Talk about fast food

[Calorie Mate]

Originally Posted by taosterman

You guys dropped me off once!

Yeah but it was at night and I don't remember.

[SlimJimm]

Originally Posted by Sven

Okay, important question:

What's a bigger sign that you're in the ghetto and should run like hell after getting your greasy food: LJS or Popeye's?

Church's

[Knight]

I love me some fast food, but I don't get to get it as often as I'd like.

McDonald's - My wife likes it, but I'm kinda indifferent to it. Their fries are tasty though.

Wendy's - We go here decently often, mostly because it's right down the street from our apartment, and they have good stuff on their dollar menu. I love me some jr. bacon cheeseburgers and spicy chicken nuggets.

Arby's - Another place we go to decently often because of the value menu. We just get a couple of arby melts each and we're set. No having to order it plain and check to see if they made it right.

Taco Bell - I love taco bell, but their quesodillas are way too expensive. I used to get 3 crunchy tacos and a cheese quesodilla, but then I found out the quesodilla was like $2-$3, and was basically doubling my meal cost, so now I just get the tacos. I also love this cheesy pita taco thing they have, but I can never remember the name. It's like, pita bread wrapped around a crunchy taco shell with cheese between them.

Sonic - I love them because they have chili. I get me some delicious chili cheese fries and a double cheese burger with chili. Occasionally a chili cheese coney instead of the burger if I'm in the mood for it.

Jack-in-the-Box - I used to go there all the time back when I lived in San Diego, but not so much now. I used to be a sourdough jack man, but then I started liking their angus burgers. Too bad they swapped out the awesome bbq bacon one for some nasty onion thing. I can still get it by just ordering a regular one plain with bacon and asking for bbq sauce, but they don't put it on for me anymore, and it doesn't taste as good because it's coming from a room temperature packet instead of a warmed container. Oh well, it's still pretty tasty, and I love to dip their fries in their sweet and sour sauce.

Burger King - I haven't gone there in years, but I remember them being kinda alright.

KFC - Used to go there once a month or so, when my wife would get a crazy craving for it, but then the "simplified" the menu and took away everything we liked, and we haven't been back since.

Chick-Fil-A - I love it, but they're way too expensive and the portions are kinda small, so I rarely go there.

Quiznos - My wife and I used to eat there like once there like once every few weeks or so, since we'd take a walk in the evening and stop there on the way home if we were hungry. Then we just stopped for some reason.

In 'N Out - They don't have any in Texas. I miss them so very, very much. ;_;

Five Guys - Only had it once because it was so expensive. It was pretty good, but greasy as hell.

Mighty Fine Burgers - Demonkoala showed me this place, and I liked them a lot. But like Five Guys, it's just too expensive.

Chipotle - I used to go every sunday, since my work's in-house cafeteria was only open on weekdays, and I felt like treating myself. But getting married but a stop to that. It's mostly because spending that same $8 would get me ingredients for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a month, but I know it's also partially because she hates the place for giving her spoiled sour cream.

[Nodal]

Originally Posted by Ample Vigour

KFC isn't just greasy and bland, the actual quality of the ingredients is about as wretched as it gets in fast food.

Except their potato wedges. They are so delicious.

[Paul le Fou]

I think the wait staff vs. counter is a big indicator of fast food or not. And also, it's fast. You walk in, look at the menu, order, wait less than 5 minutes, and get your food. It usually comes in a box, wrapper or bag instead of presented on a plate.

It's not necessarily a quality thing. In cities especially there are a lot of delicious fast food stands. LA is full of famous ones like Pink's or The Hat or Tommy's. Or my favorite little burrito cube, Chano's. Panera and chipotle and Five Guys and the sub shops and this little gyro place that was by my house for a while and the falafel stand in the west side market - those all count too.

[Lady]

but then there are places where it's not fast at all?_?

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

Originally Posted by Shawn

We have had this conversation a million times over, and it is worth having every single time.

For my money - and they do get my money, more frequently than I'd like to admit - Crown Fried Chicken...

...and after that, I reread it, and have been trying to figure out how I originally read that as "Clown Fried Chicken."

Originally Posted by Shawn

It's "halal fried", whatever that means, but I think it means they put opium in the frying medium.

It usually tends to refer to how the meat was slaughtered, sort of like kosher food. It may also have something to do with the oil used.

Sort of an Islamic law thing vs. Jewish; same nature of prayers and such.

Originally Posted by Balrog

Wendy's - I'm a boy that loves some chicken nuggets and Frosty's from Wendy's

Wendy's has kind of ticked me off by removing combos from the Value Menu. Not that I get by there often, anyway. Between that and advertising a sandwich they didn't even have yet...

