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Oh, man. Has anyone else tried this new Acapulco Chicken salad? It's REALLY good -- it's not beating out Southwest Chicken, but it p0wns the other two.
Uh, for those of you who don't know, Jack In The Box is the second-best fast food chain in the country. (The first is In-N-Out.) They started selling these amazing salads about two, three years ago, which quickly became my favorite food. They're huge, they're delicious, and they don't exist on the East Coast, where I go to college. So for two years I've been California dreaming in the wintry cold of the desolate Northeast, choking down moose jerky and whatever else the hardened natives of that land could find alive in the dead land, until I could finally return to the land of sunshine, smiles, and happy children. Delicious, happy children...
Anyway, I'm gonna finish this sucker off. Just thought I'd spread the good news, and inspire bitter jealousy in all those not lucky enough to live in California. But I expect they feel that way on a regular basis anyway.
Posts: 3293 | Registered: Jul 2002
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THE best fast food place? What about Culver's? We just got one and it's great. Or El Pollo Loco - I haven't eaten at that place in years (well, I don't live in California anymore). I kind of like Sonic, but our Sonic did something really stupid and I'm still not going there. I also like Long John Silver's and Quiznos.
I was already hungry - now I'm just hungrier. Grrr.
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Culver's isn't bad (they originated in Wisconsin, so I gotta give 'em mad props). They used to have the best chicken tenders you could buy (well, they still do, but they changed my favourite): The Buffallo Chicken Tenders. The breading used to have the flavor, but then they drowned them in buffalo sauce which, while good, makes them less portable and removes the joys of dipping.
Best national fast food place? Wendy's if just for the simple fact that you get so much more selection there. I mean, I can get a kid's meal with just a sandwich, mandarin oranges and some milk. While not the healthiest meal on the face of the earth, it's better than the crap other large fast-food chains offer.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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Culver's is awful. They take the two merits of a fast food place -- cheap prices and speed -- and remove them. They're an expensive, slow fast food place. *shudder*
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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"They take the two merits of a fast food place -- cheap prices and speed -- and remove them."
This made me giggle. Dunkin Donuts is not fast food, for sure, but I am still addicted, and it has nothing to do with the donuts. It is all about the coffee. It is a crap-shoot each time to see if the coffee comes out the way you asked, but darn it, it's good enough when it does that I am Eternally Hooked.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I am in Indiana for the summer, and there is not a Dunkin Donuts within 50 miles of me. This and Fluff I miss desperately.
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jun 2006
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I would like to see Jack in the Box back in my area. They used to be here, until a weird case of food poisoning hit a bunch of restaurants. They then mysterisously disappeared.
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Jack in the Box is a scary place. While I agree that the salads are good (I like the Southwest Chicken), I can't seem to muster the will-power not to order a Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger with a side of 6 tacos and stuffed jalepenos for an appetizer. So, for the sake of my ever expanding belly, I have made it a rule never to temp myself with a trip to JitB again. *sigh*
But! As far as the best fast food available, I will cast my vote unequivically for Checkers. I have only seen them in Louisiana, but I assume they have them elsewhere (not Texas though, dag-blastit). They have, bar none, the best seasoned fries I have ever tasted in my life. Mmmm, golly. Almost worth a 4 hour drive to get them.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Dunkin Donuts is not fast food, for sure, but I am still addicted, and it has nothing to do with the donuts. It is all about the coffee. It is a crap-shoot each time to see if the coffee comes out the way you asked, but darn it, it's good enough when it does that I am Eternally Hooked.
Maybe I'm just spoiled from living in Seattle for four years, but dude...gross!Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I'm in Indy. The Dunkin Donuts website said there wasn't one within 50 miles. Hm...maybe I should do some investigation.
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jun 2006
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It could have closed, they had several food places change in there, but I know it was there in 04.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Chanie: I am in Indiana for the summer, and there is not a Dunkin Donuts within 50 miles of me. This and Fluff I miss desperately.
