Braum’s Is the Best Regional Fast-Food Chain | Eater

"Founded in Oklahoma City in 1968, this hybrid burger joint/ice cream shop and small grocery serves classic American comfort food—solid burgers, fries, and even chicken strip dinners with chocolate pudding—but the real draw is the ice cream: hand-scooped, offered in classic flavors like peanut butter cup and mint chip, and excellent on their own or piled into hot-fudge-topped sundaes and crunchy waffle cones. The chain vertically integrates its dairy and baking—milk comes from cows at a company creamery in Tuttle, Oklahoma, and burger buns are baked in-house—so its milk tastes notably creamier and fresher than typical ultra-pasteurized supermarket gallons, prompting many customers to make special trips just to buy a jug. A compact grocery section sells staples (eggs, butter, bacon, fresh produce), and refrigerated trucks deliver every other day to more than 300 stores across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri; new locations are limited to a roughly 330-mile radius of the Tuttle creamery. With a pink-and-navy, retro interior, nostalgic low prices (a double-dip cone is around $2), and most outlets tucked into small towns, visiting feels like a brief trip back in time and is a regional, well-kept secret worth the drive when one is nearby." - Amy McCarthy