Toby’s Pro Tip for Restaurants
Last night, Toby and I went to a neighborhood restaurant…
And, when we sat down, he ordered his new go-to drink: a Roy Rogers, which is essentially a Shirley Temple, but with Coke instead of Sprite.
“A Roy Rogers is so much more exciting than a Shirley Temple,” Toby told me as we settled in at our table. “You 100% taste the cherry but it’s also Coke-y. It makes you feel like you’re in Top Gun: Maverick. My favorite bartender is the guy at Musso & Frank in L.A., where I went with my dad. We sat at the bar and got to see a bunch of drinks getting made. The bartender looks like the bartender from The Shining. It also felt like you were in a horror movie because of how dim the lights were.”
Not everyone knows the drink by name, warns Toby: “It’s an older drink, so waiters don’t always know it. So, then I’ll describe it — grenadine with Coke. If it was in the 1980s, I would just ask for a Roy Rogers.” Also, the mocktail is better suited for preteens and teens. “If you’re at a casual restaurant, just get a Sprite or something. But if you’re at Musso & Frank or another fancy restaurant, then you better get a Roy Rogers.”
A few more photos…since every snapshot of a teenager turns into a photo shoot lol.
Thanks, Tobes! What drinks do the kids in your life like? Any other pro tips for taking kids to restaurants?
P.S. More elite Toby advice:
— Toby’s and Anton’s guide to NYC
— Toby’s advice on surviving family travel
— Toby and Anton’s nine tips for bringing kids to restaurants
— The 10 best and worst family movies, according to Toby and Anton
— Toby and Anton’s guide to life (including how to make friends and what to do if you can’t fall asleep)
— Toby’s cookies that blew us all away
Comments
121 commentsWhen I was little, there was a funny bartender at one of my parents’ favorite restaurants who called that drink a “Gertie Galumpky” when a girl ordered it. He was so funny!
Thanks for the pro tip, Toby! My son is really into Coke at the moment, which I’m actively trying to discourage. But this sounds like it would be a great special occasion drink when we go out.
Love it! Everyone, including teenagers, need to have their “go to drink.” Toby is equal parts sweet, teenage bravado, and handsome.
Coke + grenadine = delicious!
I was away from my kids for six weeks, and when I returned, my 13 year old boy had to *bend down* to hug me 😭. This was the first time. He had a growth spurt while I was gone. I look at posts like this and marvel at how quickly our babies turn to boys. It’s heart warming and heart shattering all at the same time. I hope the dinner was a memorable one ❤️
Love this! It’s my13-year-old son’s “a-tier” restaurant drink of choice also. “S-tier probably has their own fun drinks I can try” he said. Toby is so right- we went to lunch today, he ordered a Roy Rogers & the waiter (college age) said “sure!….. um, can you tell me what exactly is a Roy Rogers?”. Toby and Anton are both such handsome and wise fellows!
My teen drinks my diet tonic water and adds flavored electrolytes to it.
My daughter (7-ish) and I stopped off for seaside drinks on vacation once and I ordered her a Shirley Temple. When we got back to the AirBnb, she excitedly told my husband that she had “an alcohol with no caffeine.”
My 7yo loves Culvers, where he can mix his own drink. He makes a “fruity Sprite” with half Hi-C and half Sprite. My husband makes a “fruity Dew” trading Mtn Dew for Sprite.
Limeade and ginger beer! My son loves it! It’s on the menu at our favorite taco spot and he loved it so much now he has them at home sometimes. PS – totally agree on teens and photoshoots. Gah! I love this age!!!
omg this sounds so good!
My most favorite mocktail ever- I’m allergic to uncooked alcohol but still want a drink with a bite/kick. A proper ginger beer with lime juice/ade always hits the spot.
The iconic mocktail of my childhood: Mrs. Bender Drink. Jane Bender was my nana’s next door neighbor and used to mix ginger ale and Welch’s purple grape juice for my dad and aunt. Amazing. Iconic. Greater than the sum of its parts.
How is he almost an adult, what?!
Has Toby enjoyed that other Tom Cruise classic, Cocktail? It might be time!
HAHAHA!
He’s so wise! We used to call them kiddy cocktails and for the longest time I thought it was “kitty.” Ha
Me too! Great memories of the Wisconsin supper clubs of the 1970s with Shirley Temples and the free bar mixed nuts and popcorn and second-hand smoke! Kitty cocktails forever.
I was really sad when at a hotel and I realized the ‘kitty pool’ everyone was talking about was just a small dumb pool for skids to swim in and not a pool of cats to play with.
HBK – a kitty pool sounds like a dream! Does anyone else remember Green Rivers? A ’50s-themed restaurant in my midwestern hometown served them, and they were so good! It’s hard to describe the flavor – kind of like a lime soda, but with a unique taste.
Me too!!
I can’t wait to go out and order a Roy Rogers in front of my 20-something kids. They will think I am ordering a Rob Roy incorrectly, LOL
I don’t think this is correct but the way your comment reads, it sounds like you have over 20 kids! Made me laugh :)
Sara people say “lol” all the time but rarely do I actually laugh out loud. I did after reading your comment!
Piggy backing on Sara – it is made even more funny now to me thinking she has so many kids she forgets the count and just goes with “20-something”. I laughed way too much at this, so thank you for that :) :)
In the 50’s we called it a cherry coke.
I thought grenadine was made from pomegranate
For years my 12 year old has liked to order ‘half orange juice, half sparkling water’ on airplanes when the drink cart comes through. It isn’t an especially creative or surprising mix, but the flight attendants are often charmed by her specific mocktail. She really only gets it on flights though, in restaurants she often wants a lemonade or something more interesting if it’s on the menu. That makes me think of a great conversation starter, what is your airport or airplane food or beverage? It’s like what happens up there isn’t your normal self? I will sometimes order a Diet Dr Pepper or Diet Coke on an airplane even though I never have them otherwise at home, in restaurants, and don’t see myself as a diet soda person but….? I had a coworker who was very health conscious but always bought a large pack of Skittles for the plane, another one would look for Rolos in the airport so she could unwrap each one and savor each one during the flight.
That’s so real about airplane food/drinks. I crave/ order / drink tomato juice on flights and never even think about it in ‘real life’ LOL I think soda also tastes better the further from home I get.
Oo, love this! My mama’s go-to airplane drink was bloody mary mix, no alcohol. And mine has long been half grapefruit juice, half Sprite. I think for both of us it’s a craving-electrolytes thing! Also I love a Vogue magazine on a plane, and exactly nowhere else.
Tomato juice and Pringles! And I never, ever have either of these things any other time. Who can explain the “airplane preference” phenomenon??
@sue, our taste buds are altered when we go up in the air because of the cabin pressure (I think), or something like that. If I remember correctly, our ability to taste sweet and salty decreases by quite a significant amount. Food tastes more bland, and I think that’s part of the reason we tend to crave stronger flavored food.
Always ginger ale on the plane, and McDonald’s egg McMuffin in the airport for morning flights!
My daughter is four but she SWEARS BY orange juice and water. I think it’s maybe lighter and less acidic than straight OJ? I always feel like I’m mixing her a weird little mocktail and it sounds so funny and specific to hear her “order” it.
In Germany we call these “schorle” (pronounced “shorleh”) – we mix (sparkling) water with any and all juice. They are in every restaurant and I think more popular than soda. Our family especially loves the black currant, mango, passion fruit, or classic apple schorle. Cool bonus is it is perfectly socially acceptable here for a grownup to order juice at a restaurant.
I just spent a week on vacation with my two teenage nephews (15 and 13). As someone who doesn’t spend a whole lot of time around teenage boys right now, one thing that struck me as both SO cute and SO cool was the way they’d both pull their hair back tight and then push it forward kind of roughly to give them the perfectly cool tousled look. Worked every time! Such cool dudes. I think maybe this is what Toby is doing in the two photos at the bottom (?), because I have so many copies of nearly this exact photo from last week!
FYI…girls start the photo-shoot business at approximately two months!
Toby is so cool! From rental car tips to advice about delicious drinks! Thank you for continuing to show us how beautiful life can be with growing boys.
This is peak content right here. Toby has so much aura as the kids would say : )
Toby is 100% ready to order a martini, straight up, with a twist of lemon (he knows what he likes!). I love the innocence of Gen Z (my son is 18). I’m Gen X, so was fully doing keg stands at 16 (it’s ok. I’m a fully functioning adult now).
Oh my god this is exactly what I was thinking when I read this.
Co-signing on this. You made my day!
Your comment reminded me of the very short lived, basketball shaped, mini keg called the pony ball. And it was set in a bag lined box meant to be filled with ice. Wonder if anyone remembers this?
This is so cool. Toby is cool. I also felt excited to hear of a restaurant mentioned in a Taylor Swift song!
When my oldest son was small (he just turned 40, eek!), he was always excited to have what he called a “ Royal Rogers”. We still call them that!
Sorry, Toby has watched the Shining? I don’t know how that’s possible since I remember him being BORN and I’m certainly no more than 5 years older than I was then.
I love this post! Love seeing 16 year old Toby dropping his sophisticated beverage knowledge. Teens are the best!
Did you know that in Canada, a Shirley Temple has orange juice in addition to sprite and grenadine? The kids love this when we visit.
Sarah, I was picturing coke with orange juice in it as I read the blog post and was so grossed out until I realized maybe American Shirley Temples are different than ours.
In Australia we call these fireengines.
Toby is so handsome and grown up! How can he already be this wise too?! Our kids are 19 and 21 and we had one rule when eating out while on vacation – you have to try new and novel foods. While visiting Chicago when they were 7 and 9, we took them to our favorite tapas place. In London visiting my brother, they had to try the Indian food. When we were in NYC, order the escargots from the place your grandpa loved. Eating out at home, they could have whatever they want. But when we traveled, they had to be open to something new. I know this may not work for everyone as many have sensitivities and texture issues, when young especially. But luckily, it was great for our kids. They have grown to love good food (along with a good ol’ box of Kraft Mac n cheese) and are always up for a food adventure.
When my son was young, in restaurants we always stressed good table manners and courtesy, and it was a priority to model respect and gratitude for the restaurant staff. We talked casually and pleasantly (no lectures allowed!) about the food, where it comes from, where it grows, seasons, cultural history, how a dish is made, family stories that include special food. The wine and beer list can be also be an interesting point of discussion with young people, because it lists countries, regions, cities around the world (and sometimes the descriptions are funny).
This is my dad’s lifetime favorite drink. He gets it every time we go out.
I love that!
And I find it interesting that Toby could sit at the bar and watch the bartender whip up drinks… Even accompanied minors can’t sit at a bar here.
This brings up a parenting question for me. At what age do you all expose your kids to drinking/bar culture? This probably sounds very American of me because I have family members from overseas that started handing their kids beers at age 10… Anyway, my kids are still elementary school aged, my husband is in recovery and I rarely drink. I don’t want them to turn into teenagers who know nothing about alcohol or drinking and then get themselves into trouble, but I also don’t want to encourage drinking before they reach adulthood. I started drinking WAY too young (think middle school), and nothing good came of it. My parents rarely drank either.. How do other parents handle this?
Such a great question, Alex! I grew up in New Orleans and was surrounded by alcohol, I didn’t know a single adult who didn’t drink. My parents brought me to the French Quarter for my 18th birthday (despite the drinking age being 21). I had a pretty unhealthy relationship with alcohol in my 20s and stopped drinking completely in my early 30s. I’m raising my kid in LA. We have beer and wine around our house and my kid sees adults drinking, but he will also have a lot of adult role models who don’t drink. I plan on being very open with him about the fact that there is alcoholism on both sides of our families (not sure what age though) and talk to him about why I don’t drink. I’ve read that younger generations drink less than we did which is amazing, but it also goes hand in hand with socializing in person with other people less, so it seems to be a mixed bag.
The reality is, if your kids watch movies and go with you to events where alcohol is served, they are already exposed to drinking culture. I recently stopped drinking alcohol and am now super aware of how often alcohol is mentioned and offered — even at kids events. I think one of the best things you can model for your kids is that not drinking is also a normal choice (I grew up in a family where moderate (multiple times a week) drinking was the norm. It took me a long time to learn I didn’t need to do that
Like with anything risky it’s important to talk about it with kids in an age appropriate manner, without creating too much mystery (“this is mommy’s special drink”). My child learned at around age four that beer is made from grains, wine is made from grapes, and that both taste good but are only good in small amounts (I never have more than one drink in front of her). In more recent years we have talked about how alcohol hinders your senses, and explained addiction. to her. The best you can do as a parent or caregiver is to give your kid all the information you think they’ll need to help them make good decisions. It’s like a dimmer switch, slowly illuminating the room with knowledge over time.
