Nut Brown Crown

It was a dark and stormy Friday night. After a sober dinner experience at Hand in Hand in the Virginia Highlands, a friend suggested that we go to Zesto. Zesto is a chain of fast food restaurants in the South has a restaurant in Little Five Points. I've seen Zesto's bright lights and empty parking lot many times as I've been in the process of being a patron at the local social scene of ATL. This night was slightly different as we drove to Little Five Points for the sole purpose of tasting some Zesto. My friend had described a soft serve cone dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles for a mere 50 cents that was intoxicating enough for us to show up with our appetites and high expectations.

We park. There is another car in the lot and two cashiers behind the counter. They look a bit bored in such an empty store. Inside, the patrons have just ordered and we walk in to examine the menu. Immediately I realize that there's nothing on the menu that's half a dollar. BUT, at this point, since I've expended no calories to alcohol, I belief that I need a taste of softserve. The women behind the counter seem slightly irritated that we cannot make up our minds. It is so cold inside the store that my friend leaves, staring at the menu from outside the store. Obviously at this point, the drab cashiers think that we're drunk/high/wasted. No way they would have thought that we were just bored. Laughingly, my friend calls the one standing outside a nut. From outside, she reads our lists correctly but mistakenly assumes that we've read someting on the menu. You see, at Zesto, there is something served called the Nut Brown Crown.

NUT BROWN CROWN. When I heard it, I thought that she was kidding and a genius for stringing those three words together. But then, after further examination, I realize there is something actually on the menu called Nut Brown Crown. Still, there is no explanation of what it is.

But who cares? At this point, I had to have a taste of what Nut Brown Crown in my mouth. It turns out based on illustrations behind the counter, that a Nut Brown Crown is a soft-serve cone covered in chocolate, covered in nuts. OOo delicious, but what an amazingly nasty name. Nut. Brown. Crown? Jesus. Think with the dirtiest of gutter minds to know what I'm saying.

someone's actual nut brown crown via flickr

After being served our Nut Brown Crowns, we walked to the end of the store to consume our quickly falling apart creations. It is a delicious messy treat for sure. It's a melty, creamy, chocolate-y, drippy mess. Our white creamy softserve covering the floor, we laughed as we caught and licked melting icecream off our cones. Upon mostly consuming our icecream, the cold of the store kicks back in and we go outside to eat the rest. As we stepped outside into the humid heat, two young teenage boys decided to tell us that they enjoyed watching us eat.

Essentially, they were hollering at us girls.

As we were eating the Nut Brown Crowns, I mused that the only thing more delicious than a Nut Brown Crown, could be a HOT Nut Brown Crown, which led me to want to say How, Now, Brown Cow, a practice in elocution that demonstrats vowel sounds. This visit to Zesto! proved educational, as until this day, I hadn't realized the potential delicious that is waiting during my Five Points excursions. I urge you to take a visit to Zesto on your own, or preferably with one or two friends.