Fast Food: Search & Destroy

The absolute winner out here, though, no contest: Taco Mesa. The Mexican fast food locale of the gods. It's starting to expand quietly throughout the county and hopefully beyond -- I regularly eat at the main restaurant at least twice a month if not more.

Togo's was really wicked good too there. However, the one near Penn Station in NY is really awful, so I don't know if maybe it was just the one version by me that was really wicked good.

Sonic was great for its drinks - the cream pie shakes were so fantastic, and those berry concoctions are to die for.

In terms of national fast food, Wendy's is the best. The garden veggie pita is fantastic, their fries are wicked, and they're the only one that sells raspberry iced tea, which is important if you're a non-soda-drinker like me. Unfortunately, there are no Wendy's within walking distance of my apartment.

The problem for me is that in NYC we don't really have fast food. We have loads of take out places though, but that certainly wouldn't count.

Taco Bell is mediocre; would be better if the service were anywhere near adequate. We have Checkers, which has wicked seasoned fries swimming in grease. Wendy's gets props for having the most options besides burgers (salads, baked potatoes, chili, pitas); KFC wedge fries rule.

DESTROY: Burger King for: the pieces of cardboard they pass of as fries; burgers that taste as if they have been sitting in the microwave for 6 hours; drive through attendants who are experts in mumble; subjecting me to pokemon toys for months at a time, and, mainly for not even recognizing the irony of selling Chicken Run toys in their kids meals.

See, that's more what makes me unable to tolerate fast food (apart from the fact that their veggie burgers make me vomit) - it's the damned STINK of boiling fat. I worked at a McD's for about 3 months, when I was 15 and couldn't get a job anywhere else, and no matter how long I spent in the shower, I could not rid myself of the stink.

If you order Taco Bell meat, you're in trouble. (I heard rumors they place mealworms in the meat as a source of protein & to keep it fresh - it's fun to gross out people with those types of stories.) If you order the beans, you should know that, pre-hydration, the beans look like shriveled rabbit turds. The chicken is OK. The nacho cheese is Death by Lactose. Mmm...

God damn the West Coast and their superior taco restaurants.

What does the UK have for fast food? I remember a nice Burger King in South Kensington one block away from a posh auction house. And McDonald's, of course. (Why won't those bastards open a Wagamama's in the US, though?! Good food, and trendy as fuck - the New Yawkers would LOVE it to DEATH.) (Wagamama's isn't fast food, though. But it's an above-average noodle joint, complete with cramped high-school- cafeteria seating and an image-damaged wait staff.) (But I digress.) (And I know I spelled it wrong.)

Please note that service should not reflect on food quality. If you're looking for service, avoid neon signs and plastic cups.

Ned: There's someone I know from the West Coast that pines for those type of taco joints incessantly. Why he moved from Cali to Cape Cod, I don't know. Given that he'll probably be moving back to Cali in the very near future, maybe he didn't know, either.

Reminds me of an ESPN commercial - "I like chicken! I like donuts! I like Rusty's All You Can Eat Chicken & Donuts!"

And I'm not sure that's roast beef you're thirsting after, Michele, but damn, that au jus makes it so scrumptious. Too bad Arby's Curly Fries stink.

And, no, Ned, I have no idea why my friend moved from a happening place like Cali to a tourist-trap dead-to-the-world suburb like Cape Cod.

And, my god, Leslie, I do hope you have that Delete button handy. I would think only sadists would actually want to receive EVERY POST from this board.

My favourite UK fast food trend has got to be the [Insert Name Of Southern US Place] Fried Chicken. The first time I saw a Tennessee Fried Chicken, I nearly fell over laughing. I have since seen Dallas Fried Chicken, Louisiana Fried Chicken, Atlanta Fried Chicken... even NYC Fried Chicken, just down the street from the Garage. Pure hilarity!

99p?? Mmmmm... *quality* food. No ta, untill Fast Food emporiums start selling, um, bouze - like they do in continental Europe - it's pub grub for me every time.

Burger King's 'Chunky Chips' are quite more-ish, though.

I don't even think we have Taco Bell within the Chicago city limits. I'm sorry, I can't deal with the Bell - we have too many awesome family-owned burrito places for me to ever consider going back to the Bell.

About that fast food smell - McDonald's is the worst for that. It's the beef flavouring that they put into the oil (to make the taste consistent with when the fries were done in beef tallow) - blearghhh. During my fast food tour of duty I was a cook for Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips. Now the smell of fried fish is *so* lovely let me tell you...

Subway's veggie and cheese subs rock - especially now that they've added all those fancy ass new breads. Dairy Queen, ironically, makes the best cheeseburgers. A&W is a close second. Harvey's Hamburgers aren't - but hey, if you like soy. Licks is good but weird and expensive.

I also like that Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich. Speaking of spicy chicken - has anyone else ever had a Nando's chicken sandwich? Oh so yummy! Unfortunately, all known outlets here appear to have closed.

I can't stand 'hamburger' places cos i make much better burgers at home, they have some remote connection with a cow and not cardboard in artificial beef dripping substitute. although wendy's was good when it existed in the UK. When i used to work on Regent's street, we'd wander up there some times for lunch. Square burgers rock

But here its just really pizza for fast food, big slabs with anything you fancy, a personal favorite is just plain with onions, not tomato or cheese or anything just onions and salt. Or big fat calzone. Or farinat which seems to be pareticular to here being like a fluffy potato cake done in the pizza oven.