I am English but I spent a year in the US at college when I was 18/19 (freshman year). I am born in December so I had spent 9 months being legally able to drink alcohol in the UK before then arriving in the US the following September to start the academic year and being underage again. It was a really interesting comparison! The UK has it’s issues with binge drinking etc, but from my anecdotal experience, alcohol was much more of a big deal for the US teenagers who had only had access to it surreptitiously/ at parties and their parents had locked it away at home, compared to me and my UK friends who had been exposed to it at home without much fanfare and had a few glasses of wine at dinner.
We don’t have kids. My husband and I never drank. He had a sip of beer over 20 years ago and never tried again. I try a sip of wine every few years at a party and find that it’s still not for me (good wine, bad wine, doesn’t matter). We hang out with drinking friends, colleagues, and family members all the time. One thing I’ve noticed lately is that people no longer raise an eyebrow when I say I don’t drink. Some 10-15 years ago, people didn’t trust a non-drinker in work parties because it was seen as the only acceptable way to “loosen up”. No one ever pressured me in any way but there was definitely a notable suspicion. I hope that that goes away for the newer generations.
I don’t have kids, but I feel like my parents did a great job with this! My two siblings and I have pretty healthy relationships with alcohol, though all very different (one of my siblings is a sommelier and one barely drinks! I’m somewhere in the middle.) From a young age, they emphasized that alcohol was for having 1) with other people, 2) to accompany and enhance food, and 3) during good times. In other words: don’t drink alone, don’t drink without something to soak it up, don’t drink to cope with bad feelings. Alcoholism is rampant on my mom’s side of the family, which she made sure that we knew about at an age-appropriate time, explaining possible genetic inheritance and making sure we were checking in with ourselves about why we were drinking. Starting in our teen years, we would be offered small tastes of drinks at meals (“See how this crisp white wine tastes like lemon? It makes it a great pairing for the roast chicken.”). It demystified alcohol in a profound way. This isn’t to say that my siblings and I haven’t ever overdone it during a night out, but I’d say we all have a respect for alcohol and its power—both good and bad!
Kate, I really love how your parents gave parameters around alcohol while still showing how they personally enjoy it. Keeping in my back pocket for my future kids :)
Have the age-appropriate open conversation about drinking early, since it is so prevalent in U.S. culture as a rebellious or partying thing (not so much in Europe, where kids are raised alongside alcohol as a cultural experience rather than a way to get wasted). Also, talk to them about HEALTH and the side effects of alcohol on your body and how bad it is for your body to process!
My pro tip for taking kids to restaurants is simply, treat them as people! They may enjoy the coloring page & crayons provided by the restaurant, but they certainly don’t need screens distracting them from noticing what’s going on in the restaurant, observing how to interact with waitstaff, or (especially) conversing with everyone else at the table. Kids are people!!! They deserve to be treated as such!
Agree! And PLEASE have kids interact with the waitstaff directly! Ordering for themselves, asking a question, thanking the server, etc. is such an easy way to build confidence and interpersonal skills.
Just sharing another perspective because I would have enthusiastically agreed with you at one point… Sometimes the kids get a screen because the parents need a break. Given that parental stress is considered a public health crisis, I’m willing to cut parents (myself included) some slack. So while I agree with you in general, please keep in mind we don’t know every individual’s story. <3
This reminds me of my favorite cola mocktail as a teen: spetzi. During a German exchange trip, I learned about the spetzi- which is lemonade and coke. I order it all the time (still! 30 years later) and servers are always surprised when I ask for it. It feels like my own secret mocktail. :)
Our 3rd grader can’t handle the “spicy” feel of carbonation – they love sugar, so I’m okay with how the dislike elimination soda temptation, but we do more restaurants now and it’d be fun to do these drinks. Closest he’s gotten is a splash of grenadine in his lemonade.
I fell like I’ve been reading quite few articles lately regarding adults who don’t drink ordering Shirley Temples out. When my sisters and I were small our dad would make “cocktails” ( Shirley Temples) for us ( he had one of those hand held soda makers) and martinis for him and our mom. He always added a splash of Orgeat syrup too. Mom only bought soda for a treat; rootbeer for floats or sometimes ginger ale or Vernors ( popular in Michigan). We were not a coke household, maybe because of the caffeine?