As for the chicken nuggets, it's such a raw deal here. In the U.S., at least up to the last time I visited, 99 cents for six. Here, it's always been around $1.39 for five, and they've raised the price on that and other value menu items recently, so it's an even bigger rip-off.

Too bad, because I sort of liked those.

Regarding Quizno's: hate their business practices, as in advertising specials and coupons, and then not honoring them. Happens all too often.

...but I like their food, and I especially love their pickles. I wish I knew what kind they get.

Originally Posted by Shawn

I went to an A&W recently when we went to an upscale mall, for the novelty. It was really awful. I got a value meal that cost seven bucks and amounted to what was basically a McDonald's double cheeseburger and small fries for seven bucks. It was such a bad value. And the root beer - you know, A&W root beer! What they're famous for, and you would think would be at least a little special. It was really watery and weak. Terrible. Do not go.

Sounds like a bad location to me, which one must really take into consideration. Most, if not all of my A&W experiences have been good, from the prices to the food to the drinks. It's one of my favorites here.

Are you in Canada? Because that could be a difference-maker.

As for location, had Burger King earlier, at a location I'd never been to before (possibly never again; I've never been to that area before, and was only there for some medical stuff). Got a Spicy Chick 'n Crisp sandwich with onion rings, and it was just unusually bland for the most part. The sandwich was okay, I guess, but...

As for quality of food, I usually give a new dish or new place "two strikes," as I find that they will often get things wrong when it's newer.

Case in point: KFC introduces popcorn chicken. My mother and I went by there and got some when they first began offering it, and what we got were like these little balls of grease. Yeah, I know, but seriously: these were actually soggy.

My mom refused to purchase them again, but somehow I wound up trying them later on, and discovered that they were actually pretty good... when prepared correctly, apparently.

I can't remember subsequent instances, but I find the two-strike rule has served me well. If they don't get it right the second time, they probably never will-- or it's just that bad to begin with. But, the second chance has led to finding some stuff I did actually enjoy in the long run.

[Parish]

Originally Posted by Dizzy

Hmm. I ought to do joke dinners at Fazoli's. Dress up in a cape with a fedora and all that, along with my paisans. Fazoli's is classy Italian fast food.

Well, my McD experience was never that bad. Thank God.

Oh, I forgot about Fazoli's! Back when I lived in Michigan my family and I ate there once a month or so. That place is deadly. They have people whose entire job is to wander around giving you free bread calorie sticks, and said sticks are delicious.

[Kishi]

Originally Posted by Paul le Fou

I just don't like subway. The ingredients... they never sat right with me. I end up disappointed at their slightly soggy bread, their limp veggies. I like quizno's a lot more for what it is - lots of crazy sauces and weird recipes (chicken carbonara, oh mah lawd). But what I really went nuts over was this chain near my apartment in LA called Togo's. They had simpler sandwiches like subway, but they did it with amazing bread (Dutch Crunch, hello) and the ingredients always seemed really fresh and delicious. They had reubens, pastrami, hummus sandwiches... even their tuna salad was really tasty. Oddly enough, their meatball sub was the only lackluster one I had there.

Togo's turkey cranberry sandwich is the jump off.

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by Kishi

Togo's turkey cranberry sandwich is the jump off, ya heard.

[Chu]

I had Subway this week while attending a conference. It hit the spot for a decent enough sandwich, but it also made me realize that I missed Togo's. I didn't even go to Togo's all that often!

[Lady]

This is going to sound silly, but even though Wendy's new fries are far and away better than the previous incarnation, I'm going to miss the old ones. They were so good for shake dipping! You had to do it because they were so lame!

[Serephine]

Originally Posted by Lady

This is going to sound silly, but even though Wendy's new fries are far and away better than the previous incarnation, I'm going to miss the old ones. They were so good for shake dipping! You had to do it because they were so lame!

Speaking of discontent, what the hell Wendy's? 99 cent Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers are not supposed to cost $1.29! You are doing this so wrong!

I have no idea if these are located elsewhere, but in Georgia there's a chain called Tortas de Lucas and they are amazing South American fast food. Like, you can get a steak quisadilla with onions and basic spices done up in about 7 minutes from scratch (watch them open grill and chop up the raw steak) for 6 bucks, plus free sauces on the side. The menu is basically sped up versions of stuff you'd see in a sit down Argentinian or Peruvian place. I only found out how good they were when I was absolutely craving something while driving through the Hispanic part of town my Equidorian friend takes us to all the time to get authentic South American food(none of this Tex Mex bullshit, and he does all the ordering for us stupid gringos) and realizing I can't speak enough Spanish to order bread and butter, so I took a chance and stopped into what I gathered was a fast foodish place. It payed off!

[Daikaiju]

Originally Posted by Sven

Okay, important question:

What's a bigger sign that you're in the ghetto and should run like hell after getting your greasy food: LJS or Popeye's?

