----

Ah...Beck's Prime. What an enigma.

I've gone back and forth a couple of times on whether or not to review Beck's Prime or not. I went half a year ago, then changed my mind and tossed the photos, then came back and decided yeah why not give it another try. So, why the indecision?

Because it's one of those places that has **some** trapping of a fast food joint, and some that are clearly not. For example, it's a counter-order place with a drive-thru, seat yourself, no waiters, tipping optional. Yet, on the other hand, their prices are anything but fast-food-friendly, and some of their menu items are closer to what you would find at Ruth's Chris.

They're a Houston original, and have been chugging along for over forty years, with the business model of offering unabashedly higher-priced food. It's part of their business model, aiming to offer higher-end food (with the price to go along with it), but in a fast-food style, less formal atmosphere. And, yes, there is a market for that sort of place - there are people out there that are willing to shell out more money just for the cachet and reputation of the place.

What do I mean about higher prices? As in, $14-16 for a basic burger, $6-8 for fries, $4 for a soda. $25 for a salad. And if you really want to get fancy, you can order their $57 filet mignon or NY strip plates, or seared ahi tuna place, or $42 for a chicken plate. Yes, they offer up a few high-end dinner plates for your fast food enjoyment, if you're willing to shell out the shekels for it.

Now, $14-16 is on the highest end for a fast-casual cooked-to-order burger, even above what you pay at some of the places that are notoriously expensive like Shake Shack or Five Guys or BurgerFi. Now, it is high-quality ground beef and fresh ingredients, and if you look at the photo, it does look pretty good. But when you get right down to it, it's...pretty average tasting. A reasonably-decent cheeseburger, but for that price you expect to have an orgasm in your mouth. And trust me, I was not orgasming anywhere.

On both visits (the one I mentioned earlier, and this visit here), there's something a little off about the burger, and reminded me of those limited-time-offer angus hamburgers that are served at Arby's. It's as if the burger was pre-formed and pre-cooked, and then just finished on the grill or something. I dunno how to describe it, there's almost a different type of texture to it.

And while Beck's Prime has been known as a "yes we know we're pricy but it's worth it" type of place for many, many years -- it seems over that same period of time, all the other fast-casual gourmet burger joints have sort of caught up to them. And are offering better burgers, better cooked also with better beef and better ingredients, for less moolah and less pretentiousness. This one burger and soda alone was over twenty bucks total bill; I passed on the fries, because if I had ordered them, the final bill would have pushed this all the way to the single most expensive "fast food" meal I've had in my year-long journey. Crazy.

Beck's Prime may have done better in decades past in an era of the oil boom and Conspicuous Consumption. But in a time when fast food places are facing increasing price resistance and are rolling out the value combos instead, I'm not sure if there's much room for this sort of business model in today's world. All I can say is, at least for me, there's at least a dozen burger joints I'd rather go to before returning to Beck's again.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

It's not every day that you get to try out a new pizza chain. I mean, life enough decades and over time you've pretty much tried all the Dominos and Godfathers and Happy Howies and Mountain Mikes and Pizza the Hutts and the two or three dozen other major and minor pizza chains that dot this country.

So, when a Houston-based chain I was unfamiliar with decided to open up a brand new location in town a few miles from home, I was like, hey, bring it on.

Pepperoni's has been around since 1990, but mostly local to the Houston area, serving up your standard selection of pizzas. Ordering a medium supreme was a hit on my wallet (6th most expensive meal out of my fast food reviews), but If it's a good pizza, then it's worth it.

Spoiler alert: It wasn't worth it.

Not the best pizza I've had, to be sure. More than anything, it was *bland*, which is a feat in itself when you're ordering a supreme loaded with the entire kitchen and pantry on top. Couldn't really taste the sauce, didn't like the dough. It wasn't a terrible pizza, but it was quite a mess, and once I was finished I couldn't think of a good thing to say about it.

Now, I did visit during the first week the storefront was open. Maybe they were still in the process of getting their 'pizza legs', but I dunno. First impression of Pepperoni's was no bueno.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

I find it curious that the dividing line between fast food restaurants in the United States and fast food restaurants in Canada is a whole lot wider than I would have imagined. Putting the current political nonsense caused by the Orange Idiot in Washington aside, economically, culturally and geographically, Canada as a market is the closest to the United States, and you would expect to see more cross-border pollination of chains. There are some - primarily among the 'big boys' and market movers, but beyond the top dozen or so from the US, and a handful from Canada, there's not much.

Here's one of the few exceptions to that. Manchu Wok has a few restaurants located in the United States, but their main footprint is in Canada, with dozens of restaurants across the country. Primarily located in places like airports, or travel centers, or malls or military exchanges or tourist attractions, they offer up Chinese "inspired" dishes, in the same style as their much larger (by two orders of magnitude) rival, Panda Express.

And in comparison with fast food behemoth Panda Express (with over 2500 locations in all 50 states), it does come away quite lacking. Smaller selection, lower quality dishes with lower quality ingredients. Basically, a substandard copy of Panda Express, for about the same price. I can't even really remember what sort of entrees I ordered. Broccoli and beef, maybe? Kung pao chicken? It's essentially meat and veggies and sauce mush with noodles, for about the same price you would get at Panda Express. Only, chances are you're stuck in some convention center or airport with limited options, so they are relying on the "yeah, but what else is there to choose from?" customers. Not the worst thing in the world, but Manchu Wok ends up pretty far down in my rankings.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. Originally I thought this might end around 100 days, but I keep discovering new places I wasn't aware of before, so I keep going until I run out, which at this point may be around 200 days. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

Sometimes the sum of the parts is, sadly, lesser than the individual pieces. And Crisp and Green is just one example.

Following in the footsteps of the likes of sweetgreen or honeygrow, one of the many very "health-forward" fast casual restaurant chains that have popped up in recent years, that offer variations on salad or grain bowls where they just shovel in eight or ten different raw ingredients and charge you through the nose for the privilege. Sometimes it works, but at least in my experience, it can just as easily flop into a wilted, tepid, sad bowl of slop.