My kids recently went to a restaurant and ordered diy Shirley Temple drinks They bring a large Sprite, a bowl of maraschino cherries and a small bottle with grenadine. Not especially sophisticated but very fun.
We’re very into raspberry lime Rickie’s over here. My kids love to whip them up for guests. I’m not sure they are widely available outside of New England.
YES! This was a Great Lakes thing in the 90s. My mom would buy the syrup to make it – I was trying to explain this to my husband last week after our daughter had a lemonade with grenadine! (Also a great mocktail)
While I’m pregnant my husband has joined me in my sobriety, and he still likes to go to like hardcore punk shows at local divey venues. He’ll pull up to the bar and ask for a Shirley Temple and the bartender is INSTANTLY on his side. Last time he got unlimited refills. (Also, seeing these glimpses of what lovely, interesting people your kids have turned into is making my hormonal heart just melt. Like, I’m so excited to meet my baby but also SO EXCITED to see how she grows up. 😭)
I know which bartender he’s talking about at Musso and Franks! Sonny.. a local legend. Thanks for the tips Toby!
!!! small world !!!
Joanna, would you consider another post called “Toby and Anton in conversation”? I loved when you did those and maybe it seems less poignant since they are older but I assure you we would find it entertaining and heart warming, if they’re up for it.
Yes they are actually funnier than ever these days :)
I love how perfectly teenager-y this is—the playfulness of childhood, the sophistication of adulthood.
This feels like a really dumb question since I am a grown woman in 2026, but what do teens and tweens use Apple gift cards for? Apps and games for their phones/ipads? Is there anything else I don’t know about? Seems like a great gift, I’m just out of the loop on the goings on of teens!
Maybe movie downloads?
LOL I have also been wondering this! Save them up for…years (?)…for a laptop?
I love Shirley Temples so this is a thrilling blog post! I’m also pregnant so this sounds like the perfect summer treat
What age do people let their kids have caffeine? My dad who wasn’t strict about much wouldn’t let me have caffeine until I was in high school and I can remember the caffeine/sugar highs vividly. I have a seven year old and the whole sugar thing stresses me out. He gets it at school, camp, sports practice, birthday games, friend’s houses, it’s relentless. I limit it at home, but a few nights a week he gets dessert. I wish I could be chiller about it, but it the more I learn about the effects of added sugar on our bodies, the more uptight I’ve become. In most other areas, I’m laid back and we’re not a big “rules” house, but sugar makes me go crazy! I grew up with unlimited access to sugar and I had a massive sweet tooth my whole life. In November I gave up added sugar and it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done. I know other people who were super restricted with sugar growing up and binged on sugar once they were able and are now more lenient with their own kids, so I don’t think there’s an easy solution. I would say moderation, but when you start reading labels, sugar is in absolutely everything so if you aren’t vigilant, you’re eating so much more sugar than you realize. Stepping down off soap box, thank you.
We started basically this year — at bar mitzvahs or special restaurant dinners etc, but we don’t buy soda for our house. Curious to hear what others do!
This is such a tough question and one I’ve thought about endlessly. I was one of those kids in a strict household (actually, a LOT of strict rules around food because my mother had/has an eating disorder). It really messed me up! I’m not good at listening to my cravings or what my body is trying to tell me. With my own son, who’s only 2.5 so still very much under our influence when it comes to eating, I’m just trying to be really neutral about food. Not hyping up sugar but also not demonizing it either. He doesn’t have caffeine because no toddler needs caffeine, but we don’t really have set rules around sugar. I honestly have no idea what I’m doing, so I’m also curious to hear what others have to say!
We only buy Poppi “soda” at our house. Soda is for restaurants and special occasions.
My kids don’t like anything carbonated..it’s “too spicy!” We don’t usually buy juice, but they’ll sometimes order a half-water half-lemonade when we’re out. They also have dessert everyday. …sigh… For snacks, though, we try to do things like fruit, cheese, yogurt, veggies and hummus, guacamole…
I had run into a grocery store for a quick item and realized I was parched so I grabbed what I thought was a flavored sparkling water with juice kind of thing – on the first swig I nearly choked on how sweet it was! I looked and 23g’s of sugar in only 11 oz of water. That is almost 6 tsps!!! I couldn’t finish, so that was an expensive swallow. Cannot image why they think anyone wants it that sweet?
