Fast Food Hoedown - Page 2

Ate at Roy Rogers on the PA Turnpike last summer, and will not again. Edible, but boring burgers, and my local BP station makes better fried chicken. Chick-Fil-A is fantastic, however. Caught them in Virginia on the same trip and was wowed. Best tasting & least dressed chicken sandwich I've ever had. Plus, waffle fries! As far as McD's goes, I go to one 17 miles from my home in Northern Michigan and I have NEVER gotten a poorly made or poor tasting burger. Possibly because this location is a little more rural and doesn't get a ton of business, every order is hot and fresh.

Why only 2 per year?

Damn you! and I'm also a fan of the chilli cheese fries. Holy balls they are so bad for you but sooo damn good.

As for milk shakes: Orange Push Up milk shakes rock.

Cholesterol, brother. Everybody has to start worrying about it eventually.

I used to eat at Five Guys pretty regularly. After I gave up fast food I still tried to eat there occasionally, but my stomach would get so fucked up from the grease that I had to give it up completely.

They fry the lettuce, tomato, onions and mustard with the patty.

No love for Long John Silvers? Their fries suck big time, but I love the fish and hushpuppies.

McDonalds- McChicken or crispy strips. Big Macs don't taste as good as they used to, but the fries are the best though. I get an M&M Blizzard once and a great while.

Wendy's- Jr. Bacon Cheesburger. Fries suck.

Taco Bell- Nachos Supreme, Half pound beef combo burrito, Supreme beef chalupa, or a double decker taco. This place really needs to serve fries.

Burger King- I used to eat the sourdough bacon cheeseburger, but they no longer carry it, so I no longer go there. Fries sucked anyway.

Usually if I go out to eat I'll get a buffet at Ponderossa, or I'll go to King's Buffet, a local Chinese resturant.

I've almost written off true fast food entirely, except when I'm really in a hurry and not near home. In that case, I'll go for one of Arby's Market Fresh sandwiches, which just seem healthier than the other options (for all I know, they're not), or Wendy's often just-okay, but sometimes divine, Spicy Chicken sandwiches.

When it comes down to it, if I'm going to have junk food, I'd rather have junk food that tastes good, which almost always comes courtesy of your local burger/gyro/whatever joint.

But I love that there's sort of a new, upper tier of moderately fast, somewhat healthier, definitely tastier places, like Qdoba, Chipotle, and Noodles & Co.

That's disgusting.

..and served in a plastic bowl.

Is In-N-Out not a national chain? Because it blows everything else out of the water, and I'm seeing surprisingly few mentions.

What is Fast Food? Thoughts:

1)Does it have a drivethrough? If so, it is almost certainly fast food.
2)Do you stand when you order? If so, it very likely may be fast food.
3)Is the packaging of "to-go" food conducive to eating in the car? For example the food orders are separately wrapped/bagged for easy access (fries are in a half-bag, not in a closed plastic container, etc.). If so, it may be fast food.
4)Do you get your own soda from a machine? If not, it can't be fast-food.
5)If there is no option to get a burger without putting fixings on it yourself, it's not fast food: i.e., not Fudd-Ruckers.
6)Does the advertising for the restaurant depict people eating in their car, at work, or other non-traditional food venues.

Some places won't let you dispense your own soda. Chik-Fil-A has their machines behind the counter, I guess to cut down on people getting too many refills.

No, just Western US, (CA, AZ and NV). Plus every store/location is corporate owned so no franchising. If one opened near me, I'd gain 50 lbs in no time.

Either that or to keep people from ordering a water and then filling it with soda.

I still don't understand the restaurants that ration their ketchup.

I mean, c'mon, its a condiment. If I want more ketchup I shouldn't have to ask for it. It should be out on the counter for me to grab at will.

Also, health regulations. Around here you can't have the dispensers that use a lever out in the dining room. It could be that the place uses the lever-style dispensers and they don't want to buy new equipment. Or they don't want to spend the money to put a dispenser out in the dining room in the first place.

I was a total Chipotle addict in college, and its probably a good thing there isn't one anywhere near me at the moment.

Apart from the main triumverate of BK, Wendy's, and Mcdonalds (of which I can only really stomach Wendy's) the main place that comes to mind is Chick Fil-A. We had one on campus, and it made for a decent quick meal when I was working.

As for the rest, I haven't heard of half these places, and have never had the (dis)pleasure of eating at some of the places I have heard of, i.e. Arby's, Sonic, White Castle, Taco Bell, KFC, etc. Don't have nearly as many options in the northeast as the rest of the country, I guess.

Another place I love is Popeye's, which IMHO blows KFC out of the water. KFC has the edge in mashed potatoes and mac and cheese (which Popeye's doesn't have), but comparing chicken to chicken, Popeye's comes out the winner. A couple times a year I get enough for three days and hunker down to eat my feelings.

Jesus, it's a good thing I workout as much as I do....

http://chud.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87904

The same.

They opened up a Popeye's in the middle-of-nowhere, Wyoming which confused me to no end. Why put fake cajun cuisine in an area where no one cares? To borrow a bit from David Cross, do you think that during Hurricane Katrina, people at Popeye's Cajun Chicken restaurants felt it a bit more than the rest of the country? Anyway, their naked chicken is pretty freaking tasty.

I put on weight just reading this thread.
Do you American Folks get "Nando's"?
It's a chicken place, fucking fantastic. Best chicken burgers there are.

I'd like a moment of silence for the cancellation of the Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch. I lived on those bad boys for most of summer.

To be honest, I hardly ever hit fast food joints anymore, unless it's a sub place like Subway or Firehouse. Lately I've been all about the Chinese food.

Nando's Peri-Peri sauce. The only condiment that can make your stomach lining disintegrate, what a beauty.

They sell Nando's peri-peri sauces at Albertson's here in San Diego. I like them. Unfortunately, we don't have the resteraunts.

Does anybody else think it's sad and scary that a thread about fast food is getting five times the postings that the thread for Good Night And Good Luck got?

And oh yeah: Fatburger.

Fast Food is more accessible.

yo sushi is a healthy alternative to burgers & fries. might just be a uk thing tho.

I think the Japanese have cottoned on.

My brief stay in Colorado gave me the chance to sample my fast food faves. I must echo the love for Chipotle, Que Doba, and Goodtimes. Goodtimes Burgers were a soggy mess but the wild fries were worth the trip to the cardiac unit.

Gotta love Steak N Shake and Whataburger. Whataburger's breakfast wraps are incredible.

There's a joint called Fatburger? That kinda makes me hungry, honestly.

And yeah Charlie - Whataburger has excellent breakfast wraps. Much better than Sonic's.

Church's - spicy chicken and honey glazed biscuits

Schlotzky's - Barbecue chicken pizza with jalapenos

Wendy's - Mandarin chicken salad

Taco Bell - Baja Chicken Chalupa

Panera - steak sandwich on ciabatta bread

Arby's - Market Fresh Turkey sandwich

Red Robin - Bottomless basket of homemade fries. The best idea a restaurant has come up with to date.

The Krystal Chik sandwich is a little piece of deep-fried crack for me. Holy ass! And the Spicy Chik is even BETTER, with Tabasco IN THE BATTER.

And I've got to give some love to the new DQ Grill'n'Chill places. They really make a tasty burger, and the rest of the menu is top notch.

Well this makes me want to go to In-n-Out.

That is fuckin awesome.

In-N-Out do great customizable burgers but their fries are awful. Fatburger and Original Tommy's are better all rounders.

non chain: Father's Office in Santa Monica can't be beat.

Olive Garden: Terrible hamburgers.

Thats right, they even serve real hamburgers, too. So, y'know, if anyone ever gets tired of whatever that stuff is that they put on a bun at most places.

My favorite thing about Fatburger is the number of options they have for things to put on it. I like the fried egg. Probably got that from my dad.

Hehe, never tried that. But I'm a wimp who didn't even try relish on a burger until I went there. And even then I was stamping my feet and doing the poopie dance.