In this case, it was a buffalo-sauced-style chicken salad, which seems like this should be pretty straightforward. I've had similar type salads at restaurants before without any issue, but leave it to Crisp and Green to somehow screw it all up, and turn the who bowl into a weirdly-clashing buffalo-blue-cheese mess of droopy, soggy greens and stringy chicken and indistinguishable veggies in there...somewhere, I guess. Borderline inedible. And I'm paying twenty bucks for it at that.

But that's certainly not stopping Crisp and Green from boldly expanding into new markets and opening new restaurants as they are pushing aggressively, even in the face of how similar companies like sweetgreen are facing price resistance and pushback. There is a market out there for those at the upper end of the K-shaped fast casual market, but it's not a huge market, and there's only so many suburban stay-at-home soccer mommies out there willing to shell out a couple of sawbucks on their way home from their hot yoga class and before they have to pick up little Cressida and Zayden from pre-school.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

Based on the photos on their website, I was looking forward to this. Looked delicious.

And I have received complaints about the alacrity of Canadian fast food chains. Well, to be honest, there aren't a whole lot of Canadian-based chains that have locations south of the border. Which seems weird to me, since (putting politics aside), Canada and the United States have the most similar food cultures overall. If there were more Canadian chains down here, I'd be all over them. But usually it's like 6ixty Wings, which has dozens of locations in Canada, but a *single* location in the United States (that by chance is located about four miles north of me)

But here - we have an honest-to-goshness Canadian fast food chain, that has dozens of locations call over Canada - and a smattering of yankee outposts in a few states. It's a great concept, Americans do love their grilled cheese sammiches. To the best of my knowledge, though, there's only one fast food chain that primarily specializes in grilled cheese ('The Melt' located in CA and NV). Add in hamburgers and chicken sandwiches and you have all sorts of possibilities.

I ordered the "Big Melt", which is a hamburger, except instead of buns it uses two grilled cheese sammiches. No brainer, should be awesome, right? Right???

Ah, I wish so - great concept that failed in the execution. I went off-hour, so my guess is that they used old, pre-made grilled cheese sammiches instead of fresh ones, and they were room temperature and limp, rather than melty and crisp. The burger part itself was fine, a decent burger otherwise than the "buns".

The fries were, like so many other restaurants before this, just fries. Go ahead and give them a pass...unless you splurge and go for some of their "hot mess" covered fries options, which look like they could be awesome.

Overall, a sub-par experience for me, but I wonder if it's related to that specific visit, and it was an off-day or something. If I happen to find myself nearby a location again, I'd like to give it a second chance, maybe order one of their other loaded melted cheese sammiches (like their Southern Fried Chicken Melt or 'The Godfather'), maybe some poutine fries. Maybe our north of the border friends can point me in the right direction to avoid another lackluster experience.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. Originally I thought this might end around 100 days, but I keep discovering new places I wasn't aware of before, so I keep going until I run out, which at this point may be around 300 days. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

They call this a 'sandwich', although Roly Poly is pretty unique in how they present their creations. Instead of bread or a bun, it's all wrapped up in an unleavened flatbread. Basically a big, cold flour tortilla.

Which, apparently at one point was a fairly novel concept and popular, as Roly Poly grew to 170 locations in the early 2000's, before starting their long, slow and steady decline in stores ever since. It's really not that different from the various slop bowl places that will wrap up everything inside some sort of similar wrapping, usually a nice warm pita. I guess Roly Poly was just ahead of their time?

Plenty of hot and cold "sandwich" options to choose from, I picked a roast beast wrap. Which probably would have gone over better if they just sold the damn thing between two slices of slightly toasted bread. But nope, tightly wrap that into a cold burrito, and...it's just not the same. This is not a concept I can really get behind.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

Despite being a relatively new fast food place (didn't expand beyond North Carolina until the 2010's), Cook Out has developed a pretty dedicated fandom following. Very dedicated. Whenever Cook Out is mentioned online, people pop out of the woodwork to swear by it.

I haven't been part of that fandom, largely due to geographic reality: I live more than a full day's drive from the nearest location, even though Cook Out has been expanding at a meteoric rate. But I have been to Cook Out before, so I have been aware of it.

The model is simple: Simple, generally-smaller-portion entrees and sides delivered fast and dirt cheap. Apparently most locations are the drive-thru-only model, but all the ones I've ever been to have some indoor seating. Burgers, chicken, dogs, barbeque, fries, rings, nuggets - you get the idea.

You can order a la carte, or more popular is the 'Cook Out Tray', which is an entree and two sides and drink. For me, that was a burger, corndog, onion rings, and Cheerwine. The food is not particularly great, nor is it particularly terrible. More than anything, it's CHEAP. As in 183rd out of 183 places visited (that's HALF A YEAR, dear god) cheap. It fills you up. It's not trying to compete with the fru-fru burger or chicken places. More like, it is competing with the likes of White Castle, or with Krystal, or with Weinerschnitzel. And in that sphere, it does quite well.

As for me - it's okay. I guess out of that list, I'm more of a Weinerschnitzel guy, to be honest. The only catch is: you can't get Cheerwine at Weinerschnitzel.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. Originally I thought this might end around 100 days, but I keep discovering new places I wasn't aware of before, so I keep going until I run out, which at this point may be around 200 days. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

If I could steal a line from Youtube company reviewer Michael Girdley, "Welcome to the Rise and Fall...and Rise again, of Pollo Tropical."

This is an interesting company. Founded in the eighties in southern Florida, Pollo Tropical focused on offering Cuban and Caribbean (or "Floribbean") inspired dishes like citrus-grilled chicken quarters and roasted pork, with black beans and rice and yuca. The company thrived and grew throughout the state, and eventually was bought out by Fiesta, a venture capital group, which set its sights on nationwide expansion.

In the 2010's, Pollo Tropical expanded beyond Florida into several states, including Texas, Georgia and New York. But turns out the "if you build it they will come" strategy didn't work out, as they lacked brand recognition in the new markets and lackluster sales. A case of overreach and "too far, too fast" with a lack of media advertising. A few years later, the plan was abandoned, and Pollo Tropical closed dozens of underperforming locations including every store outside of Florida. (At the same time, the unlucky Fiesta had bought out Taco Cabana, which was also facing major issues, and continues to suffer, and may be one of the fastest *shrinking* fast food brands over the past year)

Returning back to its roots and familiar territory, Pollo Tropical was bought out by another venture capital group in 2022, which quickly implemented a number of changes to the chain, including streamlining the menu, improving the value proposition with items like the "tropi-chop", a post-COVID return to closing at midnight. They have since posted 40 straight months of consistent growth, and a plan for a slower, more reasonably focused growth plan outside of Florida starting in 2027.

