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Shamrock Shakin Mah Head.

Yesterday: A few work buddies and I spent our lunch break scouring every McDonald's in and around Times Square in search of the elusive you-know-what -- the Shamrock Shake. When I proposed marriage to the seasonal treat during last year's St. Patty's tribute, a couple of readers chimed in with wild claims that the big city still supplied the goods. Fucking lousy liars. The people working the registers seemed almost appalled that we'd even ask for these allegedly still-made shakes, and what's worse, we spent so much time hunting down fast food joints that there wasn't even time to enjoy a much safer bet: green beer.

Regardless, this was my first ever St. Patrick's Day spent in NYC, and it sure was an experience. Though there's been major crackdowns over the past few years on public intoxication and just generally having anything resembling drunken fun, the sea of green-donning Irishmen and tourists posing as Irishmen almost made me wish my blood wasn't so fully rooted in spicy meatball woposity.

Anyway, it was nutsy. More people were walking around in costume today than on Halloween -- and by costume, I don't just mean "green clothes." We're talking all-out styrofoam hats, ties, green hairspray...the works. So gloriously tacky. There was even a guy in a big shark suit. I'll show you the pics when I get home.

Posted by Matt on 03/18/2005. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 63 comments

i work on 5th… i really don’t like these parades. one cannot cross the street. it was way too crowded with too many drunks! glad it is over.

did like all the cops and military men outside though.

st. patrick’s was CRazy.

Chestnuts roasted by jessica_76 @ 03/18/2005 7:26 AM

Spent yesterday travelling from Minneapolis to Cleveland and there were plenty of green people at the airports, though I don’t think they were all that intoxicated. We still have shamrock shakes in Cleveland. Had one earlier this week, actually. They are at least as good as you remember, Matt. I’d ship you one, but it would be a shamrock puddle by the time you got it.

Chestnuts roasted by Jimbalaya @ 03/18/2005 7:52 AM

Corner Bar? Don’t go there. Go to the North end of town. You’ll enjoy the atmosphere and the language. Don’t get the urge to stray from the main path, though, because you’ll wind up lost and bored.

Chestnuts roasted by Brad @ 03/18/2005 8:07 AM

Holy Crap! This is like my highest post ever (not that I post often). My favorite college bar was called Humphrey’s, right next to campus. Every year, we took the safe bet…Green Beer at Humphrey’s. Every year, some a-hole would be talking like he’s Irish by the end of the night… I hated the year when I became that a-hole… but it was only a brief slip, I swear!

Chestnuts roasted by bad karma @ 03/18/2005 8:35 AM

Really? I am surprised it’s so hard for you to find Shamrock shakes?? I just had one on Wednesday…you can still get ‘em all over Massachusetts…I guess you should come to Boston next year!

Chestnuts roasted by B-Dawg @ 03/18/2005 9:03 AM

They’re totally hard to find. If anyone wants to snap a pic of the shakes, send it to mattcaraxe@aol.com and I’ll post it. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 03/18/2005 9:04 AM

They still exist, because I got one in Bumfuck Harrisburg, PA. I’ll snap a picture if they’re still selling them this weekend.

Chestnuts roasted by MTrox @ 03/18/2005 9:25 AM

I managed to get one Shamrock Shake this year. I hadn’t been to McD’s in forever, and forgot they might be out, so I was pleasantly surprised. I tried to get another a couple days later but they were out.

That actually caused one of two humorous drive-thru exchanges I’ve had in the past week. The order-taker didn’t say anything about being out of the shakes, but when we drove up and got our order, the shake was a strawberry one. When we handed it back and said it was supposed to be Shamrock, the guy at that window said they were out, and demanded "who sold it to you?!" I don’t think he even realized the silliness of the question, he seemed really peeved.

The other exchange was at Long John Silver’s when some guy from the kitchen handed over a box with the raised eyebrows and sly grin of someone sharing some really great weed. "You want some chicken planks?" wink wink. You had to be there, but it was pretty surreal.

Chestnuts roasted by maglizrd @ 03/18/2005 9:50 AM

cant wait to see the pics:D

Chestnuts roasted by IHAQ @ 03/18/2005 10:09 AM

Right on! I’m over here in Scotland right now, for totally unrelated reasons.. but, I avoided all the hoopla by lying in bed wrapped up like a mummy.

Chestnuts roasted by Review the World @ 03/18/2005 10:37 AM

Sad to hear of the demise of NYC’s Shamrock Shake. So so so sad.

