The Official Fast Food Thread

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Discuss your favorite chains, history of said chains, thoughts on the future of the industry, etc etc.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by Pasta Little Brioni

Fraud Guys....gave it a chance again the other day. Mediocre as **** and damn garbage for the price. Single burger fries and a drink is like $30 The fries are garbage so who gives a shit if they throw a bunch in the bag. Will stick with Culver's for a burger fix.

You should have eaten at Olive Garden.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Pepe Silvia

Five Guys is bland as hell. HI-Boy Jr. Double is legit.

I'm a big fan of the Five Guys burger. It's what burgers used to be back when men were men. It's a big chunk of ground meat on a bun, and that's what I like.

I'm not really a fan of the fries, though. They're generally either overcooked or soggy. Sometimes both.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by MarkDavis'Haircut

I miss Culver's.

Culver's pot roast and swiss sandwich with horseradish sauce may be THE most underrated fast food sandwich.

Two of those paired with their crinkle cut fries and a banana milkshake and that's my favorite go to fast food meal.

[Rain Man]

I have a minor unrelated story just because I coincidentally thought about it yesterday.

When I was a kid, my father got a job as an assistant manager at an A&W restaurant. He quickly got promoted to manager, and put me to work. I was 12 years old.

I worked for him at three different A&W restaurants from 12 to 14, then cycled through a small independent steak house, a Dairy Queen, and a large steakhouse. All told, I worked in restaurants for 10 years - from age 12 until I graduated college. I never really felt that I had other options in the small town where I lived.

Except once.

There was an independent bookstore that was very close to my house, and I shopped there constantly. I was in that bookstore more than most employees, and I loved being in there. They had some program where if you bought 12 books, the 13th was free, and I got a fair number of free books. This place got most of my meager disposable income.

One day I walked in, and there was a sign on the front door - Help Wanted. I stared at it like it was a desert oasis. Working in a bookstore? I couldn't imagine a better thing. This was my senior year of high school, so I already had six years of experience in restaurants, and the concept of working in a nice clean bookstore with no grease and no hot grills and no carrying vats of boiling fryer oil, instead wearing a nice shirt and ringing up sales and organizing inventory, seemed like a veritable dream. And there was no way that the employees didn't know me, because I'm sure I was in the top 1 percent of their customers.

I went to the counter, breathless, and said, "I'd like to apply for the job". The woman behind the counter, who had rung up probably 50 to 100 book sales to me over the past two years, handed me an application and I quickly filled it out. I hoped she would hire me on the spot, but instead she noncommittally took my application and placed it under the counter.

I walked to the exit, full of hope and optimism about the non-greasy intellectual career path I was about to embark on. At the door, a kid came in just as I was going out. Johnny was his name, and he was a year behind me in school. He was from a rich family in town, and he was a nice guy, but let's just say that I'd never seen him in the bookstore before. I thought nothing of it and left.

A few days later at school, I happened to walk by a conversation circle that included Johnny. As I passed by, I heard him say glumly, "I got a job at the bookstore, so I have to start work tomorrow." He didn't seem happy about the prospect, and I'm certain that it was the first job he'd ever held.

I was shattered. This was my dream, my ticket out of fryer burns and greasy hair and skidding around on grease-slickened floors. It was my dream, and Johnny came in five minutes after me, and got the job even though he didn't want it.

As I said, he was from the rich neighborhood in town, so I'm sure his parents knew the bookstore owners or something, because there's no way you'd hire a kid who had to find the store on a map over the kid who lived in the bookstore, right? And I applied first and never even got an interview. The job was already his when he walked in.

I was so mad about it that I never bought another thing from that bookstore. It was probably the wrong move, because I should have just waited Johnny out and harrassed the owners about a job, since I'm sure he didn't last more than a handful of months, if that. But damn, that was a really strong lesson that life was unfair.

[mlyonsd]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I have a minor unrelated story just because I coincidentally thought about it yesterday.

When I was a kid, my father got a job as an assistant manager at an A&W restaurant. He quickly got promoted to manager, and put me to work. I was 12 years old.

I worked for him at three different A&W restaurants from 12 to 14, then cycled through a small independent steak house, a Dairy Queen, and a large steakhouse. All told, I worked in restaurants for 10 years - from age 12 until I graduated college. I never really felt that I had other options in the small town where I lived.

Except once.

There was an independent bookstore that was very close to my house, and I shopped there constantly. I was in that bookstore more than most employees, and I loved being in there. They had some program where if you bought 12 books, the 13th was free, and I got a fair number of free books. This place got most of my meager disposable income.

One day I walked in, and there was a sign on the front door - Help Wanted. I stared at it like it was a desert oasis. Working in a bookstore? I couldn't imagine a better thing. This was my senior year of high school, so I already had six years of experience in restaurants, and the concept of working in a nice clean bookstore with no grease and no hot grills and no carrying vats of boiling fryer oil, instead wearing a nice shirt and ringing up sales and organizing inventory, seemed like a veritable dream. And there was no way that the employees didn't know me, because I'm sure I was in the top 1 percent of their customers.

