I have a feeling that you may be disappointed!

I remember when the first McDonalds opened around here, in the 60's, 20 miles away, I was a farm boy, and it was so good!

No big Mac back then..... But they used to use "real" meat. Not now!

The people that I work with don't cook and they eat out every day for lunch. We are a maintenance crew for the county. We have to travel to different water plants daily, so we rarely get back to the shop for lunch. I carry my home cooked "plain old farm food" with me.

Every once in a while I have to eat out. They say this place and that place is so good. Long lines at all of them. Every time I am very disappointed! No one seems to know how to cook anymore!

Every once in a while I will bring enough of my "plain old farm food" to feed the other guys. They love it and tell me I need to open a restaurant when I retire.

"Plain old farm food" is a dying art.......... That I will stick with!

I eat fast food maybe every once a month or six weeks. When it comes to fast food, the thinking of it is always better than the eating of it. Forget McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Hardee's, the taco places, Subway (guess all their cold cuts etc. are turkey based and they took some real ingredient out of the bread.) I could go across the bridge into Wisconsin and patronize the last A&W in the area - big greasy hamburger, good fries and the frosted mug root beer like the days of yore. But that's an out of the way schlep.

All things considered, I can do better in my own kitchen.

Fast food is tasty because they use MSG.

dcarch

In-N-Out still reigns supreme! If you haven't tried it, don't knock it!

I grew up on plain old farm food, as well. Never did get into the fast food rut, had a child with food allergies so I cooked plain old farm food 99% of the time. Still on the farm, still cook plain old farm food.

The thought of McDonalds or other fast food places makes my stomach turn, EXCEPT for a little mom and pop place called Tinos. They are only open in the spring and summer, usually opening in April until about end of September. I make a point of stopping when I am in the city! Mushroom burger and chili cheese fries. YUM.

Shake shack is quite good. The lines at the MadisonSq Park location were always long....i don't wait for fast food...
so not until recently have i had shake shack. At three locations, now that they are expanding....and will soon be all over the country. (and about to go public...in stock)

Fast food can be good and they nailed it.

I don't generally eat fast food. Even if it tasted good (which much of it does not), it's so unhealthy and the predominant flavor is salt. For me at least, maybe other's don't notice.

Once or twice a year I'll have an A&W chili cheese dog and that frosty mug. We still have a drive-in where the waitresses hang the tray on your window, so that's kind of cool, kind of like a drive-through where you can eat without having to drive, LOL.

The first fast food I ever had was at a burger joint called Satellite Burgers. They were horrible, LOL. My second experience was a Whopper at a Burger King in East Lansing, that would have been about 1965, maybe. I thought it was the biggest sandwich I'd ever seen, and I couldn't eat it all.

I much prefer my own cooking, much of which really is "plain old farm food" and most of which I raise myself. I think I got the ultimate compliment on New Year's Eve. My oldest daughter, Amanda, was at the house with her husband and kids. We were talking about a local place that had an "all you can eat" seafood buffet for their holiday special and she said "I'd way rather eat at Mom's". (grin) Her husband emphatically agreed and so we were happy with scalloped potatoes and ham, homemade garlic cheese biscuits (gluten free, no less), broccoli and cheese and a waldorf salad. Leftover Christmas cookies for dessert and we were all very happy, New Year or not.

Annie

Can you get a medium rare burger in a fast food joint?

I don't think so. Not even medium. Only completely well done dry meat.

dcarch

I'm with Sushipup. In-N-Out is pretty good for fast food. They have a very limited menu, so they focus on just burgers or cheese burgers. Add to that freshly cut fries and shakes that actually contain milk.

One reason I like them is that they are very accommodating to low sodium restrictions. Their order registers have no-salt options for both the burgers & the fries. So every-once-in-a-while, when we get a fast food craving, I head over there.

We went to In-N-Out once. We were sort of low carbing it, so had a protein wrap. It was very good.

We had Dick's (Burgers Buy the Bagfull) that resides in a questionable part of town. They use real beef and real potatoes and it's cheap. And they never write down your order, no matter how big (and it's always right). No inside seating, seagulls everywhere and last time we drove by there was a slap fight over panhandling territory going on. Talk about atmosphere. We stop there every few years for a double Whammy, fries and a shake, and reminisce about when it was the only dinner out we could afford.

