I know it's not a chain (not even close) but the best damn(TM) burger I had was at the Sunset Grill on Sunset Blvd in LA. It also happens to be the one in the Henley song. Huge, juicy, piled high with toppings, I almost couldn't get it into my mouth. This was 10 years ago now, I don't know if it's still there or not. 7439 Sunset Blvd LA, CA.

-Zeke

Hello All

For those of you familiar with Orillia, Ontario and highway 400 / 11 north, you may know of Webber's....As a kid, I lived in North Bay and often travelled south to visit relatives in Toronto...Every summer we would pass by Webber's and the place was ALWAYS packed, I mean like 200 people lined up four rows deep to get their burgers. When I finally convinced my parents to stop one day, WOW!!! they were the best burgers ever, fat and piled with all the goodies and very fast. Webber had a system going much like an assembly line. Your order was taken while you were in the line so by the time you got to the till, everything was packaged, hot and ready. It usually only took 5-10 minutes to get throught the line, even when it was very busy. If anyone else has been there, you know what I'm raving about....Over the years, the place has evolved into a burger mecca and it still packs them in today, 25 years after my first stop there...

They had a sonic here around 7 years ago or so. Great chiliburgers... haven't seen them anywhere in south florida since :/

Oh, yes I have read fast food nation. Sadly, just as with vegetarianism, I understand and think the principles of it are great... however my stomach thinks before my brain does, and I usually think about eating healthier after the fact.

They're still around in parts of Texas (Houston, Austin, and some points in between). I go there for their 44oz Cherry Limeaids...Yum.

We have a Sonic Burger up at the next exit off of the highway. They have the best burgers. Definatly better than Hardee's "ShoeLeather" burgers

Cherry limeade! AAGH, now I have to leave the state to find a frickin' sonic...

They are actually really popular here in Colorado Springs, we have 5 or 6 of them that I can think of offhand. I love their new Strawberry Limades.

Now if you go to japan McDonalds have the teriaki burger now that is fine

Mmm. The Waikiki Beach McDonalds has that too (or did ten years ago). The one I went to in France a few years ago sold McSteak Hache and elegant little salads.

Peter

Well, I just went to www.yellowpages.com, and typed in Sonic, and FL. Came up with at least 10 hits for Sonic Drive In, there's one in Tallahassee, FL. Doesn't look like that long of a drive far ya. Then again, I live in Houston, TX, where driving for an hour to get somewhere is normal.

--Ben

Now Loren, I've withstood all this vegitarian preaching that a single carnivore can handle. This has to stop now, or I'll be calling Jack in the Box and reporting you as a disident.

May be better off for you in the end, anyway, they'll have you fixed in no time ...

And Loren Loved Hamburgers ...

Greg

Number 2 Super Sonic Cheeseburger, No Pickles, Sonic Size Cheese Tots, 44oz Cherry Limeade, please!

Heartattack material right there. Sadly the wife hates the place, so I only get to go a few times a year, usually when she's out of town.

Greg

Loren I'm with you. Let's start a Tofurkey thread j/k

You need to convince her that diet cherry limeades are good...There are times I just go there to pick up a 44oz Cherry Limeade, and stop somewhere else for the food

Sonic is good stuff. The western burgers are tasty. My favorite drink there has got to be the Route 44 Vanilla Dr. Pepper... I might have to go offsite for lunch because of this thread.

Hey everybody! Let's gang up on the veg(etari)ans! Let's throw meatballs and sirloins at them!

Just kidding guys. Someone has to eat the food that my food eats.

Anyone ever been to a Fuddrucker's? Not really fast food, but they've got the best burgers on the planet.

An hour I would drive for. 5 hours is out of my "good fast food" range

I went to

http://www.sonicdrivein.com/locator/map.shtml

And it didn't find one within 99 miles of me. (Yes, though there *are* 27 in my state...)

Best burgers here aren't at fuddruckers, they're at a local (chain?) joint called appropriately Chee'burger Chee'burger.

Mmmm. Best combo around is a snickers bar milkshake and a 1/2 pound burger with jalepeno cheddar and american cheese.

Probably both.

1. I'm not a Vegetarian (though the more i learn the closer i become)

2. I'm not crusading or anything of the sort... just trying to share something that i found incredibly fascinating and educating. I've been a meat lover all of my life, until i recently started researching what the F it was i was actually eating. I take this lot as a recently intelligent group, and i figured you might all be interested in a little information on your own social manipulation and fast food corporate culture. Seriously... this book is one of those insane eye openers, and even if you already know a lot of what it says, you probably have no idea of the degree to which various things exist. There's more info in that book than you could find in years of research about everything from target marketing to your kids, where all those french fries come from, fast food labor issues, the oh so disgusting meat packing plants, to midwest cattle ranchers being driven out of business by huge conglomorate Agri-business Co's... and almost 1/5 of the book is the citations. Microsofts exist in plenty of business areas.

Ignorance is bliss though.

Oh now, you know I was just teasing.

I agree that ignorance is bliss. Let me just say this ... don't ever order anything from Domino's Pizza! Taco Bell's "meat" is labeled as "Grade F, Edible by Humans"

Now that's scary.