This makes me feel like maybe not the best mom, but we’re pretty lax with sugar and caffeine. If we’re at a restaurant, my kids sometimes order Dr. Pepper or something else caffeinated. We don’t keep ice cream, fruit snacks, etc at home, but they get candy from my MIL. I have an ADHD kid and sometimes we give him a little coffee to help hos body chill. I guess maybe I’m just too tired to be super strict about it 😅
Ah, when my kids were babies we told them raisins were candy and avoided sugary things altogether because we wanted to keep them healthy. Then they discovered real candy, soda, and all the sugary things… Fast forward to two boys in middle and high school that voluntarily limit themselves to one pop per day (Diet Pepsi, Root Beer, or Vernors – yes we are in Michigan :) but definitely indulge in sweets when they’re available. We parents just don’t make a big deal over sugar, caffeine, or alcohol. We do it all in moderation, and maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet, and the kids seem to be on board!
My kids are 12 and 9, and they don’t consume caffeine yet – other than my 12yo enjoys an infrequent chai latte. My sleep gets very disrupted by caffeine after noon, so I’m mostly worried about sleep disruption. Sugar is so tough! We try to talk a lot about enjoying things in moderation, so don’t eat much sweets during the day but try to enjoy a small dessert in the evenings. I am the sole female on my family of origin (two sisters and a mom) who has not struggled with a diagnosable eating disorder. living my adolescence and young adulthood surrounded by that absolutely impacted me, so I really strive for balance and moderation.
It was a “sometimes thing” but now that my son is in middle school, it’s all he wants! He LOVES ordering a Roy Rodgers when we go out to eat. We still limit it; but I’m not super strict about it. However, I am very strict about energy drinks or those energy shots you can get at gas stations. They are an absolute no until he’s an adult…I know that’s extreme but they simply aren’t worth the risk to me.
For sugar, we just try to keep anything we buy for the house (even desserts) at 10 grams or less per serving. But also no artificial sweeteners either. When we’re out, our son is at preschool, etc. we don’t sweat counting sugars, but we do try to stay away from food dye. We’re also trying to strike that balance of not being overly restrictive, but also not setting our kid up for dental or organ issues just because of sugar. Honestly, if you’ve given up added sugar yourself, but you also don’t make a big deal of it verbally, it’s very possible your child will just start to follow you and your eating patterns without it being a big sticking point.
I had a very lax parents and had caffeine and way too much sugar as a kid, but never felt addicted or developed a sweet tooth, but did get super hooked on coffee and the caffeine buzz from a young age. I rarely have sugar and feel incredibly sensitive too it now. I still drink coffee but a very modest amount. Every kid / person is different and tastes / reactions evolve.
I also have an ADHDer, who had been allowed a small unsweetened coffee since 12. He’s older now, so has migrated to caffeinated soda when he’s out and about, which I don’t love. But they make his life easier and better.
I grew up in a very restrictive sugar environment. The restriction messed me up more than I imagine some Oreos would have. (Who knows, ultimately, but that’s my hunch anyway.) I strive for neutrality and moderation with my kids, for sure. I do not do the en vogue parenting thing of serving dessert *with* dinner – that’s too far in the other direction for me!
My son sadly inherited the appalling teeth from my family and I stopped buying sweets, biscuits and chocolate when he was about 4. There were some tears but I explained that at Christmas and birthdays these were allowed and if they were at a friend’s house but that I wouldn’t have them in the house. Was equally firm with grandparents too – please don’t buy sweets for them. It worked. The teeth were never brilliant but it limited damage. And I had always given milk or water to drink. Supposed fruit drinks are full of additives and do a lot to encourage a sweet tooth and for no good at all. They are adults now and neither are particularly bothered about sweet stuff. And neither holds my stance against me (I assume…)
I want to boost Elizabeth’s comment!!! “I grew up in a very restrictive sugar environment. The restriction messed me up more than I imagine some Oreos would have. (Who knows, ultimately, but that’s my hunch anyway.) I strive for neutrality and moderation with my kids, for sure.” Highly recommend checking out the work of CoJ friend Virginia Sole-Smith. TBH based on everything I have learned from Virginia’s work, giving up sugar completely yourself might not be the best thing to model.
