ZAPPED! by the Cel-Ray

Tonight I grabbed some take-out from our local eatery, Amie and bought their eggplant parmesan and meat loaf for dinner for Emily and me. With each visit I am feeling more and more fortunate to have this restaurant literally next door to us. Click here for a review of the place. I had fallen in love with Lake Harriet Pizza and forgot just how good a home-cooked meal tastes. I even bought a couple roasted pepper and carmalized onion knishes to top it off. Damn, that was a satisfying meal.

Anyway, as they were assembling my order, I looked in the soda case and thought I'd buy a Diet Coke for the W-I-F-E and then I looked for a drink for myself. I saw a green Dr. Brown's can labled blah blah-ray and figured it was all-natural lemon-lime soda (as if such a thing existed).

Well, you know what's less likely to exist than all-natural, organic pop? Celery Soda, that's what. And that's exactly what I bought. It turns out Cel-Ray isn't short for "100% Organic Lemon-Line Citrus Beverage." Nope. It's just a cute way of saying celery soda. Whoops.


Image from http://www.root-beer.info/others/celray.html


Click here for a very accurate review of what I got myself into, taste-wise. Oddly, this review mentions that this drink is the Nectar of the Jewish Delis. And, what do you know, Amie is a variant of a traditional Jewish deli. What's up with that? I think this sentence from the review sums it up best:

"So try it at least once - buy a can to share among 3 or 4 friends so you can say you drank celery soda then don't buy it again. "

This whole experience reminds of the scene from Cannery Row, when one of the characters, Doc, is driving a long stretch of highway and wonders what a beer milkshake or shrimp ice cream would taste like. Steinbeck could easily have had Doc wondering about celery soda. I've made a beer milkshake (based on the recipe Doc makes up while asking a waitress to make it for him in a small town diner) and now I've accidentally tasted celery soda. I guess all that's left is shrimp ice cream.