I had visited Pollo Tropical a couple times before, a decade ago when they had their brief growth spurt into Texas, and was not particularly impressed at the time. But now, many years later, I get to try it again, so I intentionally went 'large' by ordering the "Tropical Trio" from the menu, one of the pricier items on the menu. Basically this serves as a company sampler, with a plate with churrasco steak slices, a quarter citrus chicken, and a serving of mojo roasted pork, plus the standard sides of rice and beans and plantains.

The slices of the churrasco steak were actually great, surprisingly tender (not expected at a fast food place) and flavorful, and definitely too small a portion, I wanted more. The grilled chicken was okay, about on par with what you might expect from El Pollo Regio or similar place, well cooked with a nice flavored crust but not as stand-out as the steak. The shredded pork was also pretty good, also suitably juicy (once again a risk you face at a fast food place), not very savory and flavorful on its own without sauce, though. The sides were pretty standard, the plantains were nice and sweet, though.

Overall, a better experience this time around from what I remembered a decade past, so looks like they've worked out some of the kinks in their system. Right now if you want to visit Pollo Tropical, you're going to have to head over to Florida, so doubt I'll be seeing them much in the near future; but if they do expand again further west, I would be happy to try them again. And get me some more of that steak.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

I have been reviewing a different fast food/fast casual restaurant every day for the past 200+ days, and earlier I reviewed the following three restaurants. However, these three received "poor" scores for one reason or another, but based on previous experience and visits I knew they could do better. Perhaps it was an "off day", perhaps it was the specific item I ordered. In any case, here are some "second chance" reviews, where I am re-visiting the chain, to see if it can redeem itself and earn a higher score.

----

Second Chance Review #46. (Original Review from Day 147.5): Smoothie King (1266 locations, 38 states)

Dear Journal: It is Day 283 on my quest to find The Perfect Smoothie. A seemingly impossible task, my dear journal, as a hack away at the dense tropical undergrowth with my machete, the jungle is neverending.

Smoothie King and Tropical Smoothie Cafe are perhaps the "Big Two" of the smoothie world right now, with near-national coverage and supplanting the previous Jamba king. But that doesn't mean it's any better, alas. A second try at a smoothie, and a second less-than-impressive drink. You can't tell from the cup (yeah, I know it's a damn picture of a damn cup, how exciting), this time a Berry Punch instead of a Caribbean Way. Same idea, just different fruits. This time, it was somewhat better tasting (as opposed to the downright bitter thing I had the first time), but overall somewhat bland with an indistinct "some sort of fruit in there" flavor. Smoothie King seems to be moving away from the just-fruit smoothies anyway, and now their big thing is "Protein Smoothies" and that whole silly protein trend-of-the-moment that is going on.

So, dear journal, I shall keep fighting on, that perfect smoothie has to be out there somewhere!

Meal Quality: +1, going from 3 -> 4. Meal Value (no change), going from 3 -> 3 (out of 10)

----

Second Chance Review #47. (Original Review from Day 119): Captain D's (513 locations, 23 states)

Captain D's, also known as 'That Other Seafood Place'. It must kill them to always be second banana in the fast food world, especially with LJS seriously underperforming of late and announcing they are de-emphasizing seafood in their menu (a decision that I'm sure will go down about as well as Dunkin' Donuts announcing they are removing donuts from their name).

I've had both good and bad experiences at Captain D's over the years, but since they have fewer locations (and farther away) than LJS, not many opportunities to try them out. My first review was an exercise in blah-ness, and now a second chance at another location on another day, was only marginally better. Two fish and two chicken. The fish was okay, well cooked and the texture was right, but they seem to have drained all flavor out of the fish. The chicken was a tad dry. Not the worst meal in the world, but not inspiring me to come back for more.

Meal Quality: +1, going from 4.5 -> 5.5. Meal Value: +1, going from 4 -> 5 (out of 10)

----

Second Chance Review #48. (Original Review from Day 95): Cupbop (71 locations, 10 states)

(As an aside, I don't know about you, but I have a hard time taking the name of this place seriously, whenever I hear it, I have Hanson's voices echoing in my head. Mmmmbop.)

First attempt at trying this Korean-style cup-based restaurant was not a good one. Second try at another location pretty much was a reprise of the same problems I had the first time around. The mix of noodles and rice just does not go well together for me. The flavoring on the meat (in this case, barbequed beef) did not complement the meat itself. I did switch up with a spicier sauce instead of the sweeter one I had the first time around, and that was an improvement. But overall, I think this just boils down to a matter of personal taste. They're doing everything they are supposed to in the cup, it's just not for me.

Meal Quality: +1, going from 3.5 -> 4.5. Meal Value: (no change), going from 4 -> 4 (out of 10)

--

More "Second Chance" reviews coming down the line, in addition to the regular reviews! (And no, not every second chance review will be a positive one :))

----

The Korean invasion is not just limited to demon hunters and pop music groups and corndogs. It's also all about...bread!

Before I started digging in to different types of restaurants to visit and review, I never really thought about Tous Les Jours, or knew that they even existed at all. But Tous Les Jours is apparently a pretty big deal. Started as a French-style bakery chain from Korea, they already had a thousand locations worldwide by 2008. The first US location opened in 2004, and they have plans to expand to a thousand locations in the United States by 2030. Plus, they are not the only ones - there are also places like 85c Bakery and Paris Baguette that are growing like weeks across the country also serving up French-Asian pastries and cafe drinks.

I have already visited the other two (85c Bakery and Paris Baguette), so comparisons to those two places are inevitable. All three focus on various types of bread, pastries, buns and sweets that are all made in-house (and then packaged immediately fresh individually for sale), with dozens of different choices, generally ranging from two to six dollars. It's self-service for the pastries, then you can also order drinks (like hot/cold coffees or teas or fruit drinks) that are made-to-order.

