la.foodblogging

Be careful what you wish for…

Yesterday on la.foodblogging I noted that, when it comes to the Arnold Palmer, I’m always willing to try a new spin on a classic.

After re-posting the query on Chowhound’s Los Angeles board the experts weighed in. I’m now scheduling time to drink Arnold Palmers at Water Grill (vewyfunny), Cheebo (dajmont), Skooby’s (Dommy!), Houston’s (Ansley O), Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles — where the Arnold Palmer goes by “Lisa’s Delight” (Food Good) , and the Parkway Grill in Pasadena (Griller141).

The only reccomendation I was immediately able to act on was DB’s. This hawk-eyed ‘hound pointed me to Gelson’s where s/he spotted an advertisement in the store’s circular for “Arnold Palmer’s Tee (sic) mix.”

Now I mistook “mix” to mean ‘powdered drink mix’ and the idea of a pouch of powdered Arnold Palmers made me laugh. So I stopped at Gelson’s on my way home from work. I poked around in the drink mix section and found no evidence of the instant iced tea. I then studied the Gelson’s newsletter for clues. An image of a 1/2 gallon container led me back to the chilled beverages section. That’s where I found a small tag indicating that Gelson’s gourmet-generic Arnold Palmer was sold out! Had a militant team of copy editors thrown a Gelson’s “tee” party? A grocery clerk ran by, turned around, stopped and promised that the shelf would be re-stocked by Friday.

Since I was already there, I figured, Why not follow the redirect to Newman’s Own Virgin Lemon-Aided Iced Tea? When I got home I tasted less than half a glass; it’s all high fructose corn syrup and sugar. Nowhere on the package does it tout fresh squeezed lemons. Instead it contains lemon byproducts like “lemon juice from concentrate,” “lemon pulp” and “lemon oil.” But then Paul Newman donates all his profits, after taxes, for education and charitable purposes, so, I do not regret my impulsive purchase.