I like Jersey Mike’s because after living in the Southwest for decades, when one opened here in town, I could finally get a fairly decent cheesesteak like I grew up with in suburban Philadelphia. Not thrilled with their hoagies because there’s too much vinegar in their dressing, but the cheesesteaks are decent enough.
We have Whatburgers here, but I like Blake’s LotaBurger better. Their green chile is really good (specially grown for them in Hatch, NM) and they don’t start cooking the meat for your sandwich until you order. Plus they serve breakfast burritos all day. Their milkshakes are good too, made with real ice cream with flavors change seasonally: blackberry, raspberry, peach, cherry, mint Oreo, biscochito, pumpkin pie…
I get an Lota w/ green chile and cheese plus onion rings maybe 3-4 times/year.
The other place is Golden Pride Chicken. They serve breakfast burritos and these huge cinnmon rolls in the morning. Starting at 11 am, there are BBQ ribs, grilled & fried chicken and Mexican specialties. Their tortillas come from The Frontier Restaurant and are great. You can order a (frozen) dozen to take home.
When I went to visit D1 & SIL in CA, I took a dozen tortillas with me and D1 announced to her husband" We’re having burritos for dinner made with the REALLY GOOD tortillas from The Frontier."
For chicken, I’m a big fan of Popeye’s. We don’t eat it often but I’m fan.
I eat way less McD’s then I used to-- there is one near the soccer club office so nights i had meetings after running coaching sessions, it was a default choice.
I find Chipotle really boring-- I won a years supply of burritos (done as a stack of gift cards) and I ended up giving away most of the cards. For fast-casual Mexican my go-to choice is District Taco (DMV based chain).
For sandwhiches-- I like Subway when on the road. At home, I eat local and I tend to get about 1 sub a week for dinner.
I eat fast food most often when visiting family in my hometown in Southern California – Rubios, Miguel Jrs, Del Taco, and, of course, In and Out. A new entry is Habit Burger. These are mostly regional chains, but the national ones just never quite do it for me. On a road trip with no other options, I’ll have a filet-o-fish and a $1 Diet Coke at McDs.
We don’t have much in my small town, but we occasionally get subway ( always get the steak and cheese). The kids also like McDonald’s and Jack’s, Mcdonald’s fries are good if they are hot and fresh, jack’s has good bacon biscuits. We also have Cardinal (kind of like Sonic) which is good but the last few times it has taken forever to get my food, their fish sandwich is a fried catfish filet not just a fish patty like lots of places.
Normally when we have to go out of town for doctor, shopping, etc. we stop at an actual restaurant but if we are short on time or money we might stop at Arby’s (roast beef or french dip) or chick-fil-a (lemonade or milkshake, chicken nugget with CFA sauce and maybe waffle fries). I like Captain D’s but it always makes me sick (Long John Silver’s is better but we don’t have any of those left around here), my daughter loves taco bell but I don’t care for it. I used to love Hardee’s but most of the ones around here went out of business and then they changed their menu and did away with the roast beef sandwiches, the only time I have eaten there in recent years is when we stopped for breakfast on a trip.
Dollar Diet Coke at McD? Interesting. I rarely drink soda these days (used to do a few per week for bag lunch). , But I had it in mind that perhaps on our cross country trip I will sometimes indulged in a Diet Coke.
My kids still talk like Long John Silvers was the bomb. I’m sure they’d eat it now for a flash back. That made me think that the other fish place that used to be around (haven’t seen one in years) that I thought was better was Arthur Treachers.
We were liking Pieology but only once in a blue moon. We have liked Korean plate lunch takeout, where you can choose your side veggies. We also like a Thai takeout place that’s sort of fast food.
Have not been getting burgers or other fast food during stay-at-home. When we travel, H loves in-n-out burger. We also like 5 guys.
We are pretty much vegetarian, so burger joints and meat-heavy subs are not a great choice for us. We have gotten the Impossible Burger at Burger King a time or two while on the road, but prefer Panera and my husband likes Subway and my kids like Taco Bell (I would pick Panera over either of those). I like Chipotle okay, one of my kids loves it and one hates it. I like Moe’s okay too. Both the kids seem to like it all right. I would pick it over Taco Bell.
I think lunch on a gorgeous Carolina Blue sky day at Four Corners on the sidewalk patio watching the people go by on Franklin Street may be what pushed D21 to “leaning UNC” status .
Yes, the “Down East” vinegar-based variety (as opposed to the ketchup-based variety seen elsewhere, or the mustard-based variety that you can find in South Carolina). I haven’t ever tried the mustard-based type, but I love the vinegar-based barbecue sauce! (I won’t turn away the other type, though!)
Very little BBQ should ever be turned away IMO. Only that which is way too sweet and that which should be called “Manwich,” not BBQ.
Well, then there’s the meals that are grilled vs BBQ, but grilled tastes good too. They just misunderstand what BBQ is (as does Manwich, but I don’t like the taste of Manwich).
I love traveling and tasting all sorts of true BBQ. Dukes down in SC (I think) was a terrific fast food BBQ as is Marty’s in Wilson, NC. (Marty’s uses the recipe that was used at Bill’s - eastern NC BBQ.)
Dukes we just had for the first time on our Feb trip. We’ll definitely stop there again if we head back to FL some winter.
Marty’s we know well because we were Bill’s lovers going back to H’s youth.
One of the joys as a young associate who had to do a lot of travelling was the opportunity to hit diners, drive-ins and dives before that became a thing. BBQ is such a localized thing, but it was pretty much all great, whether the Carolinas, Kansas, Tennessee, Texas or parts in between.
I don’t know if anybody has these over there but, where I live (NC), this place called Greco Fresh Grille is soooo good. They are a Greek Fast Food chain. Their traditional lamb gyros are very large and the lamb is not as gamey as other lamb I have eaten.
As for a major chain, FIVE GUYS. Nothing beats havin a person literally scoop fries into a container then dumping fries into the paper bag…and we only bought a medium
.