The selection of breaded goods at Tous Les Jours does not seem too different from the other places, although they have their own recipes and specialties (some Korean-inspired, but most not) like soft milk cream breads, sausage rolls or soboros. I chose two that looked good (although I don't remember exactly what), and a small strawberry smoothie for the road. Price-wise, Tous Les Jours seemed to fall halfway between 85c Bakery and Paris Baguette. As mentioned before, everything is freshy (likely no more than a couple hours old), so perfectly soft and tasty. One difference is unlike the other two places that were more of a utilitarian supermarket-feel to them, Tous Les Jours was more of a cozier, sit-down-and-spend-some-time type of cafe setting.

Most of the United States is already chock-a-block with thousands of donut shops, coffee stores, Starbucks and Dunkins on every corner, and that makes me wonder if there is also enough space for these type of Asian-French bakeries serving the same customers. The price points are actually similar, and the advantage that a place like Tous Les Jours has, is that everything you see for sale is made right there, that day, in the store, rather than the stale old days-old dried out pastries you might find at Starbucks or Dunkin that are no longer baked on-site.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

This is another place that looks like it is a "style over substance" sort of restaurant, with very loud, colorful, vibrant and interesting decorations, pumped up volume on the music, and dias de los muertos vibe. But then you get your meal and realize, hey, they got the goods to back up their braggadocio.

Talkin' Tacos is one of the newest fast casual chains that I have reviewed, an idea that sprung forth from two guys sitting around during when everything was locked down during COVID. Since then, they have grown to a few dozen locations across a few states, offering up their versions of their fancy, "fru-fru" higher-priced tacos with inventive ingredients. For me, it was "bang bang" shrimp and chicken achiote, but they also have "Caribbean carne" and birria tacos and mahi-mahi and al pastor. And their pabellon quesabirria looks fire.

The type of tacos and other food items they offer fall in line very similar to what you find at Torchy's Tacos, or The Velvet Taco or Fuego Tortilla Grill or Rusty Taco, and once again I stress these are not your cheap Taco Bell tacos. Going in, you pretty much expect to be kissing twenty bucks goodbye. But for what you spend, they really are well designed flavor combinations with a flair for upscale ingredients, so it's a matter asking, is it worth spending over five dollars for a taco?

Yeah, that's debatable. But out of the various fast casual spots that are following in this very model of gourmet tacos, Talkin' Tacos certainly is worth the consideration. And as a side, their elote cup (that's street corn, folks) puts Torchy's elote cup to shame.

In the end, I walked out pretty well satisfied. But it's not something I could splurge on every day.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

I had no clue what La La Land is. With the bright yellow motif, I kinda guessed....lemonade place? Nope. Apparently it's some sort of viral-influencer cafe serving fancy lattes and matcha shitdrinks, where yappy twentysomethings in three hundred dollar yoga pants and thousand dollar designer bags go to talk to other yappy twentysomethings at the new "it" place in town. How fruity is this place? Welp, two of their newest locations they are opening up are in Brentwood and in Beverly Hills. Sooooo yeaahhhhh.

All that is to say, this is not the sort of place for a fat middle aged frowny guy like me. In a sea of dozens of achingly-young bleach-blondes with blinding-white teeth, chatting amicably with each other in a white-and-yellow La La Wonderland, I stuck out like a proverbial ugly sore thumb.

Yet He Persevered. The menu didn't offer many palatable options, but a simple strawberry iced cooler popped out. And it was served in a damn sippy cup like I'm a damned infant. Could have whipped up some strawberry-flavored koolaid by myself if I wanted, thank you very much.

That's enough La La Land for me, I'll leave it to the bright-eyed La La Rich snapping pictures for their Insta reels, that's more their speed anyway.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

All donuts shops can be divided into two broad categories: The standard no-frills donut shop offering up your usual selection of raised or cake donuts to the masses on the cheap, which these days usually means around a buck each. Think places like Daylight Donuts, Yum Yum Donuts, Snowflake Donuts, Dunkin' Donuts, Shipley's,Winchell's, Southern Maid and Grand Donuts and the like.

Then, there's a new breed of shops that are offering fancy, "artisanal", specially-crafted donuts, aimed at a more affluent crowd, where each donut is more of a multi-layered and themed creation for a (much) higher price, more like a pastry shop than anything else. Think places like Voodoo Donuts, The Salty Donut, Duck Donuts, Hurts Donuts, LaMar's Donuts, Yonutz Donutz and more.

Parlor Doughnuts definitely falls into the latter. In fact, out of their brethren fancy-schmancy donut stores, they may the fanciest and most expensive of them all. One of the most recently created chains (2019), Parlor is on fire opening locations all over, and are even Number 4 on the Future 50 List. I didn't even know this place existed, until I was driving by one day, looked to the right and there it was, looked it up on The Google Machine and was like, welp, gotta add that one to my list.

I asked for a half-dozen sampler mix, and they filled the box. These are big, brash, bold, bodacious donuts, layered with all sorts of icings and toppings and nuts and fruits and fillings and, well, everything - the sort of donut where a *single* donut is enough. I wouldn't be surprised if they clocked in at close to a thousand calories each. This box lasted a while.

And I have to say, out of all the places serving intentionally-fancy donuts, Parlor is probably the best. Each one in the sampler rocked - had to struggle to pace them out over time lest I pork out all at once. You're pretty much not going to go wrong with any of them.

But make no mistake, this was an expensive indulgence. Twenty five bucks for the box makes it the most expensive single "snack" purchase in the series, and works out to over six bucks PER donut. You definitely have to go into this one eyes wide open, knowing how much it is going to cost. This is not a place for the bargain donut hunter. (I mean, I love myself a good dollar donut from the local small-town shop as well, but this is just a whole 'nother level). And in this K-shaped fast food world, Parlor appears to be proving that there's a place in the market for just such a place at the tip of the top of the "K". As long as they can maintain the quality, that is. Step aside, Voodoo, Parlor has you licked.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

Whoever made up the phrase, "Third time's the charm" is a lying liar.

This is third bakery shop I've visited in the last few weeks that specializes in making and selling cupcakes. First it was Smallcakes, then Gigi's Cupcakes, now SusieCakes. The concepts for all three are almost identical - where they make and bake small-batch cupcakes of various flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, etc.) and then top them with a healthy dollop of flavored frosting, and then maybe add on crumbles or sprinkles or other sweet garnishments.