Greg

heheh, i know you were teasing... i just really want people to read that book! =]

I've seen Taco Bell meat up close... huge bags of it they just toss in boiling water to heat it up. Very scary. And if you think McDonald's or any other fast food chain (with the exception of In 'n Out) are any better, you're sadly mistaken. Trust me, after reading Fast Food Nation... I feel the way you do about Taco Bell and Domino's about every fast food chain. They almost all follow the same suit.

I guess I shouldn't say there are 50 within 20 miles of me...Damn, all this talk about Sonic is making me thirsty. I'll have to go get me one on the way home from work tonight.

--Ben

Of course "The Jungle" is always a decent read as well :P

Things really haven't changed much between that book and "Fast Food Nation".

The depressing thing is that most of us (myself included) know fully what we're putting into our bodies, and continue to do so :|

Fuddrucker's is pretty good. The best burger I think that I've _EVER_ had is from the 'Hamburger Palace, Home of the Haunted Hamburger' (called Haunted Burger for short) in Jerome, AZ. The Haunted Burger there is awesome, and the scenery is amazing (Jerome is built into the side of a cliff). We use to take a jeep trail there from school which would take 2-3 hours. Now that I've moved, its about 3 hours by highway (damn traffic... quicker when the snowbirds go back home). If you are ever on I-17 cruising by Jerome, I really suggest stopping

I don't know what Taco bell is like these days. But several years ago, I worked there when I was in college. At the time, I actually was very proud of the way the food was prepared there and would have recommended it to anyone. Everything was always fresh (at least at the store I worked at). We diced the tomatoes, shredded the lettuce, grated the cheese, and chopped the onions daily. The meat was carefully cooked, drained, and mixed with the seasoning. The thing with the hot water table was merely to keep the meat hot on the assembly line, and it was timed to prevent it from sitting there too long.

Of course, I don't know how the ground beef itself was made, but it didn't seem any different than the stuff you get at the grocery store. But arguments against ground beef in general are a completely different issue than arguments against fast food chains.

I think fast food hamburgers and "gourmet" restaurant hamburgers are two separate categories. I still maintain that In-N-Out is my favorite fast food burger (although I occasionally get a craving for a Big Mac).

When it comes to restaurant burgers, I really like Red Robin and Islands, both of which have Hawaiian burgers (Terriyaki and Pineapple) that are wonderful. Red Robin also has great steak fries and seasoning.

I don't think I've been to Fuddruckers in probably 10 years. I think I'll have to head to the one around the corner from me and try it out.

Of course, I don't know how the ground beef itself was made, but it didn't seem any different than the stuff you get at the grocery store.

The stuff i've seen is huge precooked bags of grey grade F meat that was boiled in a huge vat of water to reheat it. Freshness of the veggies isn't really that big of an issue to me, as they usually are prepared by the restaurants.

But arguments against ground beef in general are a completely different issue than arguments against fast food chains.

I disagree with that one. Who do you think is BY FAR the largest consumer of ground beef? The fast food chains have more influence than the government in many cases on how the meat packing plants are run, what gets inspected when, and how fast the lines run. Arguments against the health related risks in consuming lots of ground beef may be a seperate issue... but i see that as tied in to fast food chains in tons of ways. Again... most of the consumption of ground meat is done via the hamburger. I'll see if i can pick up another copy of that book this weekend and lend it to ya Tony... I think you'd really dig it. It's not preachy, just flat informational.

The stuff i've seen is huge precooked bags of grey grade F meat that was boiled in a huge vat of water to reheat it.

Okay, well, then it's changed since I worked there years ago. Because when I worked there, we cooked the stuff ourselves. It was not precooked, and it was not boiled. We cooked it and seasoned it ourselves. And the grade of meat wasn't bad.

Heck, we even cooked the refried beans ourselves from actual real beans. Had a big old pressure cooker over a gas flame. Kind of interesting, really.

I'll see if i can pick up another copy of that book this weekend and lend it to ya

Probably best not to. I'm definitely in the "ignorance is bliss" camp. What's the old saying? If you wish to retain your respect for Politicians and Sausages, best not look to closely at how either is made.

Heck, we even cooked the refried beans ourselves from actual real beans. Had a big old pressure cooker over a gas flame. Kind of interesting, really.

haha, really?! that's actually fascinating... are you sure it was a TACO BELL?! =]

Probably best not to. I'm definitely in the "ignorance is bliss" camp. What's the old saying? If you wish to retain your respect for Politicians and Sausages, best not look to closely at how either is made.

Too bad. See, even if you skip the chapter on the meat packing plant, the rest of the book is important... even moreso. I don't get this about so many techies i know... if i may make a huge generalization (and i'm not targeting this at you Tony, you just reminded me of this): they are all to willing to boycott a tech company or the RIAA for something they deem to be a civil liberties/free speech issue... but when presented with something similar regarding say, food prep, social ethics, labor rights issues, targeted advertising, or even monopolization in agri-business, they could care less. Things that have even more of an effect on your actual day to day life, how/what you eat, how your KIDS eat and THINK, how companies treat employees, or how a fast food mentality trickles down into WAY more than you'd ever think... they couldn't give flip and would rather not know about it. I don't get denying knowledge on any front. Especially on something that effects us so profoundly. We all want to know what our Gov't is up to every second of the day, but who cares about the companies that make what we eat and feed our kids. I just don't get that. Sorry for the rant guys/gals. Just struck a nerve. =]

You make a very good point.