fast food follies, part 3
Jan. 8th, 2014 12:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimac(part 1) (part 2)
It's already written, so I might as well finish it up.
Church's Chicken
I hate to say it, but this is a chain that believes that only ghetto-dwellers eat fried chicken, because I've never found an outlet anywhere else. Apparently they decided that East San Jose wasn't downscale enough for them (or was it that it had too many Mexicans and not enough Blacks?) because both their outlets there abruptly closed several years ago, and now there aren't any less than 50 miles away. In a way, I kind of miss sitting there in a booth, quietly eating my chicken, when some guy would slip into the seat on the other side of the table and try to sell me some cocaine. That never happened anywhere else. But the chicken was pretty good, a change from KFC in the days before Popeyes, as long as they didn't try to dress it up. Church's attempts at spicy or whatnot were inevitably disastrous. Just get the plain original chicken.
Long John Silver's
There's a local KFC which doubles as a Long John Silver's, and that's my only experience with it. I tried the fish. Once.
Krispy Kreme
A Southern chain which arrived here with great fanfare some years ago, temporarily generating lines even longer than the ones outside the new Chick-fil-A. Someone brought in some of the donuts to work and insisted we try their wonderfulness. Now, I like donuts, and I've been a regular patron of the local independent donut shops. The Krispy Kreme was the most repulsive, oversweetened, body-less, and utterly vile donut I've ever had. And that's when it was fresh and piping hot. Eaten when cool, it was far worse than that.
El Pollo Loco
I found this chain in LA in the early 80s, and then, like Popeyes a few years later, it followed me home. (The name may be freely translated as "Psycho Chicken," which was the title of a parody version of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer." I don't know if there's a connection.) I ought to eat here more often, because, as long as they don't leave it on the grill too long, the chicken is tasty, and it's unquestionably better for you than anything fried, but it is awfully expensive for what is just a little char-broiled chicken. I usually order an off-menu item whose existence I discovered long ago: the "wing-lovers' special" - 3 or 4 wings, depending on how generous they're feeling that day, plus the usual sides, for $5.
Boston Market
Another chain that followed me home - I discovered it when attending a late-80s Readercon in Worcester, Massachusetts, a city with, outside of the hotel, all the ambience of a bomb site and as many places to eat, so I subsisted on driving across the town limits to the neighboring towns which all had Boston Markets, and soon afterwards they started appearing here. It's another place I'd eat at more often if there were more around. The rotisserie chicken is always meltingly tender, even the breast meat, and there's a wide selection of tasty and healthy sides. But they should stick to what they know: recently they introduced ribs, and they were the worst ribs ever: so hard I couldn't cut them with a knife. I sent them back and got chicken in their place.
In-N-Out Burger
Another chain from elsewhere introduced here with great fanfare, to my mystification when I tried it, which I did several times to ensure it wasn't a freak occurrence. The burger was piled high with all the stuff I don't want on a burger, and the on-menu options were limited (I subsequently learned there's an elaborate list of off-menu choices, none of which quite do it for me), and somewhere hiding in among it all was a small, overcooked, tasteless beef patty. This must be the burger that the famous Wendy's "where's the beef?" commercial was intended to parody. On top of which, the place's name sounds like a laxative.
Baskin-Robbins
A fundamental memory of childhood that I hardly visit any more because there are hardly any around any more. What's it still doing on the top 50 list? There's better ice cream, but it was certainly good enough.
Wingstop
The only mystery about Wingstop is why I don't eat here daily, especially considering that the nearest outlet is closer to me than any of the others. I love chicken wings, they cook them well, and the flavorings are tangily delicious and work well with the meat, qualities conspicuously absent in most other chicken-wing vendors, many of which are really more like bars with chicken wings attached. Well, Wingstop is expensive - and doesn't have discount days - and I think if I ate here often, I might get tired of it, which I don't want to happen. So I save it for a very occasional treat.
Jamba Juice
There's one of these at Stanford, and a few times I've dropped in when I could really use a hearty juice. There's a couple of combo juices that actually don't contain anything I dislike.
It's already written, so I might as well finish it up.
Church's Chicken
I hate to say it, but this is a chain that believes that only ghetto-dwellers eat fried chicken, because I've never found an outlet anywhere else. Apparently they decided that East San Jose wasn't downscale enough for them (or was it that it had too many Mexicans and not enough Blacks?) because both their outlets there abruptly closed several years ago, and now there aren't any less than 50 miles away. In a way, I kind of miss sitting there in a booth, quietly eating my chicken, when some guy would slip into the seat on the other side of the table and try to sell me some cocaine. That never happened anywhere else. But the chicken was pretty good, a change from KFC in the days before Popeyes, as long as they didn't try to dress it up. Church's attempts at spicy or whatnot were inevitably disastrous. Just get the plain original chicken.
Long John Silver's
There's a local KFC which doubles as a Long John Silver's, and that's my only experience with it. I tried the fish. Once.
Krispy Kreme
A Southern chain which arrived here with great fanfare some years ago, temporarily generating lines even longer than the ones outside the new Chick-fil-A. Someone brought in some of the donuts to work and insisted we try their wonderfulness. Now, I like donuts, and I've been a regular patron of the local independent donut shops. The Krispy Kreme was the most repulsive, oversweetened, body-less, and utterly vile donut I've ever had. And that's when it was fresh and piping hot. Eaten when cool, it was far worse than that.