In Canada a Shirley Temple and a Roy Rogers are even better. Third ingredient takes it up a notch. Orange juice is added at the better restaurants. Americanized ones, you may have to request this.
I can confirm that this is 100% true. Shirley Temples are the number one reason my kids love going to BC in the summer — above Kit Kats with the good chocolate and whales. Even the color is prettier..
The dude’s got this figured out! His whole monologue is so great. I do think the charm of a Shirley Temple or Roy Rogers is that kids probably have no idea who either of those people were, so to them, it’s a fancy drink with a funny name. (But they should really find out who those movie stars were and what they did on screen.)
Ugh. I just can’t handle it, teenage Toby. I swear he’s still a toddler. I have a 16 month old now, and I am getting weepy just thinking about him as a teenager giving me drink recs. 😭
I didn’t realize this was called a Roy Rogers but this is my kids’ go to also. I’ve also been hunting through your site for a NYC guide from the boys’ perspective and finally found it linked here. Any chance of an updated one from a teen perspective?
My friend just hosted a teen in NYC and said all they wanted to do was go to iconic photo-op locations. If that’s something your teen is into, then you’ll need to go to the intersection of Washington Street and Water Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Luckily it’s a fun area where you can also check out Brooklyn Bridge park and the free rooftop at Time Out Market. It’s also near an NYC Ferry stop.
This has been my go to drink since I stopped drinking and I never knew it had a name!!!
My kids love a morir sonando. It’s a Dominican drink made with orange juice, milk (any kind of milk, we like whole or evaporated) ,sugar, cinnamon and vanilla (sometimes with oats). It’s so refreshing over ice. There’s a thrift shop/café (you can thrift and order a drink at the same time!) Thrift n Sip in Richmond Hill, Queens that makes an amazing morir sonando matcha.
Why am I having flashbacks to Toby’s birth story?! When did he get so grown! What a handsome and well rounded young man he has become :) Love is going to pour in from his #internetaunties
1000% agree! I was like “wait, Toby!!!??” He’s so grownup 🥹 and then the pic at the bottom of him and Anton as littles. Heart bursting. Also…he’s just so…cool. Way to go Jo & co! 💞
A waiter at Musso & Frank introduced my son to a Roy Rogers! He was ordered a Shirley Temple and the waiter said, “May I suggest the Roy Rogers instead – much more sophisticated.”
Omg no way! What a small world!
Wow, what an awesome waiter!
What! I just bought grenadine the other day! When friends come over for dinner I offer to make the kids a Shirley Temple or a Roy Roger and it has killed. Everyone loves it! I’m delighted to be cosmically aligned with Toby in the mocktail department.
One of my favorite fun facts is that grenade is the French word for pomegranate. So grenadine is actually pomegranate flavored, not cherry!
what!!! I had no idea!! when we visit our relatives in England, we have drinks with cassis, which is blackcurrant (and the kids have ribena juice boxes: https://britishpantryco.com/products/ribena-blackcurrant-mini-ready-to-drink-juice-box-250ml) — it’s so good.
Well! There’s vraie grenadine which is the original pomegranate syrup and I think typical grenadine as found in the supermarket these days is more like its own general fruits rouges flavour? Idk paraphrasing a very old memory of a conversation with my French mil 😅, maybe Agnes will help us out.
Because of Joanna’s comment about black currant flavored things, I simply must recommend this episodes of the podcast Gastropod (“food through the lens of science and history”), that explains the history of how we in the US don’t have many currants or currant flavored things: https://gastropod.com/ask-gastropod-americas-forbidden-fruit-and-forgotten-first-soda/
If anyone wants to experiment, you can sometimes find pomegranate juice concentrate (a sweet product, not with the tart flavor of pomegranate molasses) out there. I’ve used it to make Fesenjan, the Iranian stew, but it would be delish in these drinks, I think!
I make my own grenadine out of pomegranate juice and sugar with a little lemon. So much more delicious than the stuff from the store!
omg love ribena. ribena and orange squash — two brit drinks that taste like childhood summers to me.
Yep! Cherry is a misconception! Real grenadine is a sweet and tart red syrup traditionally made by combining pomegranate juice with sugar.