Mostly we go to a little cafe down the road. Best cheeseburger around and fresh cut fries (and a high school kid who knows how to cook them).

I do admit to several years of favoring Whoppers. Big Macs though, gave me...well....Big Mac Attacks.

Am I the only person in the country who has never eaten at MacDonalds?

I kind of consider fast food hamburgers a different food than real hamburgers. There are times that I crave them and at those times a "good" burger from a real restaurant (or my own grill) wouldn't cut it. At those times, even Wendy's would be too close to real hamburgers!

There was a time in my life where my favorite was White Castle. My friends and I would pile into the car, head over to "Chateau Blanc" and wolf down a dozen each. Then one day I went there sober. I completely lost my taste for it and never went back again.

Once in a while I make Alton Brown's sliders. They're about the closest I've come to making a fast food burger at home. Pretty good!

I'll have to keep an eye out for Shake Shack. The only Shake Shack that comes to my mind is...

Here is a link that might be useful: AB's Mini Man Burgers

My 12 year old tells me she only likes cheeseburgers "that we don't make at home"!

I do enjoy a good burger -- one of my guilty pleasures is the Pretzel Cheeseburger at Wendy's. I have to say -- it is as good as any burger I've had at Applebees or Red Robin. It is on a pretzel bun, has some kind of honey mustard and a couple of slices of bacon.

Since, I've been dieting, I only get a baked potato (no butter, just SC) and a small chili if we go there. Wendy's makes the best baked potatoes on the planet, if you ask me -- they never taste as good at home. There is chili is fantastic too.

McDonalds -- not a fan (except for their french fries!).

This post was edited by stir_fryi on Wed, Jan 7, 15 at 7:34

Stir fryi, that was my mantra growing up, I would beg my mother to make thin hamburgers like McDonalds but we always had fat, thick burgers- which she thought we should be grateful for. As we ate hamburgers once a week, it was annoying for years.

I am not a hamburger fan these days probably because of those formative years!

In-and-Out is a world away from McDonalds, LOL. They are more the "fast casual" segment, like Chipotle, Five Guys, etc.

And no, IaO doesn't use MSG. CA-based chain; good quality sourcing. Not great quality, but much better than Big Corp fast food.

So y'all made me curious. I looked up the allergy data sheets for a few of the top fast food chains. The chicken is a horror! OTOH, the beef is mostly just beef! With salt and pepper. Jack in the Box's "sirloin" which is their premium burger, has a bunch of weird stuff, but their basic burger is just beef. Just don't go near the sauces!

I like a good greasy hamburger, but it's the one off shacks and holes in the wall where the good ones are. And the ones that'll make you sick. :) I'm good at avoiding the latter, but there's usually top grade hygiene at the chains. In-N-Out positively glistens with cleanliness, and the burgers are pretty good, especially animal style. It's probably the best available at a chain drive thru. But my favorite kind of burger is charbroiled from a pre-air-quality-restrictions place, done up classic (West) American style, and those are hard to come by. The only fast food chain that makes the attempt is Carl's, if you can find an old enough one.

In general, unless I'm with people who choose elsewise, I'd rather find a good deli or something, if I'm out and need a quick lunch.

Lacyvail, I also have NEVER eaten at a McDonald's and I've never eaten their take-out either - no reason to do so. However, when I was growing up, there were no McDonald's near me, although when I was a teenager, there were Dairy Queens, and I did go to those. Where my grandparents lived in west Texas, the only similar place was a restaurant called Frigid Queen, so named because they specialized in frozen desserts and drinks. Many years later, I thought the name was a bit comical.

Where I lived, however, we had a several drive-ins that were all locally owned, and my favorite was called The Chuck Wagon, and it had huge wagon wheels outside to mark its location. When I was at Rice University in Houston, I did occasionally go to Jack-in-the-Box because it was cheap, but there was a better place called Hamburgers by Gourmet that was decorated in 1890s decor. They also had old-fashioned telephones at each table, and when you were ready to order, you picked up the phone and called in your order, which meant that you did not have to be concerned about getting a waiter's attention. They had a wide variety of hamburgers and I liked a lot of them.