El Pollo Loco
I found this chain in LA in the early 80s, and then, like Popeyes a few years later, it followed me home. (The name may be freely translated as "Psycho Chicken," which was the title of a parody version of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer." I don't know if there's a connection.) I ought to eat here more often, because, as long as they don't leave it on the grill too long, the chicken is tasty, and it's unquestionably better for you than anything fried, but it is awfully expensive for what is just a little char-broiled chicken. I usually order an off-menu item whose existence I discovered long ago: the "wing-lovers' special" - 3 or 4 wings, depending on how generous they're feeling that day, plus the usual sides, for $5.
Boston Market
Another chain that followed me home - I discovered it when attending a late-80s Readercon in Worcester, Massachusetts, a city with, outside of the hotel, all the ambience of a bomb site and as many places to eat, so I subsisted on driving across the town limits to the neighboring towns which all had Boston Markets, and soon afterwards they started appearing here. It's another place I'd eat at more often if there were more around. The rotisserie chicken is always meltingly tender, even the breast meat, and there's a wide selection of tasty and healthy sides. But they should stick to what they know: recently they introduced ribs, and they were the worst ribs ever: so hard I couldn't cut them with a knife. I sent them back and got chicken in their place.
In-N-Out Burger
Another chain from elsewhere introduced here with great fanfare, to my mystification when I tried it, which I did several times to ensure it wasn't a freak occurrence. The burger was piled high with all the stuff I don't want on a burger, and the on-menu options were limited (I subsequently learned there's an elaborate list of off-menu choices, none of which quite do it for me), and somewhere hiding in among it all was a small, overcooked, tasteless beef patty. This must be the burger that the famous Wendy's "where's the beef?" commercial was intended to parody. On top of which, the place's name sounds like a laxative.
Baskin-Robbins
A fundamental memory of childhood that I hardly visit any more because there are hardly any around any more. What's it still doing on the top 50 list? There's better ice cream, but it was certainly good enough.
Wingstop
The only mystery about Wingstop is why I don't eat here daily, especially considering that the nearest outlet is closer to me than any of the others. I love chicken wings, they cook them well, and the flavorings are tangily delicious and work well with the meat, qualities conspicuously absent in most other chicken-wing vendors, many of which are really more like bars with chicken wings attached. Well, Wingstop is expensive - and doesn't have discount days - and I think if I ate here often, I might get tired of it, which I don't want to happen. So I save it for a very occasional treat.
Jamba Juice
There's one of these at Stanford, and a few times I've dropped in when I could really use a hearty juice. There's a couple of combo juices that actually don't contain anything I dislike.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-01-08 09:23 pm (UTC)I can't stand KFC. Their food makes me sick. The smell of their food makes me sick. I've tried. It used to be okay, but it's gone waaaaaaay downhill.
There's a Popeye's a few blocks from here. When they first moved in, the New Orleans folk were all excited. Me: Meh. Some of their stuff is okay, but barely a cut above KFC and I haven't been there for years. The only exception: For some reason, they make a great mashed potato and gravy. The last several times erny, lo the years, was to get a large order of mashed potatoes and to try whatever special they were pushing.
I ate at a Chic-fil-a (which I keep pronouncing, in my head, "Chick A Fill") once, many years ago. The one location anywhere near here is at the U. I tend to agree: Above average fast food chicken. Still, not good enough to go out of my way for, though if I was at the college more often I might drop in. And make snide comments about their corporate politics; not the servers' fault, but the protest deserves to register.
Also agree that Church's was the best of the fast food chicken places. There was one about two blocks from here, perhaps twenty years ago. It went away; I gather the franchiser gave up all MN locations, or something. It was located just on the other side of the highway from the McDonalds/Taco Bell, so not, technically, in a bad area of town. On a major street near the entrance ramp to I-35W, the location should be a goldmine. But no. It went through a few other eateries and has been a Generic Chinese Take Out for more than a decade. I've never seen the place be busy, and if they redo the bridge/ramp then it might not be a location anymore.
Similarly, Long John Silvers. The only one I knew about was down the street, and it went away a long time ago. It was okay, but not better than that. (Recently, we were in Martha's Vineyard, MA. Some of the local fried fish places were pretty good, blowing away LJS, at least from my memory of it.)
Boston Market (and Culver's, mentioned by Geri) strike me as a middle ground that doesn't quite work. Better than regular fast food, but not as good as getting a rotisserie chicken from a supermarket. Sort of 'fast food for yuppies'. We have other, similar, places around here. Haven't really checked out their nutrition guidelines.
The only Baskin-Robbins I can think of around here is at the Mall of America. I've been there a few times; still good ice cream. But there are better ice cream places around (including at the mall). B-R is a desert place, not a fast-food place by my lights. Dairy Queen is trying, with some success, to make the bridge up to fast food, but their corporate HQ is in Mpls, and the Minicon/Convergence hotel is right next door to their flagship restaurant.
I'm not diabetic, and wish to remain not. When Crispy Creme came to town, everyone was excited, and people brought donuts to the place I was working at the time. I think I've tried two or three of their donuts, cut up. I doubt I've had one full Crispy Creme in total. I agree; vastly oversweet. And my fingers refuse to spell it with the K's. Sorry.
I like the juice places. I can't speak to Jamba Juice specifically, since they all meld into one. We have several around town, including the mall. Generic trick: If possible, add protein powder. Somewhat overpriced, but a decent snack on the go. Again, more 'chain' than 'fast food'.
Pollo Loco didn't ring a bell at first. But in Bend, OR, we stopped at El Pollo Gordo, which I hope isn't the same chain. Poor food, the only below-average place we ate at during our trip west. Apparently, its Big Thing in drive-through margueritas.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 07:43 am (UTC)Maybe they vary, but I find most supermarket rotisserie chicken very unappetizing. Boston Market is much more to my taste.