OT: Guilty Pleasures - Regional Fast Food

[Guitar Geezer]

Phaeton..of course you know that Waco is the original home of

DrPepper

[jlampson]

Growing up in Ashland, Wisconsin, I spent many a day at Hardee's and many a night at Country Kitchen. Country Kitchen is the poor man's Denny's, or as we called it (we didn't know what Denny's was then), "Closing Time." Yes, this is where all the star players went after the bars closed.

 

In a town with more bars than churches and gas stations, there was Country Kitchen. In a town where there was no Wal-Mart, only PAMIDA, there was Country Kitchen. A city by the bay, with such a rich history but a poor interpretation of it.

 

----

 

Phil, when you go to In N' Out, ask for the fries well-done, or ask for "wellies." If they're cool, you'll get way better fries. I can't stand the default preset for fries they have there.

 

-----

 

Phae, I spent many days at Hardee's Playland before McDonald's came to town and quashed it. I was not around the Carl's merger as I left and there are Carl's here. It will be strange when I go back for Christmas this year. It will be the first time I've been there in 4 years.

 

I'm sure I'll be visiting Country Kitchen.

 

John

[Griffinator]

Unfortunately I live in a part of the country where innovation is completely vacant. We get new chain restaurants all the time, but they're all imported. I'm sick of chains.

 

Although, when I was living in NH we had the most killer chain pizza shop - Foodee's - bomb Chicago crust pizza with all kinds of killer topping combos.

[antimatter]

I'm within 5 minutes of at least 12 pizza places. I know which ones have the best heroes, specialty pies, pasta etc. I'm on Long Island, and from here on West to NYC, there must be thousands of pizza places. I like a thick crust, but not too doughy. Thin sauce and lotsa cheese. Pizza is like sex. When it's good it's great, and when it's bad, well, it's still good!

My favorite Chain is Taco Bell. Although it always does a number on my digestive system. Along those lines, No place messes my gut up worse than White Castle. That's one of those 2AM places that reeks havoc the next day. Back in my youth our late night place was Jack in the Box, which had these tacos that were soggy from the grease.

 

My favorite Guilty pleasure place is a Greek Cafe in Huntington, LI called Skorpios. Best gyro I've ever had. Thing weighs like 2lbs. and the yogurt sauce smothers the beast. I'm sure there are places in Astoria just as good, but this is the best on the Island. And yes, I've eaten a lot of Gyros!

 

That's it. I'm hungry!

[Fendercaster]

I guess the main Maryland entry is the Double T Diner. For many years, there was only one, in Catonsville, but they have expanded to a dozen or so sites over the last few years. Nothing fancy, just good food, and a convenient place for a late night meal.

[Phait]

No seriously, checkout this burger

http://www.eyeontime.com/cheeseburger.jpg

[Mats Olsson.]

--> perhaps you should have mentioned that the link isn't exactly work safe?

 

/Mats

[offramp]

Gotta give props to Lee on the Waffle House...forgot ALL about that (mainly 'cuz we don't seem to have 'em here in Colorado. Shame.)

Waffle House is truly #&*^$% awesome, for what it is.

I DI, however, have a bad 'fried food' experience there, one night many, many years ago, in high school. We'd been out drinking, got there sometime after midnight, and I ordered a basket of fried shrimp (always a fave of mine, that fried shrimp...). Well, I was doing just fine until I got about halfway through it and found a fried cigarette filter in the batch.

 

I stuck to the waffles and pancakes after that, thankyouverymuch.

[Botch.]

From the gastronomic Capitol of the world, may I present:

 

Fry Sauce.

 

It's half-catsup and half mayonnaise. Its eaten on burgers, hotdogs, and if you don't dip your fries into it they take some of your wives away.

We also have something called a "mormon muffin", but I've never tried one.

 

There was a White Castle outside the Oregon District in Dayton OH, but there was a small eggroll cart on the street that blew them away for "munchie food".

 

I wish I could remember the name of the burger place in Brookings SD, they were very big in Coca-Cola folklore (have a huge collection of coke bottles) and were known for their deep-fried burgers, ah!

[whitefang]

Regional junk food is becoming a thing of the past. Even some of the wider chains have evolved into generic forms. Take A&W, for example.

 

As long as there are still some of the drive-in A&W's around, I can still go and get on of my favorite drinks. It's a "Mad Dog", made half-and-half of the root beer and orange drink. And with two or three pickle slices on top. Go further out, and they may have a different name, but in most of the area A&W's, you can get them. And they've never been on the menu.

 

But go into the newer A&W places, the NON drive-in types, and they don't know what you're talking about.

 

We also used to have several Carter's Hamburger places around here, but they are fading fast. There are just two that I know of. Same with Daly Burger. We've had White Castle's around here for years, but they seem to be growing in size(the CHAIN, NOT the sliders!). There used to be a Top Hat hamburger chain, the burgers just like Castle's, but without the holes, but they're gone now. There was also a drive-in chain called "Dog'n'Suds", that served root beer and hot dogs, instead of burgers. The only one I know of now is still up in Cadillac Mich.

 

Man, I HATE to see these kind of places dissapearing. No matter where. You seem to lose a piece of who you are when that happens...

 

Whitefang

[offramp]

HOLY shit...I TOTALLY forgot about "Dog 'n' Suds"!!!!!

 

We had one of those, and I cannot for the life of me remember exactly where it was, but I CAN see it in my mind. I want to say on US 40, on the near-Westside of Indianapolis.

[whitefang]

Yeah, I understand they were a-plenty in the Michigan-Ohio-Indiana area years ago. Good food, too!

 

Whitefang

[m.l.p.]

back yard burger. Tastes like a grilled out burger. no grease, but its fast food. those ROCK. didnt know about them till i moved to tennessee. they got waffle or seasoned fries too. i used to be a sucker for Rallys, but havent seen one since ive been down south.

[zeronyne]

Within the Chicago city limits, often in depressed areas, there is Harold's Chicken. The hottest hot sauce ever to be placed on a bird, on top of incredibly greasy fries, all of which is sitting on 2 to 4 slices of wonder bread (so it won't soak through the paper plate and eat a hole in your car seat).

 

I used to eat it four times a week when I was going to college in Hyde Park (whoops, I forgot this is an int'l board...Hyde Park, Chicago). It was so bad for you and inundated with salt and grease that you could leave it out in open air for at least two days without it becoming more inedible than day 1.

[Blue Strat]

I discovered something friggin' awesome in Ely, Nevada; SCONES!!! They're a fried bread batter thing that you eat with butter & honey on them.

 

Also had this old native American lady served me a burrito once in Tubac, AZ. I've never tasted better Mexican food in my entire life. She grew the corn that the tortillas were made from, and everything else. It was all fresh, made from scratch food.

 

That's one of the things I love about traveling; the different foods to try.

 

When in Charlotte, NC or Savannah or Brunswick, GA, you should drop into Sonny's Real Pit BBQ. Awesome!!

[songrytr]

Originally posted by whitefang:

But go into the newer A&W places, the NON drive-in types, and they don't know what you're talking about.

Yep. We had a couple of REAL A&Ws here when I was a kid...car service and all.

 

Now we have one of those new-fangled ones...teamed up with a KFC for corn's sake! Just not right.

 

Of course, A&W was recently snatched up by Yum Foods (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silvers). Guess they needed something for the burger market.

[phaeton]

OLY shit...I TOTALLY forgot about "Dog 'n' Suds"!!!!!

 

I've got one 3 minutes from me in Richmond Ill....

 

I've never been to one, though. Not a humungous hot dog fan.

 

I think ppl have left out the Chicago-Style hot dog, whilst we are on the subject. You know, ye olde Vienna Beef with the peppers, onions, pickle, tomato wedges, relish and dill salt, all stuffed into a poppy-seed bun. Now *those* i can get into...

 

Only problem is that ppl get MASSIVELY offended if i put ketchup on them. I don't mean any disrespect- i put ketchup on everything.

 

It's the Universal Condiment!

 

Speaking of Chicagoland, there's also something called Portillo's that's pretty spiffy. Stuff like italian beef sandwiches, italian sausage, fries, etc. Most of it is actually probably not all that bad for you- roast beef and whatnot.

 

There's one in Arlington Heights Ill that has a complete and beautiful Model T Ford C-cab hanging from the rafters by cables. It's just a decoration.