When I moved to San Francisco in 1973, there were no chain restaurants there, and so I never got used to them. Local restaurants were quite good, although not as good as New Orleans, where there were also no chain restaurants at that time.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Highway 80 tour to Frigid Queen

I didn't eat in a McDonald's until I was 16 years old in the big city of Elmira, NY. in 1975. I loved it and the french fries. My boyfriend and I would hit it ever weekend before seeing a movie. Yes I am a female for all who think zackey is a male. Zackey is my cat. We rarely eat out now unless we get into a bind. I take a salad, yogurt or a sandwiches when we are going to be out and day and lots of water. I've have some awesome tasty, juicy and falling over the bun burgers in the mom and pop restaurants.

Lars, I had to smile at "Frigid Queen". Near Elery's sister's house there's a roadside place called "Po' Ho's". That cracked me up too.

I have had a 5 Guys burger and it was OK, their fries were really good, but I'll go to the local dive bar, Schuberg's, for a burger. They sell a "baby schu", or a platter of three, small slider type burgers, all the way up to a half pounder. I get the "baby schu" and their homemade soup of the day. Of course, I've got a gift certificate from my mother from Christmas 2013 and haven't used it up yet, LOL.

Annie

Surprised dcarch has not had ShakeShack...or maybe he has. This is Danny Meyer from UnionSqCafe.
Only a few times recently myself...with the youth group at work. The 20somethings love it.

the Burger
"100% all-natural Angus beef. No hormones and no antibiotics ever. Our proprietary Shack blend is freshly ground. All burgers are cooked medium unless otherwise requested. Add lettuce, tomato, pickle or onion ��" your choice! All you veggie-lovers, check out our âÂÂShroom Burger which stars a whole portobello mushroom roasted low and slow."

Here is a link that might be useful: shake shack

The popular burger around here is Little Big Burger. The concept is a bit like In-And-Out, in the sense of offering a very limited menu with good quality. The entire menu is: hamburger, cheeseburger, veggieburger, truffle fries, soda, float, beer, The burgers are just 1/4 lb, and tasty. The fries are really good. Spartan, noisy, cheerful places. We get LBB maybe once every two or three weeks. Usually takeout.

Here is a link that might be useful: Little Big Burger

For various reasons I eat out more than I used to. I still enjoy a good "home style" burger that I can get at a couple of bars around here but one is probably 15 miles away and the other is probably 30 miles away. So that's not very often.

I still enjoy Wendy's on occasion. Just the other night it was very cold out, I went to the store for a few things and didn't feel like cooking so I got a Baconator on a pretzel bun and added onion to it. It's a good burger, albeit expensive. (Still not as outrageous as FiveGuys and SO much better.) And I often enjoy their chili. Not as good as homemade but still tasty enough to satisfy a craving

If I need something in my gut, I grab a couple of Burger King's $1 "Rodeo Burgers". I've given up on McDonald's. Never really liked them but now that they're all pre-cooked and steamed they're essentially the same as White Castle and that is not something on my possibilities list.

There's times when I want a thick burger, but there's a lot of times I prefer to make a couple patties and make them very thin. Hit the high heat for a nice crust and still be moist inside. "Well done" does NOT mean "dried out" if you know how to cook them. I'm not a big fan of rare meats anyway. I still have teeth and don't like things squishy. If I did, I'd probably be able to handle mushrooms.

Please give us your rendition of "plain old farm food."

Although I much prefer a home-made burger, I actually don't mind McDonald's. I use to prefer Burger King's better but there isn't one around here. I never had a McDonald's hamburger until I was probably around 10 to 12 years old. My family didn't eat out. Then there was one that was newly built in our area and the community was ecstatic. It was even on the local news and the local TV station's kid's show host was going to be there and Ronald McDonald, and the local zoo was even going to have their elephant there, it was a huge party. That Saturday some of the neighborhood kids mentioned that they were going and I said "what's a McDonalds??" They looked at me weird. But of course we didn't get to go because Mom didn't have a car and most likely no money either.

Pink_warm_mama,

60 years ago, when I was just a wee one, it meant whatever the farm produced. Meat, potatoes, carrots, peas, whatever was fresh in the spring and summer, canned or frozen for the winter. Fresh fruit in the winter was grapefruit, oranges, apples and bananas. Otherwise it was all home canned. Bread, cakes and pies were all homemade. If we got store bought bread it was like getting candy! About the only thing I remember my mom buying at the store was lettuce, celery and tomatoes in the winter.