Chanie, I can relate. I was in West Virginia last summer, driving home in an unariconditioned van, and jonesin' for an iced coffee. When I hit Connecticut, and saw the highways signs with Dunkin Donuts advertised at every exit, a sense of calm drifted over me.
Erosomniac, you are not allowed to bash people's inner truths on this forum. While disagreement is expected, such tearing-down of my Personal Code of Coffee is taboo.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Rhode Island has the highest per-capita of Dunkin Donuts in the country. There honestly, literally, is one on every street corner. And we love it. My friends and I have a tradition of meeting there and chilling out with our iced coffees (even in winter)... kinda like that tv show Friends.... and it has left us all with horrible addictions to Dunkin Donuts coffee
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I have a friend who gives directions such as, "Drive to the Dunkin Donuts, take a left. Straight at the next DD. Then you are going to see a light with two DDs (one in a T station), take right there. Then you should see my house."
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Am I imagining things? My Yahoo page has been advertising this disgusting big toe with fungal growth. I have even had toes popping up like flowers at the top of the screen.
Now, in the past few minutes, a lovely Dunkin Donuts iced coffee keeps refilling itself on the screen. I prefer seeing the coffee, but darn it, it makes me want one. (duh) The giant, disgusting toe does not make me want anyhting but to get as far from it as possible.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: Even here in the semi-country, you can't go more than three miles without a Dunkin Donuts. Thank goodness.
My favorite story was when friend from out west went in to order coffee.
The lady, with a thick Southie accent:
"Whaddya want in ya medium?"
"Um, coffee?"
Heavy, annoyed sigh. "No, whaddya want in ya medium?"
They look at each other fearfully: "Coffee. please?"
"No, whaddya want in ya medium, cream and sugah???"
They had never had anyone put the cream and sugar in the coffee for them. Imagine!
I can't even imagine how a Southie barista would react to a Seattle indie hipster walking in requesting a "Triple twelve soy emerald latte, one and a half foam."
Probably stop, stare, consider, then kick his ass.
Well, okay, maybe that's just what I would do.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by MyrddinFyre: Gasp! That's just not coffee anymore!
I'm of the same opinion; I drink my coffee drip, black, medium roast, no crap in it.
If it has to be espresso, 2% iced mocha.
If it has to be Starbucks, mocha frappucino, no whip, because the only way I can stand their coffee is layered in chocolate, cream and sugar.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Ohh, for me if it has to be Starbucks, I'm all about their Green Tazo Tea concoctions. Mmmm...
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Is El Pollo Loco like KFC? I've seen a million of them whenever I'm out west, but I've never actually eaten in one.
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: They had never had anyone put the cream and sugar in the coffee for them. Imagine!
The other great thing that DD does is if you order sugar in your iced coffee, they put in the sugar then some hot coffee, mix it up so it dissolves, and then pour in the iced coffee. I have never got this service elsewhere .
I have been with an unitiated who didn't know how to answer the "What do you want in your coffee?" question and just said "Regular." He ended up with about half cream and sugar.
I volunteered for two years at a public school in Malden, and they drink DD there like it's a religion.
Posts: 159 | Registered: Jun 2006
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quote:Is El Pollo Loco like KFC? I've seen a million of them whenever I'm out west, but I've never actually eaten in one.
NO!!!
The chicken is grilled with a wonderful marinade; it comes with tortillas and your choice of sides (including Mexican pinto beans, Spanish rice, corn on the cob, coleslaw, etc. I always get beans and coleslaw, then make tacos with the tortilla, the chicken, and the sides. Mmmm...)
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Heh. I've never had any coffee, for religious reasons. But even if it were suddenly okay for me, I don't think I could start drinking it now ... I'd be too confused and intimidated by the ordering process.
Although those iced frappucino chocolatey-mocha things look really tempting....
