It’s been almost exactly one month since Crave Cookies opened in The Sticks in Midtown. The gourmet cookie business has been compared to Crumbl, offering calorie-heavy, super-sweet, and insanely delicious cookie treats in flavors that rotate monthly.
While the cookie model is nothing new, it’s the addition of Crave sodas that perhaps best sets this shop apart.
I’ll admit—I, too, have been influenced by MomTok. Not in the sense that I’m following anyone on TikTok or invested in their dramatic lives, but more so in that I’m curious about their Utah soda shop orders.
Let’s back up. Dirty sodas are very popular in Utah, especially among the Mormon crowd, who don’t drink alcohol or coffee. Instead, they drink sodas almost daily. A normal Diet Coke, however, will not do. Soda shops sling what’s called “dirty soda”—soda combined with other syrups, creams, and flavors to create a more gourmet drinking experience.
If you’re not mixing cocktails, I guess this is the next best thing.
Swig is perhaps the most recognizable brand in this craze, brought to popularity at least in part by the recent Salt Lake City-based Hulu show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. And outside of Utah, soda shops aren’t as easy to locate.
Enter Crave. The franchise has locations across several states, including three in Las Vegas and the newest one in Reno.
While the cookies seem to be the main menu item, it’s the sodas I want to focus on, largely because they aren’t as easily accessible.
Perhaps the most classic “dirty soda” is what this business calls the Coconut Crave. Made with Diet Coke, coconut, and fresh lime, this is the dirty soda I’m reaching for every time—and honestly making at home, too. It’s not super sweet; it still has that Diet Coke taste (if you know, you know), and it’s refreshing.
This is just the beginning of a long list of dirty sodas on the menu, including almost every iteration of soda you could imagine (sorry, no Pepsi products). The Wasatch Classic is a sweeter version of the Coconut Crave. This one, made with Coca-Cola, is finished with cherry and coconut. While I say it’s made with Coca-Cola, staff made it clear you have full freedom to mix and match thousands of concoctions using their list of ingredients. So if you want your Wasatch with Diet Coke or even Fanta—the sky’s the limit.
The “favorite” items are listed on a board behind the counter, but there’s a separate menu with even more options. The Bomb Pop, for example, tastes exactly like a Bomb Pop (you know, those tri-colored popsicles popular on the Fourth of July). This one is made with Sprite, cherry, and blue raspberry.
A list of syrups, as well as purees and boba, offers plenty of room to create your own. Sodas are available in sizes ranging from 16 to 44 ounces.
While the sodas are a standout for me, the cookies are obviously a big part of the model, too. There are options to buy singles, four-packs, or larger boxes of the sweet treats. The board shows off the month’s flavors, which currently includes six options.
Those frosted versions aren’t my personal favorite, so I went the safe route, choosing chocolate chip and brookie. I’ll admit, both were delicious—soft on the inside with just slightly crispy edges—but should certainly be shared. I scoured the internet for nutrition information on Crave and came up empty-handed, so I’m just assuming they fall in the 600- to 1200-calorie range per cookie. If anyone has the real information, please share it below.
The other available flavors when I visited included Cinnaroll Poptart, Baked Butterbeer, Caramel Choc-O-Lantern, and Chilled Berry Crumble.
There’s also a mini fridge of grab-and-go drink options—but where’s the fun in that?
Crave is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, except on Fridays, when it stays open until 10 p.m.
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704b S Virginia Street
775-686-6901