I love a fried egg on a burger. It's surprisingly delicious. A fried egg and covered with ranch. Mm-hmm.

I like it with tabasco. Especially the chipotle tabasco.

Couldn't agree more. I also prefer Moe's WAY more than Chipotle.

I prefer Sonic over Wendy's (and don't think they taste anything alike). BK is shit; not a fan of Hardee's anymore either (liked it in college, not so much now).

I also think Krystal kicks the shit out of White Castle, but I'm sure a lot of folks think they taste a lot alike.

All of this being said...we try like hell to stay far away from fast food. It's all crap. If anything, we'll pull into Taco Bell for a couple of bean burritos with no cheese or something.

Damn them for making it too easy for us!

Also, there's a Mexican place here in Orlando called "Beto's". If you are ever in town, I HIGHLY recommend it. Silly cheap, made to order, fast, insanely big portions, and the best "fast-food" Mexican you'll ever eat.

There are two that I know of here in town. Oh, and they're open 24 hours. Man, if I had one of them while I was in college, I would have died a LONG time ago.

Reading this is really making my heart hurt, and yet I suddenly have a craving for Mcdonald's...

I used to love KFC back in England, tried it when I moved here & it was awful. Didn't taste anywhere near as good & no fries!! WTF?? UK KFC fries were ace!

I really hate McDonalds but I will agree that their fries are the best (when hot).

One place I did like was El Pollo Loco in Arizona. Nice twist on fast food, good chicken served with just about anything you want including good veggies. Wish there was one close to here.

Whereabouts in Orlando?

Somebody mentioned Schlotzky's -- every single one I knew of in Orlando closed down, which is a shame, because they rocked the house.

I had an old girlfriend who hyped Sonic to high heaven, but we didn't have any in Orlando until a few years ago. The burgers disappointed me, but I will spill blood for those tater tots.

And nothing beats the broccolli cheese soup in the sourdough bread bowl at Panera.

We used to have Jack in the Box here in Florida when I was a kid, I remember the Jumbo Jacks being the size of a small plate. In fact, all the major burger chains had bigger burgers back then.

And let me chime in with some love for Fazzolli's -- when you want Italian faster and uglier than Olive Garden.

I haven't eaten fast food breakfast in years. It never settled right with me, so I tend to avoid it.

I haven't been to McDonald's in over a year and the few times that I do eat fast food, I usually head to Burger King or Wendy's, usually because I have rarely had a bad experience at either chain and their food is usually tasty.

Last week, I went to dinner with some friends to a place called Five Guys Burgers. The burger was quite delicious for the price (less than $5) and I ordered a regular fries for $1.50 and they literally filled a small paper bag about halfway full of them. And they this awesome cajun seasoning on them.

Lately, I have been partial to a local BBQ place called Mutt's. For $6-$8, you can get an assload of BBQ pork or chicken with two sides, three hushpuppies and a bun. And they also have about 5-6 different kinds of sauce. I usually get green beans and macaroni as my sides, but they also have this divine sweet potato crunch stuff. A few months ago, I went to their Sunday buffet and they had everything imaginable.

I agree, but they occasionally have good specials on their $3+ sandwiches.

The other night on TV I saw an ad that said you can get two Bacon Chedder Melts for $3 right now.

I had Taco Cabana for the first time about a month ago when I visited billylove. For $8, I got a lot of food and it was much tastier than Taco Hell. He and his co-worker/friend that tagged along couldn't even finish their meals.

Fazoli's is pretty good for fast food Italian, though its been a while since I've had it. I just always thought it was funny that it's an Italian joint headquartered in Kentucky and run by a Japanese CEO.

One is at the corner of 436 and 17/92, the other is on OBT, close to the Florida Mall. About a mile North I'd say.

Give it a run and let me know what you think. I like everything they have, but there are three things I highly recommend - the carne asada burrito, the carne asada fries, and the rolled tacos. Unless you have an absurd appetite, you can't get them all at once, though. You'll see when you go...