The news of Braum’s 23-skidooing their highly-popular one-third pound burgers, as well as the supposed switcheroo of their milkshake recipe, seems to have opened the floodgates of popular opinion regarding the famed ice cream, dairy store and hamburgerteria, and why not? Braum’s is an absolute Oklahoma institution that many of us feel like we have some sort of sad, imagined stake in.
Eager to see, feel and, most importantly, taste, just how these ramifications have affected the corner-stone of the vaunted Braum’s combo menu, I decided that I would try a store other than my usual haunt at N.W. 39th and N. Penn; let’s be honest: that particular eatery has received enough gut-checks and sucker-punches from us here at TLO for their service and cleanliness—or lack thereof—that I felt obliged to revisit an old friend, opting for a little nostalgia and selecting the ancient offering that was about a block from my old high school, the one we as a senior class had most affectionately dubbed “the Murder-Braum’s,” famously located at 1204 N.W. 17th....
Some twenty odd years ago, before the Plaza District was even a jaundiced twinkle in a crackhead’s eye, this particular Braum’s was the place—the parking lot, at least—to have an eye-opening sexual awakening, get fish-hooked with a dull pocket knife or stub your toe on a used hypodermic; the size of your cheeseburger was typically the least of our worries as we hung out in their well-hidden booths next to the sleeping homeless dudes and lunching hookers, smoking cigarettes and nursing a shared Coke until, at the very least, the end of gym class or we spotted the campus cop, whichever came first.
Walking into the ol’ gal again, I have to admit I was genuinely taken aback by how well-kept and put-together this particular store has become, like the nerdy chick who she takes off her glasses and is miraculously hot, only here, instead of glasses, it’s a passed out junkie wetting himself. The place was stunningly clean—even though there was a bit of a line, no one was publicly flustered and there was always at least one employee wiping down tables, putting away trays and making sure the soda fountain and condiments were sparkling. It was genuinely refreshing and ultimately fulfilling because I’m willing to bet is was our constant nagging that inspired some sort of Braum’s inter-office memo.