Today, I think it still means the same, meat, potatoes, gravy, veggie, a whole lot of pickles and thick slabs of bread and butter, although we tend to purchase a lot more from the store than what we produce.

I know my DH is a strict meat, potato and something green for supper type guy. We work outside everyday, a lot of manual type jobs, so lots of starch and calorie type meals. Stews, roasts, meatloaves, and steak. Fish and chicken a couple times of month. Nothing fancy, for the most part, just lots of it.

We rarely have take out. We were in town yesterday, and we did stop at Tim Hortons for a steak pannini. It sat like a lump in my stomach for hours, and this morning, I could still smell it in the truck. Gross. I don't know if that is our age and tastes changing, or if the quality is poor, but if we eat out once a month, that would be pushing it. Much prefer to cook at home.

Darlene

I hadn't thought about Hamburgers by Gourmet in forever!

Kinda common that no one actually reads threads in posts..at all.
The OP mentioned ShackShack specifically...
Shake Shack...not Mcdonalds, not all the others....not the fast crap.

"""the Burger
"100% all-natural Angus beef. No hormones and no antibiotics ever. Our proprietary Shack blend is freshly ground. All burgers are cooked medium unless otherwise requested. Add lettuce, tomato, pickle or onion ��" your choice! All you veggie-lovers, check out our âÂÂShroom Burger which stars a whole portobello mushroom roasted low and slow.""""

Good grief ...: )...the OP was talking and mentioning a new experience for a decent 'fast food' burger...not a crap junk burger...
Shake shack is a decent fast food burger...HOT fries, a decent brewed Brooklyn lager beer or a nice glass of wine...Meal served on a 1/4 sheet pan...cute : )
and it is hot, hot fresh fries...all of it is hot fresh food. The staff is paid well and actually care.

We screwed up on a holiday road trip to my parents...
I always pack road food...so we don't eat crap...but packed lots of foods to prepare once we arrived
but stopped for gas and i did a 'oh, some fries and a dirty dog might be nice'....horrible cold mush crap. (NewJersey rest stop)

The OP, the original poster for this thread noticed a new burger joint with long lines. Because it is 'fast food' joint that people are willing to wait for....
A plan started by a well known NYC chef that took it to a small level for a dozen years, (Madison Sq Park) then was backed up by investors to go forward global...
..and about to go public (stock).

Read the menu i posted...above... before rambling about
some other fast food thing.

Perhaps if Shake Shack set up shop in every locale across the country there could be a wider and more satisfactory discussion on that particular venue.

The OP mentioned ShackShack specifically...
Shake Shack...not Mcdonalds, not all the others....not the fast crap.

Ummm, actually the OP did mention his annual trek to Micky D's, did mention other fast food, and in fact titled this thread "An Ode to the fast food Hamburger."

His paragraph about Shake Shack was nothing more than a comment about a restaurant that he has yet to try out because the line was too long. So I'm not sure what you're going off about.

10:25 Saturday night on LI, line was only 3 deep. Waiting for my order.

Well, since we'll never get a Shake Shack in Northern Michigan, at least not in my lifetime, I guess I might as well not participate in this discussion at all.

As FOAS mentioned, I noted that the OP mentioned McD's and fast food burgers, including his first one years ago, and so thought this was a discussion about fast food in general.

Annie

Well FWIW Bucky approves of their snacks. Next time I'll have to try their human food!

Yes, I also thought this thread was about fast food hamburgers in general.

I try not to be too snobby and conform to what my companions want. That used to include McDonalds, but after the move from beef tallow to vegetable oil, they stopped wanting it. Although I've had a few of their burgers that were really good tasting, most of the time, they aren't, and McD's use so much glutamate that I get a headache. I always thought it was the grease and salt until we discussed MSG here and I looked it up. I think they use autolysed yeast extract, which is basically the same thing. I'm not overly sensitive to MSG, and a little is fine, but I do get the headache when there's a lot. The worst fast food I've had for the headache were McDonald's and KFC.

Because of this thread, though, the other day I couldn't help but go through In-N-Out. It was mediocre. It happens. Sigh. Most of the time they're good. :) (The best drive thru hamburger I've ever had was from them, though, and I was at a conference once where the meals were work sessions, the food was beautifully presented and served, and absolutely inedible. There was an In-N-Out less than a mile away, which saved me from subsisting on styrofoam rolls and packets of jam.)

