local fast food chains?

do you have any? up here in northern illinois we have beef-a-roo, which is tremendous. great burgers, excellent fries, damn good shakes, and onion rings. ooooh.

I think Culver's is getting bigger so I don't know if it qualifies as local. They have great burgers, ice cream, and some other stuff too. Slightly smaller chain wise is Erbert's & Gerbert's a sub place. Truly more local is Tom's Drive In. I think the chains of Tom's are all within a twenty mile or less radius. This is Wisconsin.

i like them alot, but beef-a-roo's just that much better.

I wasn't too impressed with it. Then again, I'm not really into deep fried food or hamburger buns slathered in butter. The custard is pretty good, though.

For me, the closest fast food place is about 30 miles away.

Especially the original stand at Beverly and Rampart. It was a college tradition to hit Tommy's only very late at night, normally post midnight.

Tommy's is a burger chain, specializing in chili burgers, and limited to the LA area, I think. You eat the burgers while leaning against the outside of the building, and the taste will overwhelm anything else you put in your system for days.

Can't wait for a couple more Tommyburgers at homecoming.

always taste the best late at night too!

Kid Valley actual has some lovely, fresh, seasonal shakes and better than average burgers. But there are not better burgers in this city than Red Mill Burgers. Fans will break diets and vows of abject poverty to troll their sofa for sufficient monies to obtain a Red Mill Burger.

Dick's Drive-In's are the undisputed king of cheap-ass fast food. The burgers & fries are even less expensive than McDonald's, but here's the thing, we're talkin' burgers here. We're not talking about 'all beef' we're not talking about a grilled chipotle chicken patty, we're talkin' burgers. Plain, classic 'Merican burgers, cheeseburgers, fries & shakes. Nothing adventurous, nothing fancy, nothing exotic. It's cheap; but it's just a burger.

You read "Fast Food Nation?" Think: Mechanically separated.

Pinks!

or fatburger or hamburger hamlet? or astroburger?

(yup, two "D"s) Not only do they have above average burgers, and great shakes, their deep fried mushrooms are to die for! I gained twenty pounds one summer, because every job I was working on at the time was within walking distance of a Kidd Valley.(but not enough of a walk to work off those mushrooms, hehehe)

I've lived in the Seattle area for 30+ years, and had never heard of Red Mill Burgers. I've looked them up,(only 2 locations), and I'll give them a try the next time I'm in that part of Seattle.

Sometime when you're in West Seattle try "Dave's Hamburgers". It's not a chain, there's only the West Seattle location on Alaska, a couple of blocks east of California. Almost as good as Kidd Valley. My teenage boys love Dave's, cause they have doubles and triples, which are enough meat to feed a barbaric horde, or a couple of 6'4" 200+ pound, growing, teenage boys.

Dick's was my first exposure to local fast food cusine. The winter I got out of the Marines ('71) I worked swing shift at Rainier Brewery for 3 months, and there was a Dick's just down the street. I remember it being fast, and cheap. I remember being quite satisfied with it at the time, and although I haven't eaten at a Dick's in over 25 years, I'd still eat there before I would a MacD.

when I was growing up; the favorite thing to do when going down to pick blackberries by the old rail line/bike path was to walk through Ravenna Park down to the Kidd Valley, have a burger, fries, and take the shake to go, then go pick blackberries and walk home. Dicks was always a Sunday lunch treat when we'd walk down to the locks and back.
We were walking fools when I was growing up; a ten or twenty mile walk or bike ride was no problem to us.
Burgermaster was good, too...sort of like the old A & W burger drive ups of the 60's, but they started going down-hill around the mid to late 70's. Expanding their menu to compete with Jack in the Box did them in.

I also remember the old Ivarr's walk-ups; darn good fish and chips, real cod, fresh, dipped in potato batter.

Now that we're in San Diego, it's In-n-Out for burgers, baby...and the local taco shops for some good, fast baja-mexican. Places like Mi Cabana and El Compadres...

Haele

ewww that's aturnoff

It's a 50's nostalgia-type diner that started in Fargo.

Oh, man, their great. They actually grill them out side on charcoal grills, if it rains or snows, they put up a tent and it's business as usual.

I used to service Restaurant Point-of-Sale equipment, so I got to see a LOT of fast-food places.

Out West:

-In-N-Out Burger (Great Hamburgers and Fries - More than you can eat for $5.00)

***-Rubios Baja Grill (Home of the fish taco. If you eat in, you can get beer also.)

-Koo-Koo-Roo (Chicken-based foods for the health-conscious)

-El Pollo Loco (Roasted chicken - muy excellente)

Midsouth:

-Krystal (Small Hamburgers - White Castle Style)

-Guthrie's (Alabama Only - Nothing but Chicken Strips and Fries on the menu: my kind of place)

-Mr. Burger (Classic Hamburgers - focus here is on the onion rings)

-Danver's (TN, AR only - monster burgers and fries)


***This place kicks a$$. Give it a shot, even if it sounds a little gross at first.

.

Nashville, but I had no idea Danvers still had other stores open. It was revolutionary in it's day, great burgers and the dress it yourself salad bar layout with all the fresh tomatoes, lettuce and sweet onions and pickles you could stack on a bun, was fantastic. I miss Danvers.

I could eat a sack right now!

The midwest's Krystal.

White Castle tastes best when you're truly crocked, starving, and nothing else is open....

IMHO.

To me, it's the most compelling reason to pack my shit up once and for all, and move out west.

Double-double animal style, please!!!

In fact, done. If it closes in the next 10 minutes, i.e. midnight Pacific, I'll slum with Jack-In-The-Box.

http://www.zenlemur.com/innout.shtml

the menu is supplemented by unadvertised
order items

i.e. "Animal Style" - bun is grilled with mustard, sauteed onions instead of raw, pickles, extra "special sauce"

"Protein Style" - lettuce wrapped around the burger instead of a bun for all of you who are in "The Zone"


and, wrappers and cups are printed with Bible verse citations

i.e. Proverbs 3:5 (milkshake cups)

http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/inandout.asp

are they still around? How about Carvel? Is the Whale Cake considered fast food? What about if it's rotated 90 degrees clockwise and re-decorated as Santa?

When I go home to St. Louis, that's the first and last place I stop. I have to have my belly bombers!

White Castles or Krystals... same deal.

Gutbombs
Sliders
Ribclimbers....

MMMMMM!

Terrible name, but great shakes! And they're licensed :toast: !

I love tha place

They started from a little shop in pacific beach back in 1982.
Pretty damn good too. You can get them at Qualcomm stadium during charger and padre games. I believe that they have opened a few in Orange co. and LA.
They started from a little shop in pacific beach back in 1982. Baja Style.

a hole in the wall, drive thru burger joint in south Nashville, so good, so famous around here that it was featured on "The Best Of" on The Food Network.

Great greasy burgers and dogs.... chili cheese fries from hell. At peak they may have had 10 around metro N.O. Hangover Hell!

we have red tower and texas wiener in the area. red tower is pretty good. never had texas wiener.

but at MacArthur mall in Norfolk, there's a place called Max and Erma's, they have some great hamburgers--not the cheap shit you find at Micky D, I mean real Angus beef that need big old sesame seed buns and toasted! :beer: Plus some great curly and onion fries, and to top it off a big old ice cream suundae bar :bounce: With tax and tip it's like $13 tops (soda included)

There's a sub place not far from my house named Snaggs--a guy from Philly who's really nice, and he can make some mean philly cheesesteak (and I haven't talked to him since McNabllgate blew up, so I might see him tomorrow). Really, really good stuff!

It's hard to believe, but I have NEVER been to an actual White Castle before, not any I can recall (maybe my mom would know, but not me)---look at that, I've just used that word again :evilgrin:


I've noticed a LOT of new restaurants are opening up here in Hampton Roads, and i mean actual sit down and dine places. All kinds of cuisine, name one and we'll either have it or it's opening soon...

Finally, there's one Mexican local chain--no, not Taco Bel!, Enchilada I think?--that serves the REAL Mexican food :beer: They win like first prize for best restuarant every year it seems, and they have EVERYTHING!!! Whenever I go, the place is packed day and night.

Not even a pizza delivery place.

But we have deer walking through the yard at times. :)

Anderson's (roast beef sandwiches, custards)
Tim Horten doughnuts (great coffee, really Canadian)
Mighty Taco (pretty good approxamation of Mexican food)
Mike's Giant Subs

all in beautiful Buffalo!


and do all Chinese resturants have the same menu?

We have a Ted's in Tempe (AZ). I love the white-hots, and they make the best onion rings!

Krystal is headquartered here in Chattanooga, so I have to mention it. There is also another local chain, Central Park, that has huge burgers at cheap prices. They are kind of like Rally's or Checkers.

I don't know enough about Boston. Chipotle is awesome. Don't eat the burgers but I've heard it's good. :shrug:

.

x(

If you come to Texas, you gotta have a Whataburger! :9

I thought he changed his name to 'ShortBus.'

;-)

The big band that I was playing in had a gig in Rockford, IL. We stopped there because the name was so funny. I don't remember much about the food, but I still have my Beef-A-Roo plastic drink cup.

Sonic makes the BEST Coney dogs! *drool* :)

Leonardo's Pizza seems to be entirely local; two outlets that sell pizza-by-the-slice, and an upscale Italian restaurant. All three are really, really good.

El Indio is supposed to be a chain, but I've never encountered it anywhere else. They offer cheap, tasty Mexican food that puts Taco Bell to shame.