Fast food wish list
It’s long been my opinion that if your favorite restaurant is part of a very large chain you may be suffering from an incurable lack of good taste, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think you can get good tasting food at a chain. Even a fast food chain. I try to minimize my number of visits to fast food restaurants as much as possible but I do go to them from time to time and I have enjoyed an awful lot of my food.
I’m not alone: a few of my fellow Seattle Metbloggers are die hard fans of Chick-Fil-A. Me, I have nothing against their food, but I’ve never found it all that exciting and when I did live in a town with a Chick-Fil-A there were almost always other places I found more appealing for my dining purposes. In my mind Chick-Fil-A is a lot like Krispy Kreme, a place where people go because it’s there and it’s convenient and they don’t really put a lot of thought into it until they happen to leave the area to go somewhere that doesn’t have a location of that chain. Because going to Krispy Kreme or Chick-Fil-A was such a habit, the relocatee feels the absence of it in the same way an ex-smoker misses cigarettes. Suddenly a place that was perfectly adequate somehow become magnificently perfect, much in the same way that your gawky, socially maladjusted high school boyfriend turns into Prince Charming in your memory after your husband has just irritated the heck out of you.
Dylan is convinced that if someone opened a Chick-Fil-A here in Seattle the lines would be miles long. When I mentioned my comparison with Krispy Kreme and my theory that once the hype wore off it would be just another chain, he said:
think Chick-Fil-A would do huge business here. Krispy Kreme’s
big problem was they were immensely overhyped, and at the end of the
day they’re just another Winchell’s or Dunkin. And the local
competition really ate at their business (Top Pot, with Mighty-O to a
lesser extent).Chick-Fil-A, though, tends to target high traffic areas with
standalone drive-thru restaurants. And they are selling meals, not a
single pastry.You’d probably have to adapt for the Seattle market (bike-thru?), and
there’d be a cadre pissed off that they’re owned by conservative born
agains who close on Sunday for the Sabbath. But I really think it
could work here. Maybe in SoDo.
This discussion inspired Beth to wonder why we have no White Castle, Steak and Shake or Waffle House. (Okay, Waffle House is kind of stretching the definition of “fast food” but if one gets an opportunity to mention the IHOP-Waffle House Line, one should leap on it.) Samantha cautions that Steak and Shake fans should only go there after drinking, never before. Shawn adds Good Times to the list. I hadn’t heard of them either, so don’t feel bad. They’re in Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming and Shawn says they’re better than Sonic. Dylan mentions Whataburger only to disdain them. Thinking of burgers always makes me think of In-N-Out, my favorite burger chain from California ever since Naugle’s went out of business years ago.
Wesa wishes we had more Carl’s Jr. locations (the closest to Seattle is located in Covington) but that’s another chain whose food has never really appealed to me very much. I wonder whatever happened to A&W–I know there’s one in Vancouver, BDC, and have a vague idea that there’s one on the way (Bellingham, maybe?) and then I realize that I’ve just spent an awful lot of time thinking about various fast food restaurant chains.
At least I know I’m not alone. What about you, readers? Are there any chains that you wish would come to Seattle?
TACO BUENO
There’s an A&W in White Center.. it is a KFC/A&W though.
Oh man, A&W! I used to go to the one in Oakridge, OR
I hardly ever go to White Center which is how I missed it, I guess. I will have to go check it out. Thanks, Erin!
Oakridge is the sticks, Wesa! Are you from Eugene?
TACO BUENO
I forgot Bueno! My other high school fast food place. Much better than Taco Bell.
Zip’s Drive-In. They are an Eastern Washington and Idaho chain. The closest one is in Tri Cities I think.
oh man, chick-fil-a would rock my world. that’s always one of my first stops when i go back home. i want that and an uno’s pizza (not fast food, but whatever).
A&W is a great suggestion! Thanks for the heads-up…
And good call on the Uno’s request too! Yum.
There’s actually an A&W almost in Seattle – on Aurora and about 200th in Shoreline. Never been there, but I dig their cream soda.
Also Chick-Fil-A totally rocks.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention my Five Guys (burgers and fries) suggestion. Man, if you can ever go to one of those, run full force and don’t stop until you hit the counter.
Sonic meh.
In N Out awesome!
Fatburger also yummy.
Chick-fil-A is good food, but the company’s owner is a religious wingnut (a la Domino’s). From Chick-fil-A’s official statement of corporate purpose: the business exists "to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us and to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A."
Well, yes, I already mentioned the whole Chick-Fil-A religious stuff, but until there’s a chain of Richard Dawkin’s Roasters or Atheist Fried Chicken restaurants, you’re just going to have to accept it.
I mean, the best BBQ in this country is done by people you’d consider religious nuts. If the guy handling the smoker can’t quote chapter and verse from the Old Testament, it’s not worth eating.
If there were a Chick-Fil-A I would stand in line as long as it took.
And Dylan is wrong – there would be a two mile line.
When we were preparing to move from Los Angeles to WA, the first thing I did when we found a new property to look at was map out the nearest Taco Bell. I am not proud that that was a consideration.