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I just recently tried the ciabatta burgers and LOVE them! I wasn't crazy about the chicken ciabattas though. I bought a CB combo and ate it on the beach Monday evening... that was nice.
********
It was also after I'd spent the day reading the fat thread, so I felt GUILTY for the rest of the night. But I enjoyed it while it lasted, and I did go home and work out on my stair-stepper.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:Originally posted by JennaDean: Heh. I've never had any coffee, for religious reasons. But even if it were suddenly okay for me, I don't think I could start drinking it now ... I'd be too confused and intimidated by the ordering process.
Although those iced frappucino chocolatey-mocha things look really tempting....
Most major coffee chains have a version of the frappucino, and most of those have a version that does not have coffee in it - not even decaf.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Oh, and for donuts, it's gotta be Foster's for me. It's an L.A.-area chain, and they're soooo good. They taste dense and doughy and full of real flavors, not too sweet but just right.
See, this is why I've gotta live in L.A. I need In 'N' Out, Foster's Donuts, Yaki's, El Pollo Loco, Tortas Mexico, and Versailles!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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ketchupqueen, that sounds awesome. I should stop in one next time I get a chance, yum!
JennaDean, Starbucks has coffee-less frozen drinks that are awesome. I think they're also called frappacinos, but I'm not sure... I remember they had a strawberry one for summer. Being a coffee addict, I don't know much about them, except that they do have awesome (and oh so unhealthy, mmm) coffeeless drinks
edit: holy wow, four posts appeared while I wrote this!
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Given that we were talking about chicken, I'm going to assume it's a Japanese chain of some kind.
It's the original teriyaki bowl chain. You can get a huge bowl of meat and veggies over rice for fast-food prices; you can pay $1.25 more and make it a box, which also has potato salad (their potato salad is TO DIE FOR.)
They also invented the avocado bacon burger. That's what my husband gets when we go there. And my two-year-old likes Bulldogs-- a big fat hot dog wrapped in a wonton wrapper with cheese and fried, and only 99 cents.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Mmm, I just realized I have two gift certificates to See's that I got for my birthday and never used... I love going in and choosing my lb. of chocolate, and they give you free samples, too.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I want Sees! Now. I have a friend in Palo Alto that gets me Sees (either darks or truffles) for Christmas most years. I love her.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Well, you could have it tomorrow (or maybe the day after, it is getting rather late) if you were willing to pay for overnight shipping...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Darn you all! After participating in this thread, and after the coffee ad came up on Yahoo, off I went to Dunkins and bought not only coffee but DONUTS.
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You know...I've actually never had a Dunkin Donut. I've had the coffee, but never the donuts. Are they any good?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Yay! I hope you got a chocolate glazed. Those and the old fashioned are the ones I like!
edit: jeez, my internet is slow today, I think our servers got hit by lightning. Anyway, their donuts are good if you get the right ones, they're certainly not sickly sweet like Krispy Kreme. They can be pretty greasy though. Come to think of it, I can't really compare them because I've had donuts from only two other places, Krispy Kreme and a local shop which tastes just like Dunkin Donuts, so they're pretty much what I associate with What Donuts Taste Like.
The munchkins are worth it, everyone likes munchkins!
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Chanie: Jenna, come to New England. We have kosher Dunkin Donuts!
Edited to say that I now realize that Jenna wasn't talking about kashros. Sorry, knee-jerk reaction.
Which brings up a relevant point. Even if there is a Dunkin' Donuts near you, it's unlikely to be kosher.
I still miss the one we had out here. *sniff* Krispy Kreme is just not the same. And Cafe Elite is too far to walk, and their parking sucks.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I LOVE the donuts at our local Donut Shoppe, which isn't a chain - I think they started out as a business project from the university across the street. They're better than any chain donuts I've had, but it makes me a donut snob - I don't like eating donuts out of town.
Of course, I'm trying to be healthier, so it's been years since I've had a donut ... and since I don't drink coffee, there's not much reason to go in a donut shop.
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
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