Egon Ronay I ain't.
Jul. 22nd, 2003 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robinblokeWell I'm still back in the UK, photos are sorted out and some should be uploaded soon (i.e. when I get a moment to breathe, back less than a day and my schedule was booked until Sunday already, rah).
But I digress, just for a change.
Egon Ronay, for those that don't remember, was a Restaurant critic. Why is this relevant? Because whilst on my holiday to the land of sunshine and grapefruit I decided that I should try and do something useful for the world; hence while out there I visited a pileload of junkfood outlets (not the only places I ate at, I hasten to add). So here follows my guide to the fast food 'restaurants' of the South West USA.
McDonalds
The defacto ubiquitous standard of fast food, especially in America. The burgers are nothing special, but edible and cheap. Fries are fairly good and salted to an acceptable degree. As the benchmark of world fast food I'd normally give McD's a 5 in order to put a kind of perspective on the others, but they still are the only fast food place in the US that I've found that serves still orange squash and considering my extremely picky nature is a factor in these reviews, they get a point just for this.
Lard Rating: 6.
Burger King
The other big name in big lard. The burgers do taste better, flame grilled, microwaved or whatever, they're just nicer. Also the good ol' bacon double cheeseburger is rather yummy, but a lack of orange squash; and the juice portions are a bit pathetic. Fries aren't too bad. However they snuck some pickle into my burger without me realising it, failing therefore on the international corporate consistency stakes - UK Burger kings do not put pickle in said burger, so that loses them a point.
Lard Rating: 6, would have beaten McD's, save for that rogue pickle.
Denny's
Not strictly speaking a fast food place, but it is a ubiquitous diner of the US and therefore falls into the domain of this review because I want it to.
Where to start? The burger was simply amazing, hugely sizes and supported with a skewer so it didn't try to run off, actual decent tasting cheese (a rarity) thick tasty beef and yummy bread. Only surpassed by one other burger (from a place in MK I forget) Topping this off with one of the best strawberry milkshakes I've ever had, it was absolutely delicious.
Lard Rating: 9. Yum.
Jonny Rockets
A nicely themed 50's style restaurant in the heart of Hollywood that claims to be 'home of the original hamburger'. I had high hopes; which were cruelly dashed by the meal. I couldn't actually finish the burger, there was that much lard it was making me feel uncomfortable, and this is me! The burger, past the lard taste, was actually pretty damn horrible, the sandwich was two slices of rather nice looking bread, that was all show and no taste and the cheese, the cheese made plastic taste good. The meal was only saved by the Milkshake, which is the only reason this place gets any marks whatsoever, that plus it had a jukebox on our table for 25c a song.
Lard Rating: 2, avoid - unless you're only ordering a milkshake.
Jack in the Box
Now this was the best pick of the bunch of the 'true' fast food places, the burger was extremely tasty, good consistency, tasty beef and pretty decent cheese, fries were rather yummy and although the drinks selection wasn't great for someone as awkward as myself they had OJ, which was good. Definitely worth visiting.
Lard Rating: 8, Denny's burger beats it by a nose, and a milkshake.
Wendy's
Extremely disappointing. I had high hopes for this establishment after previously fuzzily remembered good memories; however the bread was extremely dry, the burger sauce had a certain undefinable dubious quality about it, the beefburger itself was okay but overall it wasn't really that inspiring. Fries were also pretty bland. Drink selection was also sub-standard. Bah.
Lard Rating: 3, Edible, but I'd rather go to Denny's.
In and Out Burger
A basic place, but all fries are made fresh (you can see them squishing the hapless potatoes, insert comic screams of your choice) and the burger looked quite good; however they got my order wrong, the burger itself wasn't full sized, looking like they'd given me half a patty; overall it was only so-so. Drink selection is unimpressive. The fries saved them here food wise, overall even McD's is a better choice.
Lard Rating: 4.
But I digress, just for a change.
Egon Ronay, for those that don't remember, was a Restaurant critic. Why is this relevant? Because whilst on my holiday to the land of sunshine and grapefruit I decided that I should try and do something useful for the world; hence while out there I visited a pileload of junkfood outlets (not the only places I ate at, I hasten to add). So here follows my guide to the fast food 'restaurants' of the South West USA.