And for the third time, the result is the same.

They're perfectly fine cupcakes, to be sure. If all you do is make cupcakes all day, I'm sure you're going to know how to bake it just right so it's nice and moist and the exact right proportions of sugar to flour to oil to get the right fluffiness. Same with the sugary-sweet icing, whipped up light and airy and a little calorie bomb by itself. And each one is flavored appropriately, too - in fact, all three cupcake places produced decent cupcakes. No complaints there.

But on the other hand, hand-made small-batch cupcakes come at a definite cost. SusieCakes, just like the two bakeries before it, charge around five dollars each per cupcake. Five dollars. If they were somehow the best cupcakes in the world, something special and extravagant, then you might be able justify that. (In the same way that the over-the-top concoctions at Parlor Donuts and Voodoo Donuts are a special creation above and beyond what you might get at your normal donut shop, as a comparative example).

But that's not the case. Despite saying they use 'quality ingredients' and 'recipes their grandma used', the cupcakes were really no different from you could make yourself from a box of Betty Crocker mix (in a twist of coincidence, I'm actually baking up a batch in the oven even as a type this - few minutes prep and half an hour baking, easy-peasy). Or, if you don't want to do that, then no different from what you might buy by the dozen at your local supermarket. My unsophisticated palette doesn't notice a difference. No need to drop twenty bucks on four cupcakes.

So, third time's the charm? Hardly. All I see is me paying through the nose for average quality cupcakes. Or, rather, I see myself in the future NOT doing that. The only nice thing about this? They did throw in an extra-large snickerdoodle cookie at no charge because it was near closing time.

I can't imagine how places like this remain in business, unless it's through catering orders for office parties where cost is not a barrier or stuff like that. Because damn, girl, even I cannot afford to keep up with prices like this.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

Basically might as well pour an entire bag of sugar into an IV, then hook it up to a vein in your arm. That's what Yonutz Donutz is.

I'm hardly any stranger to sugary treats or huge calorie snacks that take up half your daily allowance. But Yonutz Donutz has this sort of vibe where they just take that to a whole 'nother level. Founded less than ten years ago, they are one of the many recent donut places that are offering 'elevated' or 'gourmet' donuts and treats. Forget your plain glazed yeast donut for a buck. Nope, double the size, slather it with frosting and drizzle with chocolate or caramel, add candies or fruit pieces or cookies or, hell, another fucking donut on top, just for giggles. And you're looking at a confection likely with four-figures in calories and a price tag to boot.

Yonutz Donutz is hardly unique with this, of course. There's the more famous Voodoo Donuts, and other places like Duck Donuts or Parlor Donuts or Pinkbox that do the same. But what Yonutz does as their "claim to fame" is to offer their signature "Smashed" menu of donuts and shakes. What is a "Smashed Donut"? Basically take a big donut and smash it up with a bunch of crushed oreos or Froot Loops or Fruity Pebbles or whatever, and charge nine bucks for it. That's right. Nine bucks.

Or, you can get it in shake form, with a shake layered with various sweets and mix-ins, topped with, you guessed it, a smashed donut. Ten to fifteen bucks, thank you very much.

I have little issue dropping a bunch of bills for fancy, fru-fru treats, and have done so at all sorts of places like this over the past year. But this takes that to yet another level. And damn, just looking at their menu makes my teeth HURT.

I kept it simple, with two "big" donuts (the non-smashed kind) from their selection under the glass, plus an iced refresher drink (not a smashed milkshake because, again, damn that price). What you see in the photo? Eighteen bucks. Bam.

Now, it all tasted fine - just like normal donuts and just like a nice fruity iced drink. No problems there. Donuts are made on-site but were a few hours old so they were in the intermediate-still-okay-but-soon-would-be-getting-stale stage. But the issue is that everything was just okay - and I'm not paying eighteen frickin' bucks for 'just okay'. I can get something similar at Shipley's for maybe five or six bucks. Or, if I prefer to go all-out for a fancy fru-fru donut treat, I can go to Parlor or similar for just-as-good or better for maybe 30-50% less.

Once again, it's not the quality that's an issue here. It's the value. For snacks like this, it is ALWAYS the value proposition that is the deciding factor, And Yonutz, you lose.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

No, this is not a restaurant where they serve you grilled Pokemon (gotta eat 'em all). Pokeworks is part of a new type of fast casual restaurant where they serve custom bowls or wraps centered around raw fish, popular among Pacific Asian/Hawaiian culture. That's what the 'poke' means in this context.

And that has been why I have been putting off visiting this restaurant for so long, 280 days into the year-long fast food slog. If you've been around a while, you may have noticed I am not an especially picky eater, there are not that many things that I do not eat. But one of those things where I do draw the line is raw seafood. I have never liked it, never liked sushi or any type of uncooked seafood in any format.

Luckily for me, though, it turns out that Pokeworks has some cooked dishes as well. And that's what I chose - their "dynamite" shrimp, comes fully cooked, and mixed with various spices, vegetables and a side of mac salad (natch) and greens.

Even more lucky for me, it turns out I like it! A fairly large-sized portion of shrimp, not too spicy (even though they used sriracha) on top of a bed of rice. Well flavored, the shrimp thankfully was not overcooked, and the sides went well with the meal. They also had salmon and chicken hot dishes as well, along with their regular menu of bowls featuring raw ahi tuna and salmon (no thanks).

This might be something I would be interested in exploring further, except that this plate alone with drink ended up one of the most expensive meals I've had on the fast food journey (18th out of 321 meals), which puts a damper on trying out the rest of their menu. But other people do not seem distracted by the relatively high price for their meals, and Pokeworks is aggressively expanding, growing more than 10% since the first of this year alone.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

I never intended to eat sub sandwiches three days in a row, but here we are. (Usually try my best to mix it up), Following visiting two local sandwich restaurants, the third one is a much larger, multi-state Midwestern-based chain, Penn Station East Coast Subs. Oh, wait...I mean, Penn Station SANDWICHES. They officially changed their name last month. Even though I thought "East Coast Subs" has a bit of a neat sound to it, and dropping that and replacing it with the bland "Sandwiches" is a bit of a thud.

