How Once Upon a Slush stole our hearts | Shijiazhuang Can Seamer Co.,Ltd

Once Upon a Slush updates its social media daily, making it easy to keep up on all the latest news, deals and special events. The store is part of the ongoing Where’s Waldo fun in downtown Petaluma, and offers a coffee drink happy hour Monday through Friday 12-2 p.m.

Delivery is available through Petaluma Food Taxi.

122b American Alley, Petaluma

707-763-9253

www.onceuponaslush.com

Tucked behind downtown’s Putnam Plaza, just a hop, skip and jump down American Alley, one will find Once Upon a Slush offering not only a blend of great frozen treats but also some hearty snacks.

Now, I realize the natural place to start with a place with “slush” in the name would be with the slushies. But in this case I’m going in proper meal order, with a message up front to all you parents taking your kids to Once Upon a Slush for a celebratory slush, slushy, slush-shake, slush-float, combo, Italian soda, milkshake or delicious Straus soft serve: You can actually have a very nice lunch or dinner there along with those great frozen treats.

With that said, allow me to make note of the chips, popcorn and grilled cheese sandwiches available at Once Upon a Slush, as well as one of the best hot dogs we’ve ever tasted. Not only is this hot dog all beef – which hot dog aficionados know makes a difference – but it comes nestled in the most delicious lobster roll, grilled with real butter.

But don’t take my word for it. The masses clearly agree, based on feedback I’ve gotten on social media and in person, as well as from the owners, Dave and Juliet Pokorny, who tell me their hot dog sales have gone through the roof.

In fact, while walking into Once Upon a Slush for my second dog in two days, I passed a stranger with one in his hand. “That’s a killer dog,” I mentioned. He said it was his first try and he was hoping for the best. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, while we were walking into the Petaluma Market parking lot, a black SUV pulled by us and the same gentleman, with half a hot dog in his mouth, yelled out the window: “Buddy, you are so right about the hot dog!”

However, clearly the focus here is on frozen treats, and boy do they have that spectrum covered.

This is not that lackluster stuff we all avoided when we were kids. I never found 7-Eleven’s “Slurpee” to be all that satisfying, preferring the creamier ice cream option when looking for a cool treat. This is one of the reasons it took me so long to try Once Upon a Slush, but upon our first visit I immediately realized how different these slushies are, and how many options are available for those looking to mix things up.

First and foremost, even the least-whipped slush is a step above the norm of what we find here on the West Coast, and is actually an East Coast concoction called Italian ice or water ice. It is closer to sorbet or ice cream, but without milk. The flavors – Once Upon a Slush rotates through about a dozen different flavors daily – are much better infused into the tiny ice particles than in a normal slushy, shaved ice or snow cone, which tend to have much coarser ice. Give most of those a few minutes to sit and the flavoring will start to separate from the ice, but that is not the case at Once Upon a Slush.

It takes a few tasty visits – and bartering with your family and friends for tastes of theirs – before you can truly appreciate the breadth of this menu. But it’s easier to approach when you realize that all that day’s flavors are available to you in any form, and that there are two main ways to have it: with a spoon or with a straw. Knowing ahead of time whether you prefer straws to spoons, or vice versa, will help you fine-tune your final choice.

For the spoon camp, Once Upon a Slush’s primary slush is Italian Ice, described as having the consistency of a snowball, although we found it to be much smoother. And then there is the venerable Straus Soft Serve which, as with the slush flavors, comes in about a dozen choices that change daily. If you fancy both, that is the Combo, which is slush and Straus Soft Serve stacked.

For those who prefer straws to spoons, the options include a straight-up Italian Soda (like standard soda but with higher quality syrups, and in this case topped with whipped cream), a Slush Float (Italian Soda and Slush), a Slushy (a more blended, and so drinkable, form of slush), a Shake (made with Straus Soft Serve) and a Slushy Shake (similar in flavor to the Combo but in this case it is not stacked for spooning but instead is blended for drinking).

If coffee is what you’re looking for, Once Upon a Slush has a full espresso machine and can make anything from a standard American coffee to one of those fancy European coffees. And any of the frozen treats can be turbocharged by adding a shot of espresso to it. Affogato, anyone?

Waffle cones are also an option for the non-drinkables and are made in-house. Your treat can even be dipped for that nice crunchy crust, with flavors such as chocolate, cherry and toasted coconut, depending on the day you visit. You can also get drizzles, with fruity or sugary flavors added to anything, and even add toppings such as nerds, peanut butter cups, pop rocks, and a bevy of other sprinkle options.

Co-owners Dave and Juliet Pokorny are longtime Petalumans whose two college-aged daughters not only planted the seed for them to open their shop here in Petaluma, but also help them with the heavy lifting. At the time, they were under the franchise name of Wicked Slush, but changed to Once Upon a Slush last year. Despite the change, the equipment is all the same, and the Pokornys kept and expanded the original menu.

Both have theater backgrounds, hence the theatrical name, with Dave being a stand-up comedian and Juliet working for various local movie studios and theater companies. Under the title of Dave Pokorny Presents, the two put on a Petaluma favorite, West Side Stories – including the year wrap-up “GrandSlam” event, the Story Behind the Story Podcast, the Wine Country Spoken Word Festival, Comics Stripped, and whatever cool new idea they come up with next.

Although I am usually a purist, and absolutely love the unadulterated chocolate Straus Soft Serve, we went a bit crazy during a recent research visit. Before the experimentation began, we learned that Once Upon a Slush offers flights – sample servings of a half dozen of the flavors – for both their slush and soft serve options, which we of course partook of while contemplating our next move.

Then we tried all sorts of combinations in both the spoonable and strawable options. From cotton candy to sour mango to a mix of orangesicle and chocolate, everything was delectable.

Delivery is available through Petaluma Food Taxi.

122b American Alley, Petaluma

707-763-9253