Chestnuts roasted by Sweetie @ 03/18/2005 10:55 AM

Shark suit? It better have been a green shark.

Chestnuts roasted by radiodj19 @ 03/18/2005 11:12 AM

Wisconsin? Yeah, we got ‘em. And I hit it, too! But, I can’t snap a pic, I don’t really eat at McD’s. Can someone please tell me what’s the difference between a Shamrock and a regular mint shake? Just the ground up leprechauns and clover?

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 03/18/2005 11:17 AM

I don’t go to any fast food places ever, so I don’t know if they’re around here (DC area). I’m vegetarian, so they got nothing for me. As for St Pat’s, I didn’t go out last night. I usually do, but this year I didn’t want to have to deal with the amatuer drinkers. Leave it to the pros folks. No one wants to step in your green puke.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 03/18/2005 11:22 AM

They do have McDonalds here in Korea, but as nobody seems to have heard of St. Patty’s Day, I didn’t even look for the shakes- although I did have an argument last night with a friend about whether or not they still existed! I knew I was right!

Sadly, the McDonald’s breakfast doesn’t exist here in Korea….they just don’t have it. And that’s the only thing I actually liked at McDs.

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 03/18/2005 11:28 AM

They are indeed all over MA.
Mcdonalds in Chicopee had them.

Matt, did you still want that Koolaid? You never told me where to send it.

Chestnuts roasted by SuperRecoome @ 03/18/2005 11:38 AM

I had every intention of going out and getting sloppy-ass drunk yesterday, but I contracted a nasty case of pinkeye from my 5-year-old nephew on Wednesday from which I’m still recovering. I guess I’ll just have to make up for it on Easter…

Chestnuts roasted by The Yeti @ 03/18/2005 11:40 AM

SuperRecoome — could you resend me your reply to mattcaraxe@aol.com? I guess the spam has totally killed the point of my site addy. :/

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 03/18/2005 11:41 AM

Shamrock shakes are alive and well in Detroit! I’ve had at least 3 this St. Patty’s season. Also the only 3 times I’ve been to McDs in the last year

Chestnuts roasted by Jett @ 03/18/2005 11:53 AM

The diff ‘tween and ‘twixt a normal mint and Shamrock shake? The color for a Shamrock doesn’t break down in your system, or at least that was the case last time I had one. And I’ll leave it at that.

By the way, over at Fark, in a thread about the BK Cowboy Hootie Ad, I mentioned my childhood trauma over the McDonaldland melting Grimace commercial. In my Excite e-mail this morning, I recieved a message about a secret X-E stash of ads that may contain said incident. Just as long as I can see more of the four-armed Grimace, I can maybe tolerate the liquified kind.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 03/18/2005 12:03 PM

Well Matt, it still sounds like you had way more fun than me yesterday. I ended up sitting at home working, with no money to go out and drink green beer. I had the thought of just staying home and getting drunk by myself…but that seemed a little more pathetic than what I was already doing so I cancelled it. Shitty shitty day!

Chestnuts roasted by Well @ 03/18/2005 12:59 PM

kingklash, Matt had mentioned the ad collection in a blog post maybe a year or so back. It will no doubt be worth the wait, so take your time Matt.

Chestnuts roasted by YooHoo @ 03/18/2005 1:18 PM

Here are some video diaries from upcoming movies:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717/">King http://www.kongisking.net/kong2005/proddiary/">Kong
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348150/">Superman http://www.bluetights.net/bulletin_list.php">Returns (This just started filming.)

Chestnuts roasted by ME @ 03/18/2005 2:09 PM

I did get the Shamrock shake this year here in Central VA. Does anyone else think it tastes like a vanilla shake with ground up Rolaids in it? Also has anyone tried the Banana/Chocolate shake at Mcdonalds? Ye gods, it HAS to be as addictive as crack!

Chestnuts roasted by Mike @ 03/18/2005 2:09 PM

I always get addicted to the Starbucks Gingerbread Latte every Christmas season. THAT stuff is crack. Apparently it’s still at my local Starbucks (one of about 9000 of course, but the one closest to my house) but it just isn’t the same when it’s always available. It’s too Christmas-seasony. Of course, I’m saying that on X-E with it’s Christmas decorations still up and I don’t mind that. No offense meant Matt.

Chestnuts roasted by jhnnywalkr @ 03/18/2005 2:17 PM

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 18th, 2005 at 7:16 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.