Fast Food: Critical Hits and Bad Fumbles

[Jonathan of White Haven]

I'm ending (or trying to) a threadjack elsewhere and reconstituting it here.

What are your favorite fast food joints, and what are the ones you hate? Your faves and flops can be national, regional, and/or local dives.

Now, I'm not talking about regular walk-in and sit-down restaurants like Olive Garden, Red Lobster, or Ted's Montana Grill. You know what I mean--drive up, order up, and drive away 5 minutes later. Oh, they *can* be walk-in only, but the food and service (or what are purportedly food and service) is done in five minutes or so.

I'll start it off:

One of my favorite Mexican places is Chipotle, which is owned by McDonalds(!). The barbacoa wraps are excellent. My usual combo is black beans, shredded beef, cheese, and hot picante sauce. Simple, direct, and to the point. Drink choices include the usual fountain stuff, bottled juices, bottled water, and if local laws permit, domestic and imported (Mexican) beers.

On the other hand, a local/regional chain that I avoid like the plague it is--Spangles. They started out as a pretty decent hot dog and chili place ("Coney Island"--hardly original, but the food was good) with a few local stores, then completely changed their menu and adopted the current name, focusing on 1/3-pound burgers. (The burgers are fried up in advance, and dumped into pans on a steam table. Hence, my nickname for them--"drown-burgers".)

Their stores are garish chrome and neon piles, and the food I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy. And, as previously mentioned in the jacked thread, their inane TV commercials all pretty much feature the company's VP, Rene Steven, she of the nasal, slightly lisping voice. Along with members of her extensive family.

The only good thing about their commercials is that they frequently feature some cool cars and hot rods.
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"You don't understand, Beaufingle", said Lungwort cryptically. "You ARE dinner." -- M.M. Moamrath

[serleran]

Chipotle is good stuff, though I only know of one and is 3000 miles away from me. I also really dig Carl's Jr, for one thing only: their Western Bacon Cheeseburger (either the double or the $6 variety if that still exists) but they, too, are 3000+ miles away. After that, I like Sonic for their drink offerings, and this one little hellhole we have locally that is open nearly all dya and sells subs -- Jack's Steak-Out.
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Serl's Corner

[Treebore]

In general I hate fast food. If I have to go to one I prefer them in this order:

Del Taco (if one is even around)

Fillibertos

Taco Bell

Subway

Sonic (when around)

Jack in the Box (again, when around)

Wendy's

Burger King

KFC

and we only go to McD's because my wife is addicted to their fries. For everything else we go to the nearest listed fast food previously listed that we see.

In the last year I can say with confidence we have gone to a fast food less than 12 times. Probably less than 10 times.
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[Omote]

For national fast food chains I'm down with Taco Bell, Chipolte and Wendy's. Though I keep myself at a distance from them as much as possible.
For burger joints, there is a chain out in Cleveland (don't know ifit national or not, called Five Guys that just RAWKS.

-O
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Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[Fat Dragon Games]

Omote wrote:
For national fast food chains I'm down with Taco Bell, Chipolte

-O

I can't go to either one of those without spending an hour dropping brown swimmers off at the pool (aka dingle-berries, butt-output, butt-apples, butt goblins, the black banana, bowl-bombs, bowel-boulders, brown remnants, butt-clusters, butt mud, butt nuggets, caca, the chocolate hostage, colon cobras, chocolate crusty critters, the digestion defection, doodie, doo-doo, floaters, fudge turtle, grunt gobs, keester cakes, mooky-stinks, sewer serpent, butt slugs, the chocolate submarine, fudge tatertots and toilet orphans.)
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Thomas A. Tullis

Fat Dragon Games
www.fatdragongames.com

Castles & Crusades...more D&D than D&D.

[Telhawk]

I think FDG has done a wonderful job of ruining the minds of countless children out there - watch the crime rate go up next week, just watch it - but I think I'll have to nominate Subway as the premier stop. Having the soup and sub at that place (with the requisite Coke and a cookie or two) always makes me feel as though I've had enough to tide me over, but never to the point where I'm wedged in between the table and chair, breathing through my mouth and wheezing, "Can I get a hand here? Can't...seem to move...under my own power."

Although I do occasionally break faith, I will, every once in a blue moon (i.e., probably once every six, nine months) stop in at McD's for the Big Mac combo. This despite all my best efforts; I just can't seem to give up those days near-thirty years past when I was a once a day guy.

[Fat Dragon Games]

Telhawk wrote:
I think FDG has done a wonderful job of ruining the minds of countless children out there

LOL- I volunteer running a mentoring program for fathers for our local school district and am at the school 2-3 days a month working with kids k-8, where do you think I learned all of those wonderful terms? If anything, those kids have ruined MY mind.
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Thomas A. Tullis

Fat Dragon Games
www.fatdragongames.com

Castles & Crusades...more D&D than D&D.

[Breakdaddy]

Fat Dragon Games wrote:
LOL- I volunteer running a mentoring program for fathers for our local school district and am at the school 2-3 days a month working with kids k-8, where do you think I learned all of those wonderful terms? If anything, those kids have ruined MY mind.

No campfire horror story I've ever heard comes close to the terror I experienced upon finding out that someone unleashed you upon the youth of our planet.

[Fat Dragon Games]

Breakdaddy wrote:
No campfire horror story I've ever heard comes close to the terror I experienced upon finding out that someone unleashed you upon the youth of our planet.

The best part is I get the same kids from K until they graduate, now I can not only screw my own kid up, but other people's too! If you ever needed a reason not to send your child to public school, I'm it.
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Thomas A. Tullis

Fat Dragon Games
www.fatdragongames.com

Castles & Crusades...more D&D than D&D.

[Maliki]

I like them all.
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Never throw rocks at a man with a Vorpal Sword!

[Lord Dynel]

I like Subway, Taco Bell, and (if you can count it) Boston Market. I don't like Sonic (everything has the same flavor/taste to it, IMHO), McDonalds (except breakfast - I like me some Breakfast Burritos), and Burger King (though, if I had to, I'd choose this over McCrappers anyday).

[CKDad]

For fast Mexican food, Baja Fresh beats Chipotle and Qodoba like nobodies business.

Burger-wise, Five Guys is awesome. You need an angioplasty afterwards, but you'll go happy. I can only handle a visit once a month or so.
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"I don't wanna be remembered as the guy who died because he underestimated the threat posed by a monkey."

[gideon_thorne]

I don't go anywhere that has 'fast food' in the description if I can help it. I'd rather live past 40 and not donate my arteries to the highway commission. ^_~`
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley