We found dip cones — soft ice cream dipped in hot chocolate that cools to form a hard-shell cover — at Tastee Treat Drive- In, a longtime fixture on Main Street in Broken Arrow.

While there, we also ran across such items as oldfashioned hamburgers, home-style biscuits and gravy, cherry limeades, floats and malts.

“From what old-timers tell me, it probably started as a Tastee Freez in the late 1960s, and when it lost the franchise they just changed the sign from Freez to Treat,” said Steve Thesenvitz, who bought the restaurant 12 years ago.

Tastee Treat hasn’t been a drive-in for many years, although it remains part of its name. Thesenvitz figures it has retained its present format of a ninebooth dining room and drive-through window for at least 20 to 25 years.

“We’ve never changed the menu, either, or if we did, it was very slight,” he said. “We just try to be consistent and do a good job at what we do.”

Works for me. We grabbed lunch with orders of a double-meat jumbo burger with cheese ($3.89) and a grilled chicken dinner ($5.99).

The burger was a monster, with cheese dripping o5 the sides of the moist beef, and was served on a toasted bun. The chicken was a sizable portion of white meat that was both tender and flavorful.

The dinner came with a choice of baked potato or fries and a small garden salad. The baked potato was well-cooked and a nice surprise to find in such a small diner.

One of the most popular breakfast items is the Supreme Biscuits and Gravy ($3.49). This mansized dish includes grilled potatoes, onions, green peppers, ham and sausage mounded over a plate of biscuits and gravy.

“We have some manufacturing businesses around here that will order 10 to 20 of those to feed the workers,” Thesenvitz said.

The dip cones are a yummy treat. Of course, the only way to eat one is to bite off the top and suck the ice cream through the chocolate shell.

Because of the small dining area, Thesenvitz said the restaurant does a lot of carry-out and drivethrough business. Two picnic tables are available out front.

Thesenvitz said longtime employee Linda Nicolo5 helps keep things running smoothly.

“Her father owned the restaurant about 20 years ago, so she grew up knowing how everything is done,” he said.

TASTEE TREAT DRIVE-IN

1537 S. Main St., Broken Arrow, 251-5252

Specials

Weekly dinner specials at Tastee Treat are $4.99 and include chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes and corn, Monday; chicken strips, mashed potatoes and green beans, Tuesday; open-faced beef sandwich, Wednesday; and meatloaf, Thursday.

Lunch is served all day to accommodate night-shift workers, and breakfast is served to 11 a.m. Monday-Friday and to noon on Saturday.

Tastee Treat is just south of the main downtown area and across the street from the Broken Arrow Community Center.

Hours are from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday- Saturday. It does not accept credit cards.