Food chains you trust enough to try any new item

[stephenc]

I can say for certain that there are many chains where I'd never try ANYTHING no matter how interesting it looked.  Taco Bell is the prime example for me of this.  I don't care how good it SEEMS, I've been burned with bad taste and food poisoning far too often to even risk eating at this dump.

Dude, taco bell is awesome.

It's also the most sanitary fast food place because nothing is actually cooked on the premises. I think Dateline did a report on all the national chains a year ago, and Taco Bell was found to have the least health violations of all the nationa chains.

[tryska]

and Taco Bell was found to have the least health violations of all the nationa chains.

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so how come everytime i go there my health gets violated. (i've literally been 3 times in 5 years, because everytime i go I wind up with some sort of intestinal distress.)

[DTBarton]

I eat fast food from time to time and have noticed the following:

It seems just about anyplace can serve up decent stuff if they follow the rules, give a rip, and don't serve old food. Our local MacDonald's is a great case in point. Over 7 years, they've gone from bad to good a couple times. On an upswing now, must have a manager and some employees who give a rip.

Our local Popeye's can turn out very good chicken when they nail it, local KFC is solidly bad. KFC can be very good when done right, I know because I used to cook it as a teenager at Gino's. Bread thoroughly, patting the breading into the skin. Make sure the oil's 400 degrees. Brown adquately while stirring to keep the pieces from sticking together before closing the pressure cooker.

My rules of thumb:

For burger joints, if I go there at an off time when I'm likely to get a burger that's been sitting, I make a special request (no salt is a good one). This makes them cook a fresh burger and fries, does cost you a few minutes.

For Popeyes, I try to go when it's busy and they're cooking bird constantly. I also look at the hot versus the mild to see which has the right color, medium brown. Our local place sometimes over or under cooks a batch.

[ludja]

I don't go to Chipotle's often because there are so many good Mom and Pop Mexican taqueria's and restaurants around, but I think I would try new things there.

Their ingredients are higher in quality than most chains, including Niman Ranch pork as the basis for their carnitas and barbacoa. You pick the ingredients to go in your freshly assembled burritto as you walk down the other side of an assembly line coutner. They are owned by McDonald's but are operated from a separate headquarters in Denver.

[jvictor930]

Being someone who travels to the weirdest parts of the country at times, sometimes the only restaurants are fast food. For example, I pulled into a small town in Idaho at about 6:30pm and was told that the only restaurants open were the Subway and the Taco Bell inside the gas stations across the street.

In these situations, when faced with the same old items or something new, I'd try a new item first. But again, it's only when the local flavors aren't open...

So the answer is "only under duress of starvation."

[Steven Blaski]

I can say for certain that there are many chains where I'd never try ANYTHING no matter how interesting it looked.  Taco Bell is the prime example for me of this.  I don't care how good it SEEMS, I've been burned with bad taste and food poisoning far too often to even risk eating at this dump.

Dude, taco bell is awesome.

It's also the most sanitary fast food place because nothing is actually cooked on the premises. I think Dateline did a report on all the national chains a year ago, and Taco Bell was found to have the least health violations of all the nationa chains.

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Taco Bell's Chalupa Supreme is my guilty pleasure. I always get a couple with a side order of pintos & cheese.

McD's is horrible, to my mind, and is the last FF joint I'd visit.

When I lived in California I liked In-N-Out; Carl's Jr. would do in a pinch. No Carl's here, but its sister company Hardee's is pretty similiar and better than I remembered from many years ago (before it changed hands).

Every once in a while I get a hankering for A&W. It was the first and only fast-food place in my hometown when I was a kid. I always get a root beer float and a chili dog. Why is it that most FF chains eschew the noble hot dog?

[jhlurie]

and Taco Bell was found to have the least health violations of all the nationa chains.

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so how come everytime i go there my health gets violated. (i've literally been 3 times in 5 years, because everytime i go I wind up with some sort of intestinal distress.)

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For me, it was twice in two years, a few years back, and since then I've given up on Taco Bell forever. I have a cast-iron stomach normally too, so it was even more puzzling.

I also live in an area where a lot of authentic mexican has appeared in recent years, so really TB suffers in comparison.

TB is on my "agree to disagree" list with my fellow eGers though, since a few people who's opinions I really respect here seem to really love it. One explained to me that it's not that he really thought of TB as mexican food, it's more that it is its own thing that's kind of like mexican. I can kind of get that, since I like the basic McDonald's cheeseburger quite a bit and yet don't really think of it as a "real" hamburger.

Getting back to the core topic here--restaurants where we've decided we'll trust enough to at least try anything new--I'll add Chipotle to my personal list. I'd never tried it until recently, but agree with ludja that it's just good across the board. It's a simple concept, done well. It's probably only marginally more "real mexican" than Taco Bell, and like ludju I've got real taquerias as an alternative, but what Chipolte does works.

[tryska]

I have a cast iron stomach too - and used to eat it quite frequently when i was younger. and then i stopped eating all fast food for about 3 years, came back, tried it and got sick. very strange. Glad to know i'm not alone.

Chipotle woks for me too, but for some reason I can't deal with the super hot salsa there. for now, when i need a quasi mexican fix, i actually pick up an ortega dinner kit. and i'm nto embarrassed to admit it.

Edited October 18, 2005 by tryska (log)

[MarketStEl]

I trust EVERYTHING coming out of White Castle. I love all the variants they come out with on their burgers.

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White Castle pulled out of the Philadelphia market back around 2000.

I miss them greatly. Those little burgers sure were tasty.

The two Popeye's outlets near me are both very consistent with the quality of their chicken, and it is consistently better than KFC.

I used to trust anything Wendy's produced. But now they cook their burgers until they're dry.

As for McDonald's: They generally try to stay abreast of current trends and fads, which does dilute their attention to their primary product--and some of the trendy items they introduce miss the mark. Did any of you try their Philly cheesesteaks when they were offering them in the summer of 2004? (Or were these just a Philly thing? If so, then they move from the realm of the merely unfortunate to the carrying-coals-to-Newcastle level of futility.)

OTOH, it's hard to wreck a salad. Mickey D's are pretty good.

[SobaAddict70]

If McDonald's went back to their original mode of operation, would people try it?

The thing is, there hasn't been a completely new sandwich from McD's for quite a long while. The last one was...the Big and Tasty?

As I understand it, there's the Lobster Roll in New England, fan kao in Taiwan (think burgers with rice patties instead of buns) and McSpaghetti in of all places, the Philippines.

[Mooshmouse]

As I understand it, there's the Lobster Roll in New England, fan kao in Taiwan (think burgers with rice patties instead of buns) and McSpaghetti in of all places, the Philippines. 

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And then there's Spam, Portuguese sausages and eggs on rice featured on the breakfast menu at Hawaiian McDonald's.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

As a general rule, I don't go to fast food chains for good food, just for something to fill my belly and keep my kids happy.

That said, I'm usually willing to try the new things that pop up at Jack In The Box, Taco Bell and Carl's Jr.

Chain sit down restaurants are a different story... I expect tasty food, but nothing spectacular.

[Aileen]

Taco Bell is my favorite, but I rarely try any new items - I like the classics.

I hated Chipotle the first few times I tried it (about 6 years ago), because gigantic burritos aren't my idea of good food, but recently my boyfriend got me a Naked Burrito, and I've changed my opinion. (Somewhat, anyway, because I still believe a burrito should never be as big as your head!)

McD's: blech. I will get it for my kids as a special treat sometimes.

[ludja]

...

I hated Chipotle the first few times I tried it (about 6 years ago), because gigantic burritos aren't my idea of good food, but recently my boyfriend got me a Naked Burrito, and I've changed my opinion.  (Somewhat, anyway, because I still believe a burrito should never be as big as your head!)

...

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They are pretty big! Big burittos at Chipotles or at privately owned taqueries out here have become our food of choice, though, after 10-15 mile hikes. They really hit the spot then... Else, I'll sometimes split one.

Funny, I take it, naked burritos are minus the tortilla. I'd not heard the term before.

[Aileen]

Yep, they are the same thing, minus the tortilla. It's just a mental issue for me, I guess!

[takomabaker]

Noodles & Co. is pretty edible. It's really the only fast food that I eat. (Desperation food at Roy Rogers on the Jersey Turnpike at 1 AM doesn't count.) Some things are quite good. Their Thai noodle soup is BALM when you are sick or on a really cold night when you just want to grab something on the way home. And I also like their Pasta Fresca. I have discovered that I don't care for a few of their menu items. Their pad thai is pretty mediocre, and their Indonesian Peanut Noodles are a little high on heat and short on flavor in my book. But I give them the benefit of the doubt on most new items on their menu. For fast food, they hit the mark most of the time.

[jhlurie]

If McDonald's went back to their original mode of operation, would people try it?

The thing is, there hasn't been a completely new sandwich from McD's for quite a long while.  The last one was...the Big and Tasty?

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Well, that's burgers. In terms of Chicken Sandwiches (an expansion market for them, because America is apparently Chicken Sandwich crazed) they've come up with about 6 or 7 of them in the past decade (they currently sell about 4 different kinds, I believe).

[Kris]

I'd try new stuff at Wendy's and Chipotle.

I detest Taco Bell.