I went to the counter, breathless, and said, "I'd like to apply for the job". The woman behind the counter, who had rung up probably 50 to 100 book sales to me over the past two years, handed me an application and I quickly filled it out. I hoped she would hire me on the spot, but instead she noncommittally took my application and placed it under the counter.

I walked to the exit, full of hope and optimism about the non-greasy intellectual career path I was about to embark on. At the door, a kid came in just as I was going out. Johnny was his name, and he was a year behind me in school. He was from a rich family in town, and he was a nice guy, but let's just say that I'd never seen him in the bookstore before. I thought nothing of it and left.

A few days later at school, I happened to walk by a conversation circle that included Johnny. As I passed by, I heard him say glumly, "I got a job at the bookstore, so I have to start work tomorrow." He didn't seem happy about the prospect, and I'm certain that it was the first job he'd ever held.

I was shattered. This was my dream, my ticket out of fryer burns and greasy hair and skidding around on grease-slickened floors. It was my dream, and Johnny came in five minutes after me, and got the job even though he didn't want it.

As I said, he was from the rich neighborhood in town, so I'm sure his parents knew the bookstore owners or something, because there's no way you'd hire a kid who had to find the store on a map over the kid who lived in the bookstore, right? And I applied first and never even got an interview. The job was already his when he walked in.

I was so mad about it that I never bought another thing from that bookstore. It was probably the wrong move, because I should have just waited Johnny out and harrassed the owners about a job, since I'm sure he didn't last more than a handful of months, if that. But damn, that was a really strong lesson that life was unfair.

The flip side is you get the job. You love it so much because you can read new books during slow times you never go to college. You are in heaven.

Fast forward and the internet happens. Your bookstore closes because your company realizes they don't need an actual store and all sales are done online. Your last remaining skill is fast food and you're back working at an A&W.

[srvy]

I blame LJS and Captain Ds for running Arthur Treacher out of KC. If you never had AT's you wouldn't know. But if you did you hate those chains.

As for Five Frauds, I still think it's the worst burger and fry in KC and I'd put McDonalds over it. Just a big bland burger with numerous mystery gristle chunks you can't decide if just swallow it or spit it into your grease-saturated napkins that were in your bag of limp ass fries.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

The flip side is you get the job. You love it so much because you can read new books during slow times you never go to college. You are in heaven.

Fast forward and the internet happens. Your bookstore closes because your company realizes they don't need an actual store and all sales are done online. Your last remaining skill is fast food and you're back working at an A&W.

I'm quite sure that Rainman's days of working crappy jobs predates the internet.

Vastly predates the internet.

[BryanBusby]

LJS.jpg

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by srvy

I blame LJS and Captain Ds for running Arthur Treacher out of KC. If you never had AT's you wouldn't know. But if you did you hate those chains.

As for Five Frauds, I still think it's the worst burger and fry in KC and I'd put McDonalds over it. Just a big bland burger with numerous mystery gristle chunks you can't decide if just swallow it or spit it into your grease-saturated napkins that were in your bag of limp ass fries.

I ate at ATs a bunch and remember liking it a lot. I probably wasn't too hard to please back then, but even so LJS seemed like a step down when it showed up.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by Chief Pagan

I ate at ATs a bunch and remember liking it a lot. I probably wasn't too hard to please back then, but even so LJS seemed like a step down when it showed up.

Exactly how I felt too.

[George Liquor]

This slop is far too expensive, especially considering the quality you get most of the time. In what world is a McDonald's double cheeseburger worth $4+?

[crayzkirk]

Originally Posted by srvy

I blame LJS and Captain Ds for running Arthur Treacher out of KC. If you never had AT's you wouldn't know. But if you did you hate those chains.

As for Five Frauds, I still think it's the worst burger and fry in KC and I'd put McDonalds over it. Just a big bland burger with numerous mystery gristle chunks you can't decide if just swallow it or spit it into your grease-saturated napkins that were in your bag of limp ass fries.

Yep, AT's was great. Once every couple of weeks, we would get fast food for dinner instead of the home cooked roast that lasted thru the week. AT's was the best; I think there was a place on Troost.

I tried Five Guys at Ward Parkway; wow, what a disappointment. If you want a decent burger, just go to the Westport Flea Market. Of course, that's not a chain...

Dang... That was probably 50+ years ago. I'm officially an old fart.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

The flip side is you get the job. You love it so much because you can read new books during slow times you never go to college. You are in heaven.

Fast forward and the internet happens. Your bookstore closes because your company realizes they don't need an actual store and all sales are done online. Your last remaining skill is fast food and you're back working at an A&W.

I could see a scenario where I purchased the bookstore from them and became a sole proprietor independent Bookseller just as Amazon took off.

Of course, I would have been a nimble entrepreneur, so I would have pivoted into the newspaper business. Then when newspapers disappeared, I would have started a printing shop. At that point I would have become disgusted with economic changes, so I would have just become a meth dealer since demand for that will never go away.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I'm quite sure that Rainman's days of working crappy jobs predates the internet.

Vastly predates the internet.

Those days predate the internet, but I had a really cool red LED digital watch.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

It tasted good and you lost weight. You can't beat that deal.

Sorts like a combo meal.