McDonalds
The defacto ubiquitous standard of fast food, especially in America. The burgers are nothing special, but edible and cheap. Fries are fairly good and salted to an acceptable degree. As the benchmark of world fast food I'd normally give McD's a 5 in order to put a kind of perspective on the others, but they still are the only fast food place in the US that I've found that serves still orange squash and considering my extremely picky nature is a factor in these reviews, they get a point just for this.
Lard Rating: 6.
Burger King
The other big name in big lard. The burgers do taste better, flame grilled, microwaved or whatever, they're just nicer. Also the good ol' bacon double cheeseburger is rather yummy, but a lack of orange squash; and the juice portions are a bit pathetic. Fries aren't too bad. However they snuck some pickle into my burger without me realising it, failing therefore on the international corporate consistency stakes - UK Burger kings do not put pickle in said burger, so that loses them a point.
Lard Rating: 6, would have beaten McD's, save for that rogue pickle.
Denny's
Not strictly speaking a fast food place, but it is a ubiquitous diner of the US and therefore falls into the domain of this review because I want it to.
Where to start? The burger was simply amazing, hugely sizes and supported with a skewer so it didn't try to run off, actual decent tasting cheese (a rarity) thick tasty beef and yummy bread. Only surpassed by one other burger (from a place in MK I forget) Topping this off with one of the best strawberry milkshakes I've ever had, it was absolutely delicious.
Lard Rating: 9. Yum.
Jonny Rockets
A nicely themed 50's style restaurant in the heart of Hollywood that claims to be 'home of the original hamburger'. I had high hopes; which were cruelly dashed by the meal. I couldn't actually finish the burger, there was that much lard it was making me feel uncomfortable, and this is me! The burger, past the lard taste, was actually pretty damn horrible, the sandwich was two slices of rather nice looking bread, that was all show and no taste and the cheese, the cheese made plastic taste good. The meal was only saved by the Milkshake, which is the only reason this place gets any marks whatsoever, that plus it had a jukebox on our table for 25c a song.
Lard Rating: 2, avoid - unless you're only ordering a milkshake.
Jack in the Box
Now this was the best pick of the bunch of the 'true' fast food places, the burger was extremely tasty, good consistency, tasty beef and pretty decent cheese, fries were rather yummy and although the drinks selection wasn't great for someone as awkward as myself they had OJ, which was good. Definitely worth visiting.
Lard Rating: 8, Denny's burger beats it by a nose, and a milkshake.
Wendy's
Extremely disappointing. I had high hopes for this establishment after previously fuzzily remembered good memories; however the bread was extremely dry, the burger sauce had a certain undefinable dubious quality about it, the beefburger itself was okay but overall it wasn't really that inspiring. Fries were also pretty bland. Drink selection was also sub-standard. Bah.
Lard Rating: 3, Edible, but I'd rather go to Denny's.
In and Out Burger
A basic place, but all fries are made fresh (you can see them squishing the hapless potatoes, insert comic screams of your choice) and the burger looked quite good; however they got my order wrong, the burger itself wasn't full sized, looking like they'd given me half a patty; overall it was only so-so. Drink selection is unimpressive. The fries saved them here food wise, overall even McD's is a better choice.
Lard Rating: 4.
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<sigh>
Date: 2003-07-22 02:15 am (UTC)Ah... Denny's. My favorite Denny's story has Phoenix_tat sitting across the table from the man I was then married to and saying, "Dude, I'm in love with your wife." Damn, I miss Denny's.
Re: <sigh>
Date: 2003-07-22 02:23 am (UTC)Re: <sigh>
Date: 2003-07-22 02:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:19 am (UTC)Good. I love you.
E.
x
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:40 am (UTC)...by association, at least.
The place in MK would undoubtedly have been Dexter's Grill in the SnowSlug. A place of serious burgerness, and probably the first port of call for me when I get brave enough to leave the house on my crutches...
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:44 am (UTC)I'm planning on popping around maybe on Friday to say hello, if that's no trouble, maybe could hoik you out to said burger place if you like as a treat?
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 02:59 am (UTC)MMMMmmmmmmm, burger *drool*
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 03:12 am (UTC)Like the icon!
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 05:10 am (UTC)Not strictly speaking suitable for your comparison of burgers but IHOP (International House of Pancakes) is just yummy and I would give them an 8.5 on your scale.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-22 05:11 am (UTC)