But I've just remembered the ultimate in fats food, availible only in two places in the world. Behine the Duomo in milan and in Theobald's Place in London. Panzerotti, like a savory doughnut filled with mozzarella and tomato, sometimes other thing. They also do things like deep fried rice and cheese balls or potato and cheese tthings but Panzerotti rule the fast food universe. I am eternally greatful to Ambrose for introducing me to them.

Best Transport caff is Ma Shepheards on the M6 just before it becomes the M6 on the southbound side just south of the Scottish border. Chips with everything tea and suspiciously flourescent fizzy drinks made by companies you've never heard of.

pea fritter

if anyone knows which chip shops in London do them please tell me, I haven't had one in ages and they're chuffing marvellous, a ball of mushy peas, coated in crispy batter, plenty of vinegar, gorgeous.

By the way, the Spicy Beanburger was an invention of the Wimpy Burger Chain over here in good old Blighty. These days Burger King do them as they bought out all but a few independent members of said chain.

Wimpy also does (did?) a round sausage in a burger known as a Bender. What times we lived in back in the seventies. That said, nothing better than seeing a gig at the Brixton Academy and then having a Bender in the Wimpy.

If you are in Australia DO NOT have a KFC, I don't know what happened in the journey over there but it isn't the KFC of the UK.

Speaking of the (insert Southern US State)/Dixie Fried Chicken phenomenon. The best name I've ever seen is the chain in Manchester known as "McTucky". Utter, UTTER, genius.

They have this enormous Golden Krust warehouse in the Bronx. I see it everytime I take the train up to White Plains. And yer right ... Golden Krust patties are the best cheap-eats in NYC (they have a stand under Grand Central).

They also had one of the most hilarious ad campaigns a few years back, when I guess they were starting to franchise and they were trying to get West Indians to set up Golden Crust franchises (because the ads were on an NYC West Indian/ethnic radio station). Some guy with a really thick, exaggerated Jamaican accent, shouting "IMAGINE! WHAT A WONDERFUL TING! GOLDEN CRUST PATTIES! ALL OVER AMERICA! YES!" Ads don't get better than that, I tell yas.

Sonic brings the value menu just in time.

Do you think that McDonald's gives you good value for your money? Like, if you were poor, would you eat there a few times a week?

i am poor and i never eat there so

dosa place that sells giant vegetable curry for $2.50 oth

i was poor last year and it was definitely more tempting in terms of value for money IF i had to eat out because i didn't have time or groceries at home to pack food, but rather than getting to the point of "a few times a week" i'd just try to make sure to have more rice & beans or spaghetti leftovers around, which is cheaper and better for you in the long run. (now i am at a point where i can stick to the same weekly budget as last year and have a little money left over, but i still cook cheap food and eat leftovers most of the time. and the only fast foods i eat repeatedly are $3 big pieces of pizza, $2 bagels, and $5 burritos, none of which cost more than mcdonald's.)

(i mean "more tempting" than, say, a place where a sandwich or salad is $7-10. there weren't any really cheap places where i lived.)

I just ate Wendy's for the first time in a long time -- they have these "natural-cut fries" now that are pretty good; however, I made the mistake of ordering the value chicken sandwich, not realizing it was different from the fillets and clearly made from that mashed up chicken goop. I can't decide if the sickness I feel now is real or psychological.

Sonic's Summer of Shakes is a dangerous thing.

the chicken burger at larkburger is so goddamn amazingly delicious and beautifully presented, it's the best chicken sandwich i've ever had. i have no idea how any of their other food is because i order the chicken burger and nothing else every time- i don't want any other food messing up its perfection. maybe more fast casual than fast food. it's not really a burger either, it's a spicy chicken breast marinated in adobo served with l, t, o, and cilantro. damn.

Shake Shack cuts out its human cashiers at Astor Place NYC. Your "order ready" goes to your phone (not mine).

http://gothamist.com/2017/10/02/shake_shack_ditches_humans.php

i am sitting in my car at a sonic right now... the layout of this restaurant is so tilting. you pull right up to a touchscreen but you can't just type in yr order, you have to use the old school shitty intercom thing anyway? then eventually when yr carhop walks up with yr corn dog or whatever, they have to maneuver the order to you in an odd, painstaking manner bc your window is entirely blocked by the screen thing? whyyyyyyyy

had no idea Hot 'n Now still existed. Granted, it's just one location, but I ate at my local one at a lot in the early 90s.

love thinking of old obscure fast food joints.

also, one of my favorite "wtf" fast food stories: https://www.cracked.com/article_28014_the-crazy-story-fake-burger-king-in-pittsburgh.html

and....this one

https://www.lamag.com/digestblog/sweet-dixie-kitchen-in-long-beach-is-serving-popeyes-chicken-again/

I miss Long John Silver.

My sister worked at one many years ago and used to smuggle out those crispy bits of crust for me, the ones that accumulated at the bottom of the case. It was actually quite a complicated operation .

Big deal, that stuff was such a hot commodity that theft was immediate grounds for firing!

It was a different time, the dying days of the Cold War.

I go online and now I see that the remaining LJS sell the crumbles.

But BITD, they were NOT TO BE EATEN! Customers asked for extra crumbles all the time.

I now realize the managers probably took them home at night and sold them on the black market.