Fast Food and Guilty Pleasures

Greetings, Readers!

You know, last week's blog entry on In N Out Burger had me thinking about fast food in general here in California. I had some other sandwiches I planned to review, but this was a topic that stayed on my mind since last week.

Sure, we've got the Big 3 fast food burger spots here, but there is a wealth of fast food restaurants in the area that I would easily place above them, if I were in the mood for fast food.

With how many amazing spots there are in Los Angeles for great non-fast food sandwiches, this isn't often, but it occasionally does happen.

So let's take a look at a few of my favorites that are well known for being out west.

Jack In The Box: With commercials featuring their lovable "CEO" Jack, this fast food chain isn't as far out with their menus as the next two entries, but does feature some oddball items. Also, like the next two fast food spots, the calorie count for some of their items will absolutely make your eyes bulge. When I feel like slumming it food-wise, I'm a big fan of the Sourdough Jack, one beef patty, copious bacon pieces and Swiss cheese on toasted sourdough bread. It's sloppy and it's not something I would normally recommend, but we all have our guilty pleasures. Oh, and for my Philly readers, their Philly Cheesesteak sandwich commercials are both insulting and hilarious.



Carl's Jr: With its sibling chain Hardee's back east, this chain is known for some ridiculously large portion sizes as well as wild commercials, usually employing celebrities or very attractive models to show off their food (for example, this one). Along with Jack In The Box, this is another caloric overload of a meal, but in general the meat is a step above the rest in flavor. Right now, their newest burger is the Buffalo Blue Cheese Burger, which you can wash down with a gut busting Shake, and even a strawberry Pop Tart ice cream sandwich after.



Sonic: This OKC based company has been expanding in recent years, and its closest location is in Orange County, but that hasn't stopped the commercials from being on LA television multiple times an hour. The food here can border on the ridiculous like Carl's Jr., and it even had one of the worst burgers as named by Men's Health magazine. Sonic is also known for their huge hot dog selection.

And so now that my guilty pleasures of fast food are out in the open, join me in revealing your favorite spots to slum it up with fast food. Next week, I promise we'll move back into some of the better sandwiches of the area.

Until then, Readers...

The Day I Caught A Unicorn

Welcome back dear readers of DANGER!

Have you had enough time to digest last week's offering?

Because this week we will tackle a cult favorite sandwich, and a personal favorite of mine: The McRib.

Ah, the McRib.

For the longest time, the mythical sandwich was only offered for short periods of time, and sometimes only in select markets. But after the last appearance, McDonalds has decided to make it a full fledged, official member of its menu.

But, you've seen this before right? A wild and crazy sandwich offered by a fast food chain (The Double D-A-M-N 5/26/2010) that has some sort of cult following, whether real or imaginary. But the question again becomes: is it any good?

I've been one of the people on the McRib sandwich since I first tasted it back in the early 2000s. I'd quickly jump out ot a McDonalds to get one whenever it was released (it was college, okay?). And my love for it, and it's limited availablity led me to giving this pork-hybrid patty the nickname 'Unicorn Meat".

Probably also because I didn't really want to know what it was made of, and Unicorn meat was surprisingly less disgusting than what it was more than likely made of.

But is the McRib something that I would still enjoy?

For those of you who have never seen the actual sandwich, the patty has been molded into a rib rack shape, deep fried, and covered in BBQ sauce.

It honestly looks like something that should not exist.

And yet it does.

I have seen all of the new commercials, advertising a tangy BBQ experience with fresh onions and pickles. It got me excited because the one fast food sandwich I always remember enjoying had returned, and this time for good.

Sadly, the sandwich no longer lived up to my astronomical expectations, for a number of reasons.

One, the patty was bland. One of the most bland things I have ever tasted. No tangy BBQ flavor, no flavor at all actually.

I mean, how do you fry something and not have at least a "fried" flavor?

Secondly, the onions were raw and chopped, as if they should have been grilled, but someone forgot to do that part (which may in fact be the case).

The roll was the only positive thing here, and even that was a stretch. Light and fluffy, it may be the only thing that even offered a semblance of flavor.

So what happened between my last McRib experience and my last one? Had my taste buds changed for the better? Had it never tasted good to begin with? Or had McDonalds simply dropped the ball and offered a less than sub-par experience.

Either way, this is a sandwich you can skip without worry.


McRib Sandwich
* Star
If I have to tell you where to get this, there is something wrong.