Drive-Thru Gourmet

New fast-food inspired ice cream is an intriguing blend of french fries and milkshakes

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This week, I reached out for a pint of Milkshake & Fries Awesome Ice Cream from Coolhaus — the California-based ice cream artisans — available in supermarkets across the country.

Hold on, Milkshake & ... what? Fries?

Okay, I'll bite.

Here's the Milkshake & Fries ice cream breakdown: salted Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, shoestring French fries, and chocolate malt balls.

Yes, there are real, actual McDonald's-style skinny fries packed into the pint. In fact, "shoestring potatoes" are the No. 5 ingredient listed on the carton, behind milk, cream, sugar, and non-fat milk. You get salty fries in every spoonful.

Total calories: 200 (per 1/4-cup serving). Fat grams: 11 g. Sodium: 60 mg. Carbs: 22 g. Dietary fiber: 0 g. Protein: 4 g. Manufacturer's suggested retail price: $6.99. Expensive.

Coolhaus was founded in 2008 by Natasha Case and Freya Estrella, who baked cookies and made ice cream at home, bought a clunker van and hit the streets of Southern California. Yadda yadda, a decade later Coolhaus pints and treats are in 6,000 grocery stores across the U.S., plus ice cream trucks patrolling Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York.

Vanilla? Chocolate? How ordinary. Coolhaus makes imaginative and unusual flavors like: Chocolate Molten Cake, Dirty Mint Chip, Campfire S'mores, Salted Caramel, Bananas Foster, Buttered French Toast, and Street Cart Churro Dough. If you can't find 'em in a local supermarket, you can order online.

If Milkshake & Fries is a weird name for ice cream, consider its original name was "Fast Food." Coolhaus says the flavor was inspired by "the genius idea to dip a French fry in a milkshake" to achieve a "magical, ultimate sweet and savory moment."

Yeah, I get it, salty and sweet is a big deal these days. I have seen people, mostly teens, dip fries into their Frosty at Wendy's. But just because you have salty in one hand and sweet in the other, it's not a guaranteed go-together. Bon bons stuffed with anchovies...Russell Stover isn't interested.

Even so, dipping a freshly fried fry into a cool creamy shake is not the same as digging a spoon into old cold fries buried in hard ice cream.

But Coohaus is trying, good for them. Next time, take home a pint of Chocolate Molten Cake. That's your smart play. I found a piece of chocolate in my pint bigger than a Chunky Bar.

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Ken Hoffman reviews a new fast food restaurant item every Wednesday. Have a suggestion or a drive-thru favorite? Let Ken know in the comments or on Twitter.

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Money Matters

This is the income you need to live comfortably in Texas in 2026

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Single U.S. adults need at least $80,000 to live comfortably; in Texas, the figure is much higher.

A new national report looking at the income it takes to live comfortably in each of the 50 states has revealed Texans need to earn slightly less now than a year ago.

SmartAsset analyzed what a single individual, as well as family of four, must earn to cover minimum basic needs adjusted using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. The resulting estimate represents the annual, pre-tax income needed to live comfortably in every U.S. state.

A single, full-time worker needs to make $90,563 to live comfortably in the Lone Star State, the report found, which is down a meager 0.2 percent from last year ($90,771).

Under the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, that means a single Texas earner would have $45,282 to spend on necessities like housing and utilities, $27,169 for discretionary spending, and $18,113 for emergencies or retirement savings.

Texas ranked 34th nationally in SmartAsset's list of states with the highest income needed for a single adult to live "in sustainable comfort" in 2026. Only five other states — Tennessee, Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi — saw a decline in the income needed to live comfortably this year.

For a family of four to live comfortably in Texas, income requirements change significantly, according to the findings. To support a two-child household, a family needs $203,424 in combined total household income to be considered financially stable. This is down slightly from 2025, when SmartAsset reported a family of four in needed $204,922 to live comfortably in Texas.

This is a comfortable lifestyle for a family of four in Texas, according to the report:

$101,712 dedicated to necessities and living expenses
$61,027 dedicated to discretionary spending
$40,685 dedicated to emergencies, savings, or debt repaymen

According to the report, a family of four now needs to make at least $200,000 to live comfortably in 40 U.S. states, a figure that is far out of reach for many American families.

"As housing, grocery, transportation and other essential costs pressure household budgets, earning a six-figure salary no longer guarantees financial comfort in much of the U.S.," the report said. "A single adult now needs at least $80,000 a year to live comfortably in every state, while the threshold exceeds $100,000 in nearly half of states. For a family of four, the income needed to live comfortably is as much as $329,000."

Still, earning the minimum income to live comfortably in Texas doesn't guarantee financial stability in the Lone Star State's major cities. Earlier this year, SmartAsset determined single residents in Houston need to make about $90,000 to qualify as financially stable, while families of four need around $205,000.

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