The Smoothie: It's a simple and satisfying combination. Fruit, juice, maybe some yogurt, a scoop of protein powder -- blend and drink. Easy to make, but hard to perfect.
Instead of slaving over a loud blender trying to balance the flavors just right, sometimes we want to leave the dirty work to somebody else. So, we set out to find the holy grail of strawberry and banana smoothies in Phoenix.
See also: Fried Catfish Fight: Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles vs Jamburritos Cajun Grille Express
In This Corner: Bowl of Greens
The Setup: Stationed on the first floor of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Arizona State University's downtown campus, Bowl of Greens serves a variety of healthy food and drink choices. Since it is right on campus, it can be found swarmed with students.
The Good: We ordered the "Big O," which consists of strawberries, bananas, and orange juice. It was simple, with strong, sweet flavors. With a consistent blend so thick it practically wouldn't come through the straw, we couldn't complain.
The Bad: Really, we couldn't complain.
In The Other Corner: Mojo Bowl
The Setup: This bright yellow food truck can be found by checking Mojo Bowl's website, Facebook, or Twitter. It's all about health and serves smoothies, acai bowls, and salads.
The Good: We ordered the strawberry banana smoothie. Mojo Bowl takes the usual ingredients and then adds almond milk and blue agave nectar. This mixture makes the classic smoothie interesting, and it tastes like a liquid version of Fruit Roll-Ups.
The Bad: We like our smoothies thick and this one had a consistency of a slushy. And it wasn't as flavorful, probably because of the almond milk.
And the winner is... Bowl of Greens. Turns out, it's almost all about the thick blend when it comes to a smoothie. Strawberries, bananas, and orange juice made this one a simple treat and made our decision too easy. The only problem: The brain freeze we encountered when trying to gulp it down too quickly.