'Course, much as I love a great greasy hamburger, for street food I'd rather have a felafel. :)

I've given up on McDonald's. Never really liked them but now that they're all pre-cooked and steamed they're essentially the same as White Castle and that is not something on my possibilities list.

McDonald's hamburgers have always been "pre-cooked". Before the late 90's anywhere up to dozen were made a one time. The patties were placed on the grill, the buns toasted, condiments added, meat placed on the buns, the completed sandwich was wrapped and in put in a warming bin. Then McDonald's introduced a system called "made for you." The meat is cooked separately and put in holding cabinet (there is no steam in the cabinet). When you want a hamburger a bun gets toasted in a high speed toaster (about 8 seconds), condiments are added, meat placed on the bun, wrapped, and sent up.

oops, my bad. Apologies.
We've been talking about ShakeShack at work. The young like it alot. the 20somethings. (they also get excited when work puts out fruit roll-ups).
Since more locations have opened, i've been to three in the past few months. I'm impressed. And they plan to open many all over the country. A few elders at work plan to buy stock.

We only went to McDonalds once a year as a kid...on the way to our summer vacation camping trip. It was a treat.
It must have been better back then?
I don't remember cold fries all lumped and stuck together in a soggy mess.

And the rest stop on the way to my parents was dismal and embarrassing. An employee picking something off his shoe...for a long time, then bagging.
ShakeShake would put them all out of business. If they can maintain their quality...(for fast food)

I worked at a TastyFreeze in high school...lol. The milkshakes had some thick filler and they barely tasted cold.
Strange meat products...cheese steaks.

ShakeShack is just trying to touch that market that i find interesting having looked at menus at rest stops that are rather expensive for not so great food. Feed a family of 6.
Expensive for the family traveling. No wonder my mother packed cheese and crackers, pb&j, ham and cheese sandwiches...and her 'jungle juice'...a mix of juices diluted with water.

Like you, PaulSmith, I grew up eating home cooked meals, my mother NEVER ate out. Everyone still talks about what a great cook she was. She passed away when I was 10 & a year or so later my dad remarried. She had a public job, & didn't like to cook so we ate out a lot, mostly burgers.I was in heaven! Didn't have my first pizza til high school, & talk about good food :) Yum! These days I don't like McDonalds, but still once in a while I will get a cravin' for a Big Mac. I still like most fast food burgers & pizza, but my metabolism doesn't allow me to have it often.

A Sonic Drive-In just opened locally last month, so we stopped in yesterday. Never been to a Sonic before.

Meh. Just fair.

Burger doesn't begin to compare to In-N-Out, fries are fair (we like our In-N-Out fries ordered 'well done", and the onion rings had a strange flavor and the crust was tough.

Maybe we'll try a hot dog some day, but won't be back for burgers.

I used to get "Big Mac" attacks, ahhh but that was 40 years ago when the kids wanted to go there. When my kids grew up, I didn't stop there for years.

Then I sold the house and moved to a condo in a town where McDonalds is just a few blocks from me. So, I stopped to get a good old Big Mac. Yuk!! What I paid a lot more money for was simply a "Big Mistake".

Like most things around us, everything is made both cheaper cost wise to the vendor and quality wise to the buyer,

That includes not only any convenience foods but clothing and furniture, vehicles and everything I 'think' I want to purchase until I examine it.

If you never ate a McDonalds, forget it now. It's not the same. Except they still do have the good French Fries imo.

"---If you never ate a McDonalds, forget it now. It's not the same. Except they still do have the good French Fries imo.---"

McDonalds Hamburgers do not taste the same, perhaps it is because they had to stop using Mechanically separated beef, otherwise known as "Pink Slime", after they had sold many billions of burgers.

dcarch

We don't eat fast food. If we are away from home I use Chowhound to find good places before we leave. If our route truly takes us through a culinary wasteland, I pack a meal for us.

One time we were on vacation, literally driving through desert, and the heat was too much for the food I had packed. We had to stop at a Burger King. You would've though they were being poisoned for the complaints from the kids (then, IIrC, 7,8 and 10).

The only burger joint we like is almost an hour from us, and I confess though the whole family loves the (grass fed) burgers, I love their veggie burger.

If you are ever in the area, the little town is cute and they have a good museum.

{{gwi:2134012}}

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:2134012}}

dcarch, I didn't like McDonald's burgers back when they sold pink slime and don't like them now, so I don't think that's it, at least not for me.

I want my beef to at least resemble beef...

Ellen, Sonic has a decent chili dog, not as good as my local A&W, but OK. It seems to me that the draw is more the mode of service than the food itself. The one in Grand Rapids has servers on roller skates, or at least they did the single time I ate there. I don't know what they would do in the winter, ice skates? (grin) Ashley likes their jalapeno poppers...

Annie

You may not like McDonald's burgers, but their wifi is very reliable.

dcarch :-)

dcarch, funny how Elery has also noticed that. Since we are moving out to the farm, there is no DSL, no cable company, the satellite people have been out twice trying to find a place to put their equipment and some radio wave type company is sending a lift truck to put an antenna on top of a tower to see if they can get a signal that way.

We'll have dial-up, again, I'm afraid, and Elery says when he needs to pay bills, he'll take his iPod and go to McDonald's! Panera Bread and Biggby Coffee are also in the area, which is about 7 miles from the farm, and they have Wi-Fi too. That just means I have to learn to use one of the "handheld mobile devices", which I am not so good with.

Annie

I don't trust fast food. They use all kinds of fillers, colors, preservatives and flavor enhancers to hide poor quality ingredients. The oils are not good oils. The msg imposters like yeast extract,etc. make it taste good.

Even a plain bean and cheese burrito.......The beans are not just beans...there are all kinds of chemicals in there. Same goes for the cheese. They won't tell you. You have to see the ingredients list on the packaging. It's there.

We need some reform. Meat producers use chemicals in the feeds that Interfere with common medications but they do t have to disclose it.

Stay away from fast food when you can and try to get things without added sauces, etc. When you can t. Fast food chains just care about money.

Support the places that don't try to feed us foods full of chemicals that cause cancer.

There are no non chain restaurants where I live for a 40 radius that are healthier than Mcdonalds. Tastier but no grass fed beef or anything like that. I would have to drive a solid hour one way to find one.
There's a host of middle price chains 20 miles away, like Outback, Chili's. Ruby Tuesdays, that probably have decent hamburgers but not exactly convenient when a quick drive through is needed.
Overall, I think Wendys has the best hamburgers for fast food.

I had a friend who grew up in a very remote mountain area in NC and they cooked all their own food and raised some of it. About once a month the Dad would bring home a sack of burgers from the Hardees 17 miles away over a curvy 2 lane mountain road. It was manna from heaven just having store bought food. ( He is a well traveled dentist now!)

I just remembered. I have had McDonalds burgers many times!

Every time I traveled to a different country, I always ended up going to their McDonalds at least once.

For instance, when I was in Paris, I was getting tied of French food the last days. Let me tell you, a French Big Mc tasted really good.

When I was in Argentina, where they really like meat, I even had a Royal Cheese with wine. Yes, you can get wine with your "Big Mac" there.
From Pulp Fiction
-------------------------------------------
VINCENT: ...You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?

JULES: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?

VINCENT: No, they got the metric system there, they wouldn't know what the f??k a Quarter Pounder is.

JULES: What'd they call it?

VINCENT: Royale with Cheese.

JULES: Royale with Cheese. What'd they call a Big Mac?

VINCENT: Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.

JULES: What do they call a Whopper?

VINCENT: I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King.

--------------------------------------
dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 14:36

dcarch, you can have all of my share of the McD's and other fast food burgers.

I would rather have a peanut butter sandwich or a bowl of cold cereal than nearly any of the fast food available, although in a pinch I'll eat a fish sandwich, with none of that fake cheese, thanks, and I've been known to eat a baked potato at Wendy's. The last few, though, have been awful, like they've been sitting all day, so I've even given up on those. If I know we're going to be on the road, I'll take some crackers and a jar of peanut butter so that I don't have to eat something that only tastes (to me) like grease and salt.

I see that McD's is losing market share, but I sincerely doubt that my refusal to eat there is impacting them. Sometimes I'll buy the dog a cheeseburger, Ashley says that's a "glowing recommendation", I won't eat there, but I'll feed the dog there. (grin)

Annie