Crown. If you see one of these, your neighborhood has hit rock bottom or soon will.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

For the uninitiated: what's Crown?

[Daikaiju]

It's a low end Fried Chicken franchise native to NY, RI, NJ, PA, MD, TN and DC. They're easily spotted with their red faux awning signs with blocky white text. http://www.crownfriedchicken.com

[Sheana]

I've always been big on Wendy's, as I had family who worked for them for years. Their biggest stickler for me were the mediocre fries, but they've recently overhauled their fries in a big way, which has made me happy.

Upon moving to the Northwest, though, I've discovered the wonder that is Burgerville! I will be sad when the Yukon Golds go out of season (oh god I don't even like waffle fries what is this), but I am looking forward to trying the sweet potato fries.

[Violentvixen]

Originally Posted by Sheana

Upon moving to the Northwest, though, I've discovered the wonder that is Burgerville! I will be sad when the Yukon Golds go out of season (oh god I don't even like waffle fries what is this), but I am looking forward to trying the sweet potato fries.

Yeah, we had that on our road trip at Christmas. I had no idea what it was until Lumber took me there on a trip to Portland. Shockingly good. I kind of wish there was one on the Bend side.

I don't remember what season it was, but they had tempura asparagus once. It is amazing. Also a salmon spinach salad.

I uh, do fast food wrong.

[Reinforcements]

So apparently in the big fancy new shopping center there is a Qdoba and some place called Zoup in addition to the Elevation Burger. I, however, will continue to go to California Tortilla all the time, forever.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

I always liked Wendy's fries. There was just something about them...

I was worried the new fries might be too different, and while they definitely are different, there's still a hint of familiarity... perhaps from frying them in the same grease.

[Shagohod]

For fellow Arizonians: Filiberto's!

[Luana]

Originally Posted by Violentvixen

Yeah, we had that on our road trip at Christmas. I had no idea what it was until Lumber took me there on a trip to Portland. Shockingly good. I kind of wish there was one on the Bend side.

I don't remember what season it was, but they had tempura asparagus once. It is amazing. Also a salmon spinach salad.

I uh, do fast food wrong.

If Burgerville is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.

Seriously, portobello wedges? Fast food veggie burgers? Yes, yes, yes please. It makes me happy that the closest one to me is in Centralia, which is a good forty minutes out. (If it were any closer I'd probably turn into a giant whale.)

[Nodal]

Originally Posted by Daikaiju

Crown. If you see one of these, your neighborhood has hit rock bottom or soon will.

I just checked where the one in RI is, and it was exactly where I expected from your description.

[Daikaiju]

To be fair, I hear the food's decent. They just seem to pick these kind of neighborhoods.

[Nodal]

Originally Posted by Daikaiju

To be fair, I hear the food's decent. They just seem to pick these kind of neighborhoods.

But their website does link sharing!

[Wolfgang]

Originally Posted by Daikaiju

Crown. If you see one of these, your neighborhood has hit rock bottom or soon will.

Or you live in Philly proper. Because you can have them right next to incredibly upscale areas - even if your block isn't a ghetto, the next one over could be and it'll have a Crown. Delicious, drug-filled Crown.

[Daikaiju]

Well that's Philly's quirk. Neighborhoods go upscale to ramshackle and back again in the space of a few feet.

[Wolfgang]

Rattling off the fast food chains that are within one block* of my place:

Crown
Popeye's
Subway
McDonalds
Starbucks
Pretzel Factory
Dunkin' Donuts
7-11 (because I don't go there for anything other than food)
Rita's Water Ice (seasonal, so sometimes it counts)

And that's leaving out non-chain places, like the four pizza places, the diner, the two chinese places, the barbecue joint, the hot dog joint, the burger joint, the indian joint, the candy shop, and the big drugstores and various newsstands and convenience stores. And what's weird is half the neighborhood is decent and half is a ghetto, depending on what side of the street you're on. The Crown is on the bad side of the street, as with the ethnic convenience stores, and the bigger chains are on the other.

*I don't mean "near me", I mean "on my block". It's a wonder I'm not a lot bigger than I am.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

Nuts. It looks like Domino's, or at least my local Domino's, has stopped making the bread-bowl pastas.

That stinks, those were actually pretty good.

[Reinforcements]

Originally Posted by LBD_Nytetrayn

Nuts. It looks like Domino's, or at least my local Domino's, has stopped making the bread-bowl pastas.

That stinks, those were actually pretty good.

I always thought those were weird. You're filling bread with bread! That's not right!

I have to admit that Dominos revamped pizzas are a big improvement, though. Not good pizza, really, but better than crap like Papa John's at least.

Hmm... I should really find out if there's anyplace near me that does really good, wood oven pizza. I suspect there isn't, but I've never looked hard.