Best Food Hells

[AlanC]

Taco Bell for cheap, Chic-fil-a (which has great breakfast) is a favorite choice as well as Schlotzsky's.

A few times a year I will stop at McDonald's for the fries, and grab a quater pounder. My wife is fond of Sonic. Our daughters (6 and 3) will not eat burgers or fries (odd, I know). They also will not eat Chic-fil-a. They love Schlotzky's, though.

 

[acidboy]

all trips to los angeles for me is not complete without a chiliburger and tamales from tommy's. its just something i had 20 years ago that i kept doing.

 

[faustian bargain]

Originally Posted by VersaceMan

Popeyes is great for fried chicken and biscuits. The jambalaya there is also surprisingly good for a fast food joint. Church's chicken isn't bad either.

...

i always liked Bojangles' chicken and dirty rice.

...

when i was a kid there was a place we used to stop on the highway in georgia, on the drive down to my grandmother's, called Katherine's Kitchen. they made the best country ham biscuits. oh man they were good. i wonder if that place is still there. they also made cherry cobbler.

 

[matadorpoeta]

j,

i saw sonics when i went to texas. i think it's a gas station that sells food.

or a restaurant that sells gas.

everything i've ever had from wendy's was nasty. ditto for taco bell and del taco. i used to like the turkey sandwich from carls junior, but they stopped making it 7 or 8 years ago.

i know a guy who buys tacos from jack in the box; 10 at a time for $5. he keeps them in his car for occasions when he's driving and feels like a snack. he says they last at least a week.

 

[j]

Originally Posted by matadorpoeta

j,

i saw sonics when i went to texas. i think it's a gas station that sells food.

or a restaurant that sells gas.

everything i've ever had from wendy's was nasty. ditto for taco bell and del taco. i used to like the turkey sandwich from carls junior, but they stopped making it 7 or 8 years ago.

i know a guy who buys tacos from jack in the box; 10 at a time for $5. he keeps them in his car for occasions when he's driving and feels like a snack. he says they last at least a week.

Hahah.. I'm pretty sure Sonic is a drive-in where girls rollerskate the food out to you, and I've heard the food is not bad.

Anywhere girls skate food around (or for that matter, without food, I don't really care) is a place I would probably go.

 

[DocHolliday]

McDonald's fruit and nut salad makes for a nice, small, healthy meal, or a hearty dessert.

 

[faustian bargain]

Originally Posted by j

Hahah.. I'm pretty sure Sonic is a drive-in where girls rollerskate the food out to you, and I've heard the food is not bad.

Anywhere girls skate food around (or for that matter, without food, I don't really care) is a place I would probably go.

i think the skating thing doesn't happen much anymore, fonzie. at least not at the one sonic i know of in the midwest.

 

[Nantucket Red]

The closest I ever come to a food hell is kaitenzushi, which is pretty damned decent by most standards.

 

[j]

Originally Posted by faustian bargain

i think the skating thing doesn't happen much anymore, fonzie. at least not at the one sonic i know of in the midwest.
Eyyy! Are you sayin' you wouldn't go to where girls skate you food?

 

[aybojs]

I'm from Texas and have eaten at Sonic a lot. They don't double as a gas station, they're just drive-in-only fast food joints. To "eat in" at Sonic, you have to pull into a parking space, each of which includes a speaker/menu setup like you find in any drive-thru lane. There's no skating involved, the employees just walk the food to you on a tray. The food consists of your typical American fast food items: burgers, chicken sandwiches and nuggets, hot dogs, fries, etc., but the main attraction of Sonic is its wide range of frozen drinks like malts, fruit slushes, shakes, and sodas with flavored syrup added. Most of the time I went to Sonic, I just wanted a shake or slush, and just got the food to accessorize. My favorite burger chain is Whataburger: great burgers and fries at reasonable prices, and, more importantly, it's open 24 hours. Same thing goes for Taco Cabana as far as faux-Mexican places go. I worked in bars last year, and I'd average 3-5 meals at each joint a week because they'd be the only late night/early morning options. Other fast food options I particularly enjoy (though not are all available to me) include Wendy's, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box (I agree with the praise for their tacos), KFC, Popeye's, Del Taco, In N Out, Chick-Fil-A, and Jason's Deli. I have to say that the very limited fast food options are one of the things that most annoys me about living in a college town. Here, they're pretty big on the whole "buy local; chains are evil!" nonsense, so the result is that the only real fast food chain we have downtown is Subway, and amusingly enough despite the mediocre sandwiches, it still offers better food, fresher ingredients, friendlier service, and more value than almost any other of the many sandwich joints in town. One last note, for anyone looking for a good list of local fast food/"greasy spoon" options, take a glance at Hollyeats.com. The guy who writes it is a pretty knowledgeable critic who posts on egullet pretty regularly, but he's refreshingly free of the annoying snobbery that is far too common in most food experts.

 

[j]

Originally Posted by faustian bargain

i think the skating thing doesn't happen much anymore, fonzie. at least not at the one sonic i know of in the midwest.
This is why I thought that:

 

[VMan]

Originally Posted by j

This is why I thought that:

Any place where I can eat some food and stare at some tig ol' bitties is A-Ok in my book.

I forgot to add Q-Doba/Chipotle as good fast-food spots. Sort of the bridge between Taco Bell and a real mexican restaurant. I think they offer some really tasty items. The burritos are great, the guacamole isn't bad at all for a faux-mexican restaurant (certainly better than that grocery store/deli stuff that's made with tons of sour cream and other fillers), salsas pack both flavor and heat and you can ask for multiples, and the tortilla soup is delicious.

My favorite burrito at Chipotle is the Barbacoa (spicy marinated shredded beef) with their pesto sauce (made with olive oil, cilantro, chiles, garlic, pine nuts), black beans, mild chopped tomato salsa and medium-hot green chile salsa, rice, and cheese. Great combo.

 

[Matt]

back when i lived in the US, I was Fatburger, In N Out and Jack in the Box in that order. Throw in countless nameless hole-in-the-wall Mexican joints run by some illegal who now will have to hide from both the national guard and Kent's lawnmower.. In Asia generally - Burger King for burgers, but cheap food abounds here, so dont know where to start. Singapore Laksa and Roti Prata are standouts.. In Vietnam we have no such distractions, indeed the entire place reminds me of hell with food some days. Anyhow, I have become addicted to Banh Mi Xiu Mai - at 5000 dong (30 cents) its really hard to beat.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Chipotle is McDonalds.

 

[shoreman1782]

Good thread. Chipotle is McD's (though I think it started small, then got bought). Most of the other "fresh mex" places are super-secretly chain owned, too. They're mostly good, but not <$5 cheap.

JonG, you have to admit, five guys is pretty damn good. They throw your burger and fries all in a brown paper bag, and the fry grease soaks into the paper. "That's your window to weight gain!"

No love for Arthur Treacher's?

I sometimes wish we had In'N'Out, jack-in-the-box, sonic, etc. here on the Atlantic seaboard so I could at least try them out...

I also like Weinershnitzel.

"'Welcome to Der Weinerschnitzel
May I take your order please?'
'Yeah, I want:
Two large Cokes, Two large fries
Chili-cheese dog, large Doctor Pepper
Super deluxe, with cheese and tomato.'
'You want Bill sperm with that?'
'NO!'"