and could make out a white sign with the word "Closed"
on it. That's odd, I though, but not too odd because sometimes they closed
early, so I just figured I was unlucky today. As I got closer, though, I saw the
words "Closed for Good" and my heart went into my stomach. My mood
plummeted. I stood there, trying not to let myself think about what this
meant, trying to reason with myself. So the rumor had been true after all.
As a smoothie fan, it has become increasingly hard to find a good smoothie
in Maine in the last few years. First, Fresh Samantha, a Maine made brand of
bottled smoothies that I quite enjoyed, were discontinued without so much of
a peep beforehand to the public. I still remember my shock sitting there at
my mother's kitchen table, opening the newspaper to read that Fresh
Samantha was being discontinued, and frantically running to the nearby
convenience store to see if there were any left. They were all gone. I never
had another Fresh Samantha, nor do I like what replaced it. As far as bottled
smoothie products go, I don't hold Odwalla in high esteem; Naked Juices is
decent but still a far way from the real thing.
Following this, several years later, the smoothie place dissapeared from the
Portland Public Market, long before the Market ever closed on its own. Now
the only remaining place to get a halfway decent smoothie left is Wild Oats,
which is quite a walk from downtown Portland and not nearly as satisfying as
what I consider to be "the real thing."
Portland needs some real smoothie alternatives. There is currently not a single Smoothie King in all of New England. Bring back Smoothie King to Portland, Maine!
would go to the nearby Rainforest Cafe in the mall to get my smoothies. It
was a hassle getting to the mall, and it was a hassle waiting at the bar to
order the smoothie, but I think I did it just because I could. Because I was
intoxicated by my new freedom that year, coming from a town where I
couldn't get anywhere or do anything on my own to a town where I could go
anywhere. I think I was awed by the fact that I could go in, sit down at the bar and order a smoothie. It made me feel important, all the more so because I could tell it was a rather unusual thing to do, to come into the bar of this
After a while, though, the novelty of it wore off and I tired of going all the way
to the mall and having to wait at the bar at the busy establishment. I decided
to try Smoothie King, which was much closer to my school and focused
exclusively on smoothies.
It wasn't love at first sight, but I started going there more and more and
eventually grew to love their smoothies. The first time I went there, I stood
starting at the giant menu above me, trying to figure out what I wanted out of
thirty or forty brightly colored choices. After some time, I had narrowed it
down to two. I was quite shocked, then, when the employee working there
told me that he would reccomend "Angel Food or Carribean Way." Those were the two I had been thinking of! I thought he had read my mind. Apparently, they were the store's most popular. What do you know, for once in my life I was going with the crowd.
I don't know when it was that the smoothies changed from being just
much better afterwards, physically and emotionally. I would walk back to
school after doing my grocery shopping, smoothie in hand, and where I had
been previously worried, tense and uptight, I'd be relaxed, laughing and
singing along with music by the time I got back to school. I started relying on
them to give me energy and make me feel better, and they never failed.
Some of my happiest times in college were walking back from town with a
smoothie in my hand. I took friends there, who were almost always
impressed, got to know the employees a little and even discovered a little
known fact that the Smoothie King by my school was the narrowest Smoothie King in the country. For whatever reason, I found this endlessly
amusing.
When I moved back home to Maine from my college outside of Baltimore, I
was in an emotionally charged, difficult time in my life as I tried to figure out
what to do next. Nothing in life was sure, nothing was easy, but the one thing
I could depend on was the smoothies at the local Smoothie King in Portland. I was so thankful that there was a Smoothie King in my hometown, as it made the transition from school much easier. This store was much bigger, and had tables and chairs to sit at, unlike the one by my school. I went there once or twice a week, always ordering the same thing - having ordered basically the same thing since that fateful first smoothie back in college - Angel Food, which is strawberry, banana, and a host of other add-in ingredients that give the smoothie wonderful taste, texture, and revitalizing power.
Smoothie King smoothies are far and beyond different and better than any
smoothie I have had in my life. Most other smoothies, I find inedible. Many
are made with yogurt or ice cream, which is not a smoothie at all, in my mind. Most other smoothies, I find, have maybe 10% of the flavor and texture of Smoothie King smoothies. Smoothie King smoothies are thick, creamy and somewhat grainy. They have intense, wonderful, true flavors. They don't taste artificial in the least. They don't taste overly sugary or sweet. They have a punch to them, some kind of special ingredient that seems to make it positively melt in your mouth, revitalize you and just make you feel better overall. Sometimes I didn't know what I liked more - the way it felt in my mouth, or the way it tasted and made me feel. Smoothies that are just fruit and juice are at least good - they have the flavor - but not the texture, not the something extra.
I looked forward to coming to Smoothie King every week. It was the high
point of my day in Portland, something to look forward to all week. A
smoothie could kill all ills, at least temporarily. It was a kind of magic.
Whenever I was upset by something and in Portland, I would head to
Smoothie King and soon be feeling much better. I got familiar with all of the
employees who worked there, especially one girl who was there nearly every
time, and I made conversation with them. They recognized me and knew
which smoothie was my favorite. I would come in and without even saying
anything they would ask "The regular?" and I would smile and say yes and talk to them while they were making it.
One day while in Dunkin Donuts, a woman saw my smoothie and told me she
had heard a rumor that they were going to close. Shocked, I asked her why,
and when, but she didn't know. After I left, I fled back to the safety of my
Smoothie King sanctuary and asked the girl working there, who I was on
familiar terms with, if this news was true. "No way," she said, "that's crazy.
We're not closing. I can't believe someone is spreading rumors about us."
Reassured, I left the shop. And came back today, several weeks later, to find
out the woman in the donut shop had been right after all.
I had briskly walked to the store earlier today, eager to get my smoothie and
be on my way to start my day in Portland. As I walked closer, I noticed it
seemed to be dark and could make out a white sign with the word "Closed"
on it. That's odd, I though, but not too odd because sometimes they closed
early, so I just figured I was unlucky today. As I got closer, though, I saw the
words "Closed for Good" and my heart went into my stomach. My mood
plummeted. I stood there, trying not to let myself think about what this
meant, trying to reason with myself. So the rumor had been true after all.
As a smoothie fan, it has become increasingly hard to find a good smoothie
in Maine in the last few years. First, Fresh Samantha, a Maine made brand of
bottled smoothies that I quite enjoyed, were discontinued without so much of
a peep beforehand to the public. I still remember my shock sitting there at
my mother's kitchen table, opening the newspaper to read that Fresh
Samantha was being discontinued, and frantically running to the nearby
convenience store to see if there were any left. They were all gone. I never
had another Fresh Samantha, nor do I like what replaced it. As far as bottled
smoothie products go, I don't hold Odwalla in high esteem; Naked Juices is
decent but still a far way from the real thing.
Following this, several years later, the smoothie place dissapeared from the
Portland Public Market, long before the Market ever closed on its own. Now
the only remaining place to get a halfway decent smoothie left is Wild Oats,
which is quite a walk from downtown Portland and not nearly as satisfying as
what I consider to be "the real thing."
Portland needs some real smoothie alternatives. There is currently not a single Smoothie King in all of New England. Bring back Smoothie King to Portland, Maine!
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