It depends what you mean by fast food. Some items are hard to make at home, or an effort, or require special equipment. Pizza ovens, for instance. If you’ve got a deep fat fryer, then fried chicken is possible, but cleaning and maintaining it is an effort. Good (UK) chips is not something you can do at home too. It does apply to burgers though.
My wife is a fan so while out running errands yesterday we stopped by for a burger and fries. The fries were limp and greasy. We shared a box - neither of us finished out our share.
I’ve been to an In’N’Out twice. So far, I’m 2 for 2 on limp and greasy.
There’s a reason twice fried is the standard everywhere.
To forestall the inevitable rebuttal, frozen fries are already fried once/blanched before freezing.
Isn’t that literally the entire point of restaurants in general?
I’d have to say no, at least not in my case. I do all of the cooking at our house, and I’m pretty good at it - but I’m no chef. We almost never eat out. But when we do it’s for food better prepared than I can make, not to keep me from having to make it.
Well, I’ve been to In-N-Out dozens of times, and the fries were awesome every time. Even the ubiquitous bible verse on the wrapper cannot ruin their awesomeness.
I’d definitely say the legendary beer Pliny the Elder that beer people make a big deal of in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the release of the latest batch for the year is this massive event people queue up for, etc.
I think its basically a throw back to the days before the craft beer boom in the states (which Pliny predates, they started it in 1999), where if you were making a decent strong IPA that was enough to stand out from the usual “sex in a canoe” beers that were ubiquitous in the states.
Nowadays when the smallest podunk towns are likely to have a craft brewery or two making at least one IPA, it really isn’t anything special.
It also bugs me that everyone pronounces Pliny wrong in the states (its short for Plenaus and should be pronounce plin-ee not ply-nee)
They are definitely on the “overrated” list for me. IMO If I’m eating crappy unhealthy fast food, there is nothing really to be gained (either from a taste or health point of view) by trying to make it “clean” fast food, its all the crappy additives and dubious “food” ingredients that make the fast food burger taste how it does. I really don’t think In-And-Out tastes any better for not having any of the crap in it, and if I’m want to eat something actually healthy I’m not getting a fast food burger (its not all the crap additives that are the unhealthy part its all the carbs and fat)
Where I live at least, a McDonald’s Big Mac with fries and a coke will cost you about $16. An In and Out Double Double with fries and a coke is about $10. And they have grilled onions, unlike McDonald’s. It’s a no brainer for me and a far superior burger. Yes, I can go to one of the Smashburger or 5 Guys-type places and pay 5 dollars more than McDonald’s for a burger, but I’d rather have In and Out any day of the week.
Though when I lived near an in-and-out there was always a massive queue. So while it was cheaper than the jack-in-the-box (my terrible fast food burger choice), if you factor in the time you spend waiting in the queue it probably wasn’t (how much you choose to value the time spend in a queue is up to you of course, personally I’d rather be doing almost anything than sitting in a queue of cars).
Also I’d actually prefer going to Pollo Loco, which as well as being comparably priced is actually pretty good for you as fast food goes (grilled chicken with no breading or bun).
Luckily in my town the In-N-Out is right next door to Baker’s, which has much better fries. Time it right, hit the drive-thru for both and Robert’s your mother’s brother.
Nah. I find fresh Krispy Kreme is a pillowy bursty of heaven. It brings me back to the homemade yeast-leavened donuts my aunt in Poland used to make (they’re called opony, or “tires”). The Krispy Kreme ones are way sweeter, being glazed instead of dusted with confectioner’s sugar, but that heavenly texture inside of a donut straight out of the fryer cannot be messed with. They are absolutely the best fast food donuts I’ve ever had when they are served hot. Once cool, though, they’re just a dime a dozen. I also have a strong preference for yeast to cake donuts. I finally had a chance to introduce them to my 9- and 7-year-old earlier this year and they just couldn’t believe how good a donut could be. Like I take them to Stan’s and the little donut shops, and they don’t give a damn, but a hot Krispy Kreme donut they’ll make me pull over for (luckily, not a lot of Krispy Kremes around here anymore.) ETA: Oh, I should add, a Dunkin Donuts French Cruller also tempts them. But apparently they’ve either gotten rid of them or they’ve really been hard to find. Too bad, because that’s my second favorite donut.
Me, too, if they’re fresh and hot out of the river of grease and waterfall of sugar. I do love a fresh yeast donut. Tough to find, frankly.
I concur. But day old KK donuts? Bleh.
Oh, yes, I say pretty much as much. Gotta be fresh, and my comment was replying to someone who said they weren’t all that even hot and fresh.
Any donut that’s day-old is Bleh in my opinion. Donuts must be eaten within the day or they get dried out.
I think Miller High Life: The Champagne of Beers takes that distinction 
In the New York area they don’t put mustard on the burgers. They put too much ketchup on for me most of the time.
ETA: Now I see several other mentions of the mustard in NY.
I like Wendy’s burgers served plain. It’s not that they’re all that good, but not as bad as the others. Fast food is fast, and inexpensive. Doesn’t compete head to head with real food.
Minor disagreement - fast food is (mostly) fast, especially with online/app ordering and pickup. It has long since stopped being cheap. Multiple threads and personal experience shows a medium, non-premium combo at most places being $11 or so, + or - say a dollar depending. Sure, if you have coupon, you can often get 10 or even 20% off, but cheap is no longer a selling point. Just the ease of ordering, not having to cook for yourself, and speed of service.
And that first is a con for many people - a friend was in town earlier this year, and was starving for something fast, so went by one of our new-ish Whataburgers. While there wasn’t a line, he had one or two requests for the burger - and when he only had the option of ordering from the kiosk he almost walked out. No live person service (at least not at the hour we were there) can speed things up, but it can also turn off customers.
I have a soft spot for Whataburger, in that when I was just out of college and working 2-midnight it was one of the few places I could get a hot dinner that I didn’t have to cook for myself at the end of a 10-hour shift. Their food was fine, or even decent by fast food standards, but the current expansion craze is definitely based on an overrated evaluation. The hours open though still serve as a value although one I don’t personally need.
ETA - the portion of me that used to be on the nice side of 40 remembers being hungry after a late night of gaming and totally wanting and getting a cheeseburger on occasion. The current me understands the desire but knows the endless heartburn that awaits such a choice!
Depends on what it’s being compared to - it’s not cheap compared to what fast food cost 20 or 40 years ago and it’s not cheap compared to cooking at home but it is still cheap compared to even cheap sit down restaurants. In the 1980s , a Big Mac combo would have been about $5 in my area when an entree at Red Lobster or Sizzler started at about $10. Now a Big Mac combo is about $10 and the entrees at Red Lobster or Sizzler type restaurants start at about $20.
While there wasn’t a line, he had one or two requests for the burger - and when he only had the option of ordering from the kiosk he almost walked out.
That’s interesting . I find special orders through a kiosk work better than ordering from a person - no problem with “no onion” accidentally turning into “only onion”