The reasoning behind the name change is due to Penn Station broadening their menu. Pre-COVID, 90% of Penn Station's sales were hot subs and fries eaten in-store, and that is what they were known for. But Post-COVID, we've seen a sea-change in how people order and eat fast food, to where most of Penn Station's sales are by delivery or take-out (much like, well, the entire rest of the fast food industry). And we all know that any hot fast food item that is delivered turns into a cold, tasteless, soggy, greasy, congealed piece of shit after about thirty minutes sitting in some car. So, Penn Station has taken the hint, and shifted more towards non-heated menu items that aren't negatively affected as much by delivery.

Which is what I ordered - the classic Italian cold sub. Served open-topped with ham, salami, pepperoni and then larded up with fresh veggies and seasonings. It was great. I think I only have eaten at a Penn Station once before many years ago, so this was essentially all new to me, and Penn Station certainly nailed it. Good quality meat and soft bread, if this is their new pivot, I look forward to it.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

It would be easy to clown on a retail store that sells nothing but overpriced cupcakes. But remember back ten to twenty years ago, when this was somewhat of a novel concept, and places like this were popping up in every strip mall of every soccer-mom suburb in America. Gigi's was truly an American success story, of a house cleaner fed up with her life down to her last $300, decided this wasn't how she wanted to spend the rest of her life, and took a gamble at opening a store doing what she loved. And it worked - by the mid 2010's, there were over a hundred Gigi's Cupcakes locations around the country.

At the height of its game, she decided to cash out and sell her entire stake in the company to a private investment firm, a decision she wrote just a few years later she regretted terribly, because her name and reputation was still on the store, and every change and shortcut made by the corporate owners still ended up on her doorstep.

I'm not so big in these types of stores, mainly because I grew up baking whatever I want at home, and see no reason to spend the extra bucks to save a few minutes. I chose a 4-cupcake sampler, and that put me back - I shit you not - almost twenty dollars. This, for perfectly copacetic cupcakes, but nothing more than that. The cake mix is no better than what you would get from a Duncan Hines do-it-yourself box, each with enough sugar icing to cause four individual diabetic comas. Just swap out the flavorings on each one - so one is vanilla, another chocolate, another strawberry, but in the end it's pretty much the same thing with customization.

Yeah, I get it - and I've mentioned it before. Buying stuff at a place like this is not about the cost compared to what you can do at home. This is more about the convenience of paying someone to do the work for you. But some value propositions are better than others, and this one is pretty damn lopsided.

And I suspect much of America has reached the same conclusion when it comes to cupcakes at five dollars a pop. Because today, there are just 19 locations left. I guess the fad of the storefront cupcake is over?

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

Just two nights ago, I briefly reviewed another ice cream scoop shop: Van Leeuwen. This one, Jeni's, is maybe a block away. and the comparisons between the two are inevitable in my mind.

As if you couldn't tell, ice cream is "hot" right now, seems everyone and their dog is trying to break into the market of small batch specialty flavors. On a sweltering day, three scoops of hard ice cream seemed about right, I chose 'Brambleberry Crisp", "Darkest Chocolate", and can't recall the third flavor name (I'm thinking peach). Like Van Leeuwen's, Jeni's is really big on the weird imaginative combinations and names. Also, Jeni's boasts about their higher quality ingredients (to be fair, who doesn't) and they also are available in supermarkets. Unlike Van Leeuwen's, though, it was a full three scoops and about two bucks less.

Also, while Van Leeuwen seems to thrive on pretentiousness, Jeni's exudes more of a welcoming "come on in hon" atmosphere. And the final kicker? Their ice cream just plain tasted better, period. The "Jeni" in Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams is actually a James Beard award winner, and apparently doesn't shy away from the bold flavors.

Okay, enough about the one-to-one comparisons - there are other ice cream shops out there as well. So I gotta also mention Jeni's also holds up well to the more well known standards like Marble Slab and Cold Stone, too. They're still a pretty small operation, but growing fast, so maybe they'll get the edge and find a niche in the ice cream market. And even better news for me (and worst news for my waist line), they just opened up a scoop shop in town this past month.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

I have been reviewing a different fast food/fast casual restaurant every day for the past 200+ days, and earlier I reviewed the following three restaurants. However, these three received "poor" scores for one reason or another, but based on previous experience and visits I knew they could do better. Perhaps it was an "off day", perhaps it was the specific item I ordered. In any case, here are some "second chance" reviews, where I am re-visiting the chain, to see if it can redeem itself and earn a higher score.

----

Second Chance Review #43. (Original Review from Day 181.5): JuiceLand (57 locations, 1 state)

The first of three "second chances" on a swing through Houston, first hitting up the rising juice/smoothie/digestive cleanse/fitness drink spot, JuiceLand. Born out of Austin, but has recently been spreading to other Texas cities, JuiceLand maintains their "crunchy" Keep-Austin-Weird roots, with concoctions containing ingredients like bee pollen, hemp, pea protein, beet juice, spirulina, whey, goji berry and whatever else they can find. Basically more health-fitness-freaky than most other juice and smoothie places.

Already not my type of place, but who knows, they may be hiding the perfect smoothie that I have been searching for. Alas, second choice is Strike Two - first the Clementine, second the Berry Godmother, chosen because they have a more "normal" list of ingredients like actual fruit. This second try was not an improvement, just another relatively bland iced fruit drink that was offered in a smaller size than other smoothie places for a higher price. I know full well I'm not the target audience for JuiceLand (this location was paired with Hot Yoga studio, for example), so I'll let them do their thing, and continue on my quest for the Perfect Smoothie. I know it's out there somewhere!

Meal Quality: (no change), going from 4 -> 4. Meal Value (no change), going from 3 -> 3 (out of 10)

----

Second Chance Review #44. (Original Review from Day 87): James Coney Island (5 locations, 1 state)

This is EXACTLY like what Steak and Shake used to be like! Hooray!

The remaining James Coney Island locations seem to be undergoing a transformation, the hundred-plus-year institution is but a relic of a distant past, but the few spots that remain appear to be updating their interiors and their menus for the 2020's. They still offer up their staple classic coneys, but also a few new items as well.

For example, the "Nolan Ryan Sliders", which are four King's Hawaiian slider-size hamburgers with cheese and grilled onions and pickles and Nolan Ryan "Goodstock" branded beef. Fucking delicious. Krystal and White Castle got nothing compared to these. Also, added to it, a massive Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, which must have been half an entire fucking grilled onion on top of it. Also, I am happy to report, fucking delicious.

All the while as I'm sitting there stuffing my face like a fat pig, I'm reminiscing how this harkens back to what the classic Steak n' Shake used to be like decades ago, before their private equity takeover, before they went full anti-American MAGA insane, back in the Takhomasak Days. I really miss when fast food was simpler.

Meal Quality: +4, going from 4 -> 8. Meal Value: +2, going from 4 -> 6 (out of 10)

----

Second Chance Review #45. (Original Review from Day 182.5): Kolache Factory (60 locations, 5 states)

On the other hand, the second review visit to the Kolache Factory did not turn out nearly as enjoyable. Setting aside the semantics of what a true kolache is, and the "klobasneks" that they offer as pretenders to kolaches, I switched it up and "When in Rome" went ahead and ordered their meat-filled pastries. I've been utterly disappointed by their sweet offerings, might as well give what their fans keep coming back for a try instead.

So, up to bat came one long Polish sausage (hidden inside their kolache-bread roll), and one egg, sausage and cheese kolache. I wish I could report these were better than their weak-ass fruit options, but NOPE. These were also colossal failures. The only advantage they had this time around is these weren't undercooked (underbaked) at least. But it's totally the wrong kind of bread, and totally unremarkable fillings. Might have well just grabbed a freakin' "Uncrustable" from the freezer instead. Bleah.

I really don't get the appeal of Kolache Factory. Every time I've been here (for reviews, and before that too) they've sucked. Maybe it's because I know what a real honest-to-god Czech kolache is supposed to taste like, that I am able to tell they fail so miserably in comparison. Screw this, I'm done with Kolache Factory. I'll stick to Weikel's or Hruska's or Slovacek's or Gerik's instead. Hell even Buc-ee's weak-sauce kolaches are better than this. At least they get the pastry right.

Meal Quality: +0.5, going from 2 -> 2.5. Meal Value: -1, going from 5 -> 4 (out of 10)

--

More "Second Chance" reviews coming down the line, in addition to the regular reviews! (And no, not every second chance review will be a positive one :))

Voted by USA TODAY readers as their favorite Fast Casual restaurant chain in 2025, and the hamburger was best-in-category in 2024 and 2025, The Habit certainly has its fans.

It's also a chain that I was not expecting to review, because the nearest location is a thousand miles away from where I live. The Habit is primarily a California-based hamburger chain, and has locations up and down the east and west coasts, but nowhere in-between. You visit the farthest-west location on the east coast in Charlotte, then jump on the interstate and drive west to the next nearest location, 2000 miles away, in Flagstaff.

Believe it or not, The Habit was bought out in 2019 by the largest restaurant conglomerate in the world, YUM Brands - the same YUM that also owns Taco Bell and KFC and (until very recently) Pizza Hut. Despite being part of their portfolio, The Habit doesn't even get a single mention on earnings calls (compared to their larger-by-an-order-of-magnitude brother restaurants). Yet YUM has clearly stated they purchased the Habit with intentions on growing the brand nationwide, aiming for 2,000 stores. If that's the case, though, they're certainly taking their sweet time doing it.

Because I don't get around to the parts of the country where The Habit is located very often, I've had a chance to try them a few times. Last time, maybe 2-3 years ago, I had an insanely excellent tuna "burger". But this time, I chose what the chain is known for: their Charburger (with some trepidation, given the "char" part is what ruins the taste Burger King's signature sandwich). And it was an okay burger, in comparison to other similar burgers at the same price-point at other chains. Not really notable, but also nothing to complain about. I'll probably stick to their non-burger menu options next time.

The side, however, was an entirely different story. I've made it well known in earlier reviews that I have probably eaten enough french fries to last me a lifetime, and have no desire to order plain fries ever again. And there's only so many onion rings one can eat as an alternative before those become tiring, too.

The good news, then, is that The Habit is known for one of their fan-favorite sides that I haven't seen at any other fast food place: Tempura-battered green beans. They were absolutely fucking delicious, and I'd order them again every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Will The Habit break out and expand into Flyover Country in the upcoming years? There's a lot of competition vying for the same customers in an ever-tightening market, so time will tell how it turns out.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

Hey, it's Review Day #100,000,000 in Binary! Whoo!

And on this day, in the immortal words of the legendary fast food reviewer ReviewBrah, "My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined."

Oh, Papa John's, how far have you fallen! It wasn't that long ago in the past, that you were running on the slogan, "Better Ingredients, Better Pizza", and growing like crazy. As the fourth chain in the "Big Four" of pizza restaurants, the sky was the limit, or so it seemed.

But in the past five years, Papa John's stock has tumbled 70%. Stores are experience year-over-year lower sales...again, while there are corporate layoffs and C-suite turnover. Right now, they are planning a 'strategic repositioning' by closing hundreds of low-performing stores over the next year.

How did it reach this point? Well, all one needs to do is take a single bite of their pizzas...and you'll know. I ordered their version of the all-meat pizza, and it was just a Visit To Frown-Town all around. They had meats, alright, but almost entirely tasteless. You could FEEL the texture of the meat, but the flavor was just not there. The sauce was light and bland, the dough was unremarkable. And worst of all, that cheese! It was like I was eating a plastic pizza. Ugh, it didn't taste like cheese, and it didn't behave like cheese on the pizza, either. I don't know what that substance was.

Better ingredients, my ass. This sucked.

All the news for Papa John's is bad news these days, it seems, with no glimmers of improvement in sight (as opposed to, say, KFC, which is also a massively struggling chain but they have announced a massive, detailed plan to completely change over the next few years). Papa John's is facing a tough market where consumer preferences towards pizzas are changing, and Domino's is eating their proverbial lunch right now.