[Tedster]

Originally posted by Lee Flier:

Ewww... Krystal just sucks. So does White Castle. Nasty.

 

But here in the South we have WAFFLE HOUSE!! It is a musicians' paradise. Open 24/7, cheap, and the food really ain't bad at all, especially the breakfast food. I think it's a legal requirement in the South that there has to be a Waffle House at least every 150 yards, so you will never be long in searching for one. Waffle House RuLeZ!!!

I love the awful, er, Waffle House. I like their chili over hash browns deal. Ughhh...disgustingly yummy. Great for long trips in a crowded van.

[Jode]

Originally posted by offramp:

Gotta give props to Lee on the Waffle House...forgot ALL about that (mainly 'cuz we don't seem to have 'em here in Colorado. Shame.)

Waffle House is truly #&*^$% awesome, for what it is.

I DI, however, have a bad 'fried food' experience there, one night many, many years ago, in high school. We'd been out drinking, got there sometime after midnight, and I ordered a basket of fried shrimp (always a fave of mine, that fried shrimp...). Well, I was doing just fine until I got about halfway through it and found a fried cigarette filter in the batch.

 

I stuck to the waffles and pancakes after that, thankyouverymuch.

You weren't at a Waffle House if they had fried shrimp and pancakes. There is not a Waffle House anywhere that has a deep fryer. If there was, they'd serve fries with their burgers and not hash browns. Sounds more like a bad Huddle House experience to me.

 

Ahh, Waffle House. Who else speaks the language? For example, raise your hand if you know what I ordered when the waitress calls out, "Triple order over well, scattered, smothered, covered, and peppered." Mmm mmm mmm. And screw all you latte-heads, there ain't a better cup o' coffee anywhere than Waffle House, and it's available 24 hours a day. Good food fast since 1955.

 

(I once went to a Drivin'n'Cryin show where they sold t-shirts that mocked the WH sign. In block letters on yellow squares, it read, DRIVIN CRYIN, and underneath, "Good Rock Loud since 1984." )

[phaeton]

wow you folks... all the talk about Waffle House, IHOP, Denny's and similar places has given me a taste for a lil restaurant round here called the White Fox Den.

 

It's not a chain or anything. Just got back from there. You know how it is sometimes (and this can mean 2:30 in the morning, too, btw) you just gotta have the Standard Breakfast foods:

 

eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, etc...

 

good stuff.

[Mark Zeger]

My favorite here in Rochester is the chicken dinner you can find at Sal's Birdland or Country Sweet. It's a half chicken, deep fried in one piece, smothered in a very sweet, gold-orange sauce that's shot through with crushed red pepper (depending on whether you get it mild, medium, hot, or very hot ). They serve the chicken on top of 2 slice of white bread with a big scoop of macaroni salad on the side (which I also have doused with the sauce). It's the kind of food that you can have without guilt only once a year.

 

Nick Tahou's is famous for The Garbage Plate. Basically, a pile of home fries or macaroni salad or baked beans, topped with either 2 burgers or hot dogs (no rolls, bread on the side), with a meaty hot sauce over the top. It's an end-of-night-drinking meal.

 

Another local favorite, but I don't care for it: the white hot, as in "hot dog". It's a descendant of the German weiswurst (sp), made with pork and non-fat dried milk , usually served slightly charred on the outside.

[Philip OKeefe]

The original A&W's were all over the place out here when I was a kid... and we loved 'em. I agree - they're not even remotely close to what they once were anymore.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, my wife is making me breakfast - eggs and ground sirloin.

[ihategarybettman]

Magpel, you're absolutely right about wings (nobody in my hometown refers to them as Buffalo wings). It's next to impossible to get the real deal outside of Western New York. I've had them elsewhere out of curiosity and been either disappointed and/or amused by how wrong they get them; my friends and I once bent the ear of a bartender in Chicago for ten minutes explaining exactly what was wrong with the wings we were served there.

