French Fry Diary 446: Have It Burger King's Way

Rant warning. It seems there's a reason the slogan "Have it your way." is no longer part of Burger King's advertising reportoire and corporate mission. It simply no longer applies. Burger King used to get this kind of thing right - no matter how you wanted your food, you got it right, and you got it quick. No longer.



I used to love Burger King. There was a time when the only bad thing I could say about them was that they had Pepsi instead of Coke, but that was a long long time ago. Recently when they changed their fries for the worse, I thought that not coming back to BK was no big deal, I wouldn't miss it much at all.

Sometimes in a pinch, of when you just want something different, you go back to old habits. In my case, I still like their chicken sandwiches, and on a Sunday night, where else am I going to go?

Regular readers of this blog and folks who know me, know that I am a catastrophically picky eater. I usually like my burgers and sandwiches plain. In simple language that I always have to use when ordering from fast food places, that's 'nothing on it, plain, just the burger and the bun.' Or chicken, should that be the case. And of course, at McDonalds, you always have to stress 'no cheese.' They never get that right there.


As I said, Burger King used to, now they don't care.  No, strike that, most Burger Kings are pretty good.  The one in Marlton is amazing.  However one particular store locally really doesn't care. The Burger King on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, yeah, Restaurant #9865, I'm talking about you. I've had numerous bad experiences there.

Once I ordered a plain chicken sandwich there and after I re-explained what plain meant, I was told "That's nasty." Manager told me that was the clerk's opinion. No apology, no credit, no excuses. Multiple times there I've been told they were out of onion rings, fries, shakes, even sodas. But the last time I was there, when again they were out of onion rings, I was told something interesting about their Original Chicken Sandwich.

"We don't make them no more." Mind you, it's on the menu board behind his head. When I pointed that out, I was told the menu was wrong. As I was picking up dinner for the family and still wanted something for myself, I went with the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, again plain, stressing it because I was sure I was dealing with someone who didn't care. The first receipt didn't say 'plain,' so made sure it went through again.

Now please understand, I am trying desperately not to be an a-hole, being as polite as possible, because I know the thin line between a special order and someone spitting (or worse) in my food. I did not want the latter so I was all smiles and unicorns. In that regard, I did not check the sandwich before leaving. I guess I should have, apparently making sure my order is correct is my responsibility. Dummy me, I thought that was their job.

When I got home of course the sandwich wasn't plain. Despite the receipt saying it was, and the clerk saying it was, it wasn't. I called them, asked for a manager. She was less than friendly. Although I was unsure who I talked to was a manager as she asked, "What do you want me to do about it? You can come back, but we ain't got no more chicken."

There's a point when you just give up, ya know? The BK in Marlton proper usually gets orders right if I get another hankering for their food, I suppose. But I'm never going back to 9865. And I would advise everyone else to steer clear as well. I'm not alone in my assessment of the location either.


Have it your way is dead.

French Fry Diary 250: Arby's

I've already talked about my unpleasant experience with the onion rings at Arby's but I haven't actually reviewed the place yet. Arby's has changed quite a bit in the last few years when it comes to the favorite fried food. They used to have very good natural cuts, and as noted previously, terrific Onion Petals, but no longer. No Onion Petals, and the lack of a burger product are why I usually don't come to Arby's. And I'm really not a big roast beef guy.

Arby's started back in 1964, as old as I am, in Ohio. The RB in the name stands for Raffel Brothers, the founders, not roast beef, as most folks think. They are known for their roast beef sandwiches however, and their big cowboy hat logo and their 'horsey sauce.' They're part of the Wendy's company and they serve Pepsi products, and at the beginning, they served potato chips, not fries. They haven't been very successful in my area, however, as many of the restaurants that have opened, haven't stayed open more than five to ten years. Just sayin'.

Usually when I would come to Arby's I would get one of the chicken sandwiches, which is sometimes a pain in the neck to get the folks behind the counter to understand the concept of plain. "Just the chicken, and the bun," and still they get confused. Their shakes are pretty good too. They used to have shake it up chicken nuggets with bbq sauce that were great but no longer. And I would get the aforementioned Onion Petals quite often but they don't have them any more either.

What they do have, and have had for some time are Curly Fries. I believe these are among the first fast food franchