I agree that White Castle hamburgers are in and of themselves not high quality burgers, such as would compare to ones I grill myself or get at a good diner. However the fact is still that they are the only fast food burgers I have ever actually “craved” (and that is before they rolled out the ad campaign slogan, “What You Crave”).
I have never sat around and thought, “Man, I could really go for some McD’s right now…”, or Wendy’s, BK, etc., at least not with respect to their hamburgers. The McD’s food I’ve “craved” would be their french fries and Chicken McNuggets, and for BK their onion rings and “Big Fish” sandwich (which is much better than McDonald’s “Filet-O-Fish”). And while I prefer Wendy’s hamburgers to either McD’s or BK, I have never “craved” anything on their menu.
White Castle, on the other hand… I have many times sat around wrestling down the urge to go out and buy 4, 6, 8 or 10 of their “sliders”, and only recently begun winning more often than losing the battle. Especially after they introduced the “jalapeno cheeseburger”. Aww yeah.
I do recall quite liking a chain in the DC/Baltimore area called Checkers that was basically fast food, which most people used for drive thru or take out (“carryout” as they say down thereabouts). They’re definitely the best fast food burgers I’ve had, clearly better than a White Castle. But again… They only tempt me when I see the joint, I have never made a “pilgrimage” to a Checkers.
I have never seen much less tried a Hardee’s or an In-N-Out burger, though I have heard much about them. They’re just not in my area.
White Castle and Krystal fans: if you simmer super thin burgers in a shallow pan of Lipton Beefy Onion or Knorr onion soup mix you can get pretty close to the flavor and texture of those burgers. (But don’t tell my boyfriend the secret- he thinks I know magic.)
I happen to live smack in the middle of the booming metropolis that gave birth to Pal’s and for a small fee I can stuff a couple Chili Burgers and a Frenchie Fry into a box full of dry ice and hook you up. (Click the link- the buildings are … unique.)
I have never heard of, like, 80% of the places mentioned in this thread. (Okay, so maybe I’ve heard them, but I’ve certainly never seen one.)
Of the three national chains, I like Wendy’s the most, then BK, then McD’s. McD’s burgers are TERRIBLE, but their other stuff is pretty good… BK may have the best burgers, so I guess they are the answer for the thread category… and Wendy’s is just generally the best.
Not quite, in my experience. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Hardee’s (That will change very quickly), but from what I remember, they had a decent breakfast menu. Carls Jr is just plain bad when it comes to the breakfast menu. I know that Hardee’s menu has changed since I have been on the west coast so I will be interested to see how similar they really are in a few days.
In Thailand, we have both Burger King and McDonald’s. Same as stateside, I love Burger King and cannot stomach McDonald’s.
We used to have Wendy’s, but it did not catch on. Disappeared after a couple of years, but it was good.
We do also have A&W, the old root-beer company’s hamburger chain. It’s not bad, but they’re down to one or two locations, at least half what they had before.
I think the whopper tastes great. I don’t really care how thin the patty is. McDonald’s hamburgers are terrible and tiny almost as a rule. The Big Mac for example is miniscule.
Also I don’t get your rules, I’ve never seen Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr before.
I like Wendy’s best. I think their secret is that they’re the only chain where the rolls have flavor instead of just being a neutral meat holder. Burger King, A&W, Jack in the Box are also good. White Castle is playing a different sport - you can’t compare their burgers to any other chain’s. Hardees, What-a-Burger, and Sonics I havn’t eaten at often enough to judge. I find McDonald’s burgers pretty weak.
Of course, nothing beats a Big Kahuna Burger. Those are tasty burgers.
Burger King. Definitely no false adversting there. The Whopper. It’s flame-broiled, tender, juciness. I’ll get a Whopper with pickles and ketchup. Even better. The only problem is their fries. McDonald’s has the best fries.
I love a good hamburger. Can’t stand Burger King, McDonalds’ Big-N-Tasty is halfway decent, Wendy’s is yuck. When I lived in the South I found Hardee’s burgers to be dry and nasty, but Carl Jr’s Six Dollar Burger is the bomb.
We recently got an In-n-Out Burger, but it’s been too crowded for me, although maybe I’ll brave it this weekend. Their grand opening here was their biggest ever and it’s barely slowed down at all since. I’ve never had one and am quite looking forward to it. Any more info on them would be good.
One of the best hamburgers I’ve ever had was at the Greyhound bus station downtown. Man, that was a good burger.
A&W are the GODs among fast food hamburgers. True story - I started a job in Stamford, CT in July 2003…what made me most excited about that job is that my office was a block away from the Stamford Mall, which had the only A&W location I knew of. THE VERY SAME WEEK I started that job, they closed the restaurant, and in my 2 years working there, never even replaced it with anything else.
Amazing how the only location in all of NYC is on Staten Island. I was lucky enough to run across one in the Columbus airport, but at 6AM, so the best I got was an extremely yummy egg & sausage bagel.
Nope. Loyola HS. And I’m not sure where the original one is. The one I remember frequenting in my childhood would have been on…I guess Vermont or Normandie or Western somewhere near the northern border of South Central. I remember it was an outdoor stand with backless stools. Ah, the good old days.
And I can’t think of any time my order has been messed up there.
Alice the Goon – you don’t need any more info. Just go. Trust us.
This list should start and end with In-N-Out. Part of the reason they are head and shoulders above the rest is that they don’t operate like the other fast food places. Everything is fresh, and there are no freezers involved. I’ve also heard that they pay a super-market wage (not a supermarket wage) which keeps the employees interested.
Every time I’m in Veags, I skip the fancy places and hop a cap straight over there.