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It's Official -- -- National Chain Burger Stores Suck

Posted on 10/09/2010 8:18:48 AM PDT by big black dog

Maybe a couple of years ago, I gave up on ever expecting any quality product from the big 3 pizza stores. Without exaggeration, I could get a much, much better product by simply picking up a frozen Tombstone pizza and baking it. (Pizza Inn is great though. They don't deliver here, but I gladly go and pick it up rather than order the crap the big 3 serves.)

On to burgers. I used to love McDonalds and Burger King hamburgers. However, for some time, when I would eat them, they just didn't taste right. Especially McDonalds -- It's like I was eating a meat substitute or something. I thought maybe I just didn't like hamburgers anymore.

It has been a long, long time since I cooked any hamburgers at home. But just on a whim, I tried it last night. Didn't do anything special. Just took some ground beef, sprinkled in some salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and fried it up on the stove.

Ate a hamburger using 2 pieces of bread with mustard. It was the best hamburger I've had in years! Crunchy outer texture of the fried burger with a juicy interior; I know I'll never eat that crap again at the national joints -- just like with the pizza.


TOPICS: Food
KEYWORDS: chow; fastfood; food; foodie; foodies; grub; lunch; pizza
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To: OneWingedShark
Carl’s Jr is good; but what about Arby’s?

Arby's doesn't have hamburgers does it?

81 posted on 10/09/2010 9:19:07 AM PDT by Netizen
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To: NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN

There is a place in NYC and an outlet at the new Citifield Stadium where the Mets play

The Shake Shack (www.shakeshack.com)

Excellent burgers! Several locations around town, including one near the Port Authority Bus Terminal

Also in New York City:

Big Daddy’s

Superb burgers and other entrees to; lots of photos, on wall, of American nostalgia; music posters, old records, etc. Also has several locations.


82 posted on 10/09/2010 9:19:40 AM PDT by NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN ('he who creates something worthwhile, never dies.'')
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To: Netizen
We actually like Pizza Hut...

Given a choice between Pizza Hut, Dominoes & Papa Johns, Pizza Hut definitely wins. In my area there's another chain (not sure how big it is) called Ledo's Pizza. Ledo's blows them all away by far.

Five Guys is OK, but the one near me is disgusting to go into. You can literally slide on the floor. Grease coats everything in the store, and it's palpable. Not at all appetizing.

83 posted on 10/09/2010 9:22:36 AM PDT by MCH
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To: KoRn

Target has an excellent, truly gourmet quality frozen pizza. The brand is Archer Farms, which is their generic brand, but it’s handmade in Italy and has an ingredient list about 5 items long — just the bare basics with no artificial junk or preservatives. You have to read the packaging carefully though because not all of the Archer Farms pizzas are the Italian ones.


84 posted on 10/09/2010 9:23:05 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: big black dog

“Especially McDonalds — It’s like I was eating a meat substitute “

It’s the seaweed


85 posted on 10/09/2010 9:25:05 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: Right_Handed_Writer

Just had Culver’s for the first time the other night. It was the first thing I thought of. The pot roast my husband got was very yummy, too.


86 posted on 10/09/2010 9:26:01 AM PDT by HungarianGypsy
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To: MCH
Five Guys is OK, but the one near me is disgusting to go into. You can literally slide on the floor. Grease coats everything in the store, and it's palpable. Not at all appetizing.

Many years ago I worked at a big Boy and they had that same greasy floor going on, even though they mopped it several times a day. Its amazing all the grease that gets into the air like that. I wonder if better hood exhausts would have helped.

87 posted on 10/09/2010 9:27:59 AM PDT by Netizen
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To: Right_Handed_Writer

Ditto for Culver’s. A little more money, but a lot more taste. Fries are better too.


88 posted on 10/09/2010 9:29:07 AM PDT by driftless2 (For long-term happiness, learn how to play the accordion.)
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To: HungarianGypsy

Culver’s has really good walleye dinners, but they are seasonal.


89 posted on 10/09/2010 9:29:24 AM PDT by Netizen
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To: american_ranger

YUM...E...


90 posted on 10/09/2010 9:32:11 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: Right_Handed_Writer

I can only eat their fries...which are to DIE for. The rest of their food gives me instant aaakkkkk.

Oh wait.....that frozen lemon drink....YUM!


91 posted on 10/09/2010 9:35:03 AM PDT by bonfire (ou)
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To: big black dog

My theory is that the pizza places are skimping on the olive oil, or using a poor grade, or not using any at all.


92 posted on 10/09/2010 9:35:27 AM PDT by firebrand
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To: Netizen

no, not hamburgers... just roast-beef sandwiches.
But Arby’s does use real meat,to my understanding.


93 posted on 10/09/2010 9:37:08 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: peggybac

I miss In-N-Out too, but have found two good substitutes in Kansas. Culver’s and Backyard Burger. The blackened chicken with cheddar is great at Backyard Burger. Culver’s burgers actually taste better to me than the In-N-Out burgers. Also, be sure to try the cheese curds there.


94 posted on 10/09/2010 9:37:18 AM PDT by Ivan
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To: Vendome

If you fry your own french fries, you’ll never eat them at fast food again also....


95 posted on 10/09/2010 9:38:21 AM PDT by goat granny
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To: big black dog

Hut’s Hamburgers in Austin is my ONLY choice for a burger....

If I’m out west it’s In-Out.

If I’m in the Northeast it’s White Castle..


96 posted on 10/09/2010 9:39:25 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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To: big black dog

They just replaced a Mcdonalds up the street with a brand new one.
I’d go once in a while for my McD’s fix but, the last 3 times there sucked.
First it was the mushy burger that tasted like crap, then it was the chicken sandwich that felt like it was made from rubber to the egg McMuffin that i had a few weeks ago.
It tasted like crap and how does one screw up a egg McMuffin?

Reading a few months ago on how a mcd’s burger is 10% former dog food scrap meat that was infused with ammonia to kill the germs didn’t help either.


97 posted on 10/09/2010 9:42:04 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: Mountain Mary

>About the garlic, AM. Could be a problem if one has a date, excluding myself who isn’t doing that anymore.
>But would garlic salt be okay? and if not, do you mince the garlic?

Garlic salt would give you a shadow of the flavor of fresh garlic; also, it won’t possess much [if any] of garlic’s antibiotic properties.
Fresh garlic has an interesting cooking quality to it: it behaves differently according to how it is cut. If you cut it thick, then it will act like a vegetable for cooking (you’ve probably seen this style used in Chinese food); whereas if you cut it thin it will act like an herb/spice. So if you want maximum flavor cut it really thin!

Hope that helps. - :)


98 posted on 10/09/2010 9:44:18 AM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
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To: big black dog

A chef I think at the Four Seasons used to make a special burger for someone important. A reviewer got the chef to show him how he did it.

The chef took a prime dry-aged club steak out of the refrigerator, put it through the meat grinder, shaped it into a hamburger, threw it on the hot grill, and said, “Any questions?”


99 posted on 10/09/2010 9:47:08 AM PDT by firebrand
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To: Vendome

“Even the new premium burger tastes odd.”

You got that right. I bought a angus burger or whatever from McD’s a while back.
It is touted as being the same kind of burger you would get from a normal restaurant.
Yea right.
The meat tasted synthetic, like it had a flavor added to make me think it was a real burger.
The onions were strong and nasty, The Bacon?......don’t even let me go there.
Thats why i stuck to the dollar cheeseburgers.
Even they seem to suck more than usual lately.
Yuck!


100 posted on 10/09/2010 9:47:46 AM PDT by mowowie
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