 

Frequently, the mistake starts when an outsider says something like, "You know, these wings are great, but you know what would make them better?" I've seen clueless cooks around the country cover them in batter, bake them, put sesame seeds on them, and many other forms of heresy and to them I say "STOP! THOSE AREN'T WINGS!" First off, they MUST be deep fried. Second, they MUST come swimming in a sauce basically consisting of just Frank's Hot Sauce, perhaps a TOUCH of honey, and lots of butter (because deep-fried wings don't have nearly enough fat). The mistakes come when people try to complicate this recipe.

 

These misinformed souls should just remind themselves that chicken wings ARE NOT HEALTH FOOD.

[Philip OKeefe]

They're not? Next thing you'll be trying to tell me is that Hershey bars are not health food either. Sorry bud, but I'm not buying any of that!

[ihategarybettman]

My favorite local chain is Mighty Taco. The people I know either passionately love MT or don't care for it at all. Some people who don't go for the Mighty experience are those who confuse MT with Mexican food. While MT does serve tacos, burritos, and nachos, like typical Mexican restaurants, the fare is distinctly Mighty Taco.

[whitefang]

Hey, Lee Flier! When we travelled down to Laredo Texas to visit my wife's uncle, we stayed at a motel that was next door to a Waffle House. Saved the friggin' DAY! Good food, good coffe, good service. At least, compared to most of the other stops along the way. And speaking of IHOP, as somebody did, there was only one anywhere near where we live, and it's GONE! And good riddance. We started thinking the IHOP stood for "International House Of Ptomaine". MAN, it was awful!

 

Whitefang

[phaeton]

Some people who don't go for the Mighty experience are those who confuse MT with Mexican food.

 

Well, at least in my experience, *real* mexican food is basically warm corn tortillas with scraps of meat in them. Usually not overly spicy, most ppl might call it "bland".

 

I love it, though. I dig "simple" foods.

[jlampson]

In the poorer areas of Mexico, many consider meat to be a luxury that they can only afford to have once a week. It's unfortunate that with the preparation of so much meat for American consumption that some people cannot afford to eat a decent meal, vegetarian or otherwise.

 

There was a place I came across when scooting through Nebraska called "Amigo's" that was non-traditional Mexican food, but had some good black beans and stuff. Colorado Springs had that wonderful pizza place on it's main street with the whole wheat and honey crust. I've been looking for a place like that out here. Help!

 

John

[Botch.]

Originally posted by phaeton:

I think ppl have left out the Chicago-Style hot dog, whilst we are on the subject. You know, ye olde Vienna Beef with the peppers, onions, pickle, tomato wedges, relish and dill salt, all stuffed into a poppy-seed bun. Now *those* i can get into...

 

Speaking of Chicagoland, there's also something called Portillo's that's pretty spiffy. Stuff like italian beef sandwiches, italian sausage, fries, etc. Most of it is actually probably not all that bad for you- roast beef and whatnot.

I discovered these treasures a few trips ago in Chicago, I make a point to stop there at least twice when I fly out there now. Next trip, 5-9 April!

[The Bear Jew]

Alright, dammit... I'll be the guy from Philly who mentions Pat's Steaks... right in South Philly. You can get them at pretty much any hour of the day. Simply the BEST fast food you can get. PERIOD... With cheese fries, please.

 

And if ya don't like that action, Try frickin' Lorenzo's on South Street, right across from The Pontiac Grille. Now... that's some seriously WEIRD pizza... it's just awful, but it's addictive. They sell nothing but plain slices, and each slice is roughly a quarter mile wide. It's the lousiest pizza in the world... it's almost always 60% raw, greasy and messy, but after you eat a slice, you become a pizza zombie. You can't be anywhere near the joint after 10pm without finding yourself in a long-ass line, waiting for your chance to give those guys $2.00 for your own football-field-sized slice.

 

But man, I'd kill someone if we could just have a Waffle House near here... Waffle House is the fucking SHIT... Anyplace where I can eat t-bone steak with scrambled eggs, home fries (scattered all the fuckin' way, bitch!) and a big-ass waffle for $7.00 has GOT to be heaven. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.... Whenever we tour to The South, we all start celebrating and salivating as soon as we see the ol' "Yella & Black!"

 

We feed the whole band for $40.00, and nobody needs to eat again for the rest of the day. It's beautiful. Please... someone buy a franchise near Philly.... PLEASE... But you have to have a Southern accent to work there... that's the only stipulation.