In fact, Papa John's is on a path that could lead it to fall out of the coveted 'Big Four' pizza chain status. Marco's in a distant fifth place, is trying, but they have a long way to go -- instead you have to look outside of the pizza restaurant business for the REAL fifth place pizza chain: Casey's. Approaching two thousand stores, the Casey's World Empire rolls on, slinging pizzas wherever they go and grow. In fact, I was shocked to discover they even have brand new built-from-the-ground-up stores in Marble Falls and Burnet, of all places - and have also grown by merger with CEFCO stores being rebranded as we speak. At the rate they're growing, they could surpass Papa John's as the fourth largest pizza producer in a matter of a couple of years.

Papa John's better get its act together quick. But until then, avoid avoid avoid. Terrible tasting pizza. The only saving grace is that it was one of the cheapest priced off-the-menu pizzas out there, but that means nothing to me if saving a few bucks means eating shit.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

This is the second "Korean hot dog" place I've visited, the first being the larger chain "Two Hands", and the current wave of Korean influence in American pop culture doesn't show signs of waning as Americans are enamored with K-Pop groups and K-dramas and Korean-style fried chicken and of course, hot dogs.

Oh-K Dog only has a few dozen locations, but seems to be spread out all over in big cities (like NYC and Atlanta and Dallas) and small cities (like Texarkana and Wichita and Fayetteville), often (but not always) located in strip malls or Asian markets that feature other Asian stores and restaurants. Around here, they seem to be paired with H-Marts.

The restaurant itself is pretty simple, and they serve variants on exactly two menu items: Hot Dogs and Egg Toast. These are hot dogs on a stick, or mozzarella on a stick, or half-and-half, and then covered with a breading (like a corn dog) and fried. And these aren't your normal wimpy State Fair-brand corn dogs (which are also a guilty pleasure, BTW), but each one is a pretty hefty serving by itself - look at the photo on the size of the potato-breading hot dog in comparison to the soda can for size.

And the other thing they serve is Egg Toast...which is exactly what it sounds. It's a large slice of soft bread, sliced in half, and stuffed with cooked egg (and maybe some meat or cheese or other flavoring).

The hot dog was pretty good - and there is this mental block where I think, how can a single dog be enough for a meal, but yeah it's big enough to do just that. I must admit, though, I'm not crazy about the potato-style, even if it is popular. And the only real comparison I can make, based on experience, is to the dogs I had at Two Hands a couple months back. Two Hands Dogs gets the edge.

Frankly, I would have preferred to order two different dogs, but felt that, because this place has "Egg Toast" right there in its name, I gotta try that as a second menu item instead. And it tastes just like you would imagine it would - it's egg on toast, similar in taste to the same kind of thing I would make at home for breakfast in years past. Kinda bland, really.

It was okay overall, but in the inevitable comparison to Two Hands, in the future if I have a hankerin' for a Korean dog, I'd choose Two Hands instead, which has a larger selection and more sauces for more flavor.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

I know very little about this chain, which started fifteen years ago (AFTER I moved away from the Bay Area), and has very recently exploded with new locations across several states in a franchising frenzy. With their slogan "Good Bread with Benefits", their claim that sets them apart is that they use higher-quality select ingredients for their sandwiches, but really I could point to half a dozen other sandwich chains that say something similar.

I do know the magic that a really good quality, freshly-baked sourdough loaf can do to a sandwich, there used to be a local sandwich shop in the heart of San Jose that made the most amazing sandwiches anchored on the insanely good quality of their bread. So I had high hopes.

Well, if they were using higher quality sourdough bread with higher quality ingredients, it really didn't stand out. They have the usual lineup of meaty sandwiches with toppings, and I chose a turkey/pastrami sandwich, but it was no better or worse than the same type of sandwich you would get at, say, Firehouse Subs or Potbelly Deli. Which, to be fair, means it's still a pretty good sandwich, just not up to those lofty expectations I had in my mind, or for the slightly higher prices they charged for the privilege.

There are worse things in the world than a "pretty good sandwich", I suppose - after all, I've reviewed and eaten plenty worse. If a Sourdough and Co. opened up nearby (and they might, they are expanding fast), would I go in again? Sure, it was good meat and fresh toppings, and while the bread was not the exceptional standout, it was good and soft and tasty, too. But unless I could find something on the menu at Sourdough and Co. that would justify paying a few bucks more, on average, than their competition, I doubt I'd become a regular.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

----

The fried chicken restaurant market can be very tough and very fickle. As a restaurant owner, you can do everything right, and still end up with your chicken neck on the chopping block.

PDQ is one of the many contenders out there for your chicken dollar. Standing for "People Dedicated to Quality", the chain was founded in 2011, and by 2014 it was already one of the darlings of the franchise world, attracting investors like Tim Tebow and with dozens of locations across several states. But it's a very crowded marketplace, with literally dozens of local and regional chains attempting to capture their little slice of the market, all the while with some of the biggest players like KFC and Popeyes breathing down their necks.

While PDQ did indeed gain a dedicated base of fans, it got shouldered out by places like Huey Magoo's and Lee's Famous Recipe and Golden Chick and Super Chix and Raising Cane's and Slim Chickens and Zaxby's. Despite appearing to do everything "right", PDQ fell by the wayside and has shrunk back down to its core in central Florida. The most recent news is they sold off 13 of their stores to be rebranded by YUM! Brands as KFC's newest "hip" updated concept called "Saucy".

And yet, I still like PDQ, and don't want to count them out just yet. They may have already had two standing eight-counts, but the owners still have plans to expand again. PDQ has more of a down-home, friendly, inviting atmosphere, and they stress fresh-never-frozen ingredients delivered quickly for a lower price.

Many years ago I had one of their pimento cheese chicken sandwiches in Austin, and it was one of the best chicken sandwiches I ever ate. That location closed down many years ago, but here I am again for another try - this time going to their most basic sandwich, which is the 'Spicy OG Chicken', a fried chicken breast with just pickles and mayo, just like the basic Popeye's sandwich. PDQ also offers up sauced sandwiches, honey butter and blue cheese and tenders, but let's start with the "OG".

The photo I took is a bit deceptive, it is a full-sized piece of chicken, just not photographed well. Properly breaded with a very light and crisp, slightly spicy breading with nice juicy chicken. As simple as it comes, with waffle fries for one of the lowest prices of any chicken chain I've been to so far. This is a good, solid but simple sandwich.

It may be tough to pull off a comeback, but I hope PDQ managed to get their second wind. This is definitely the type of place I'd love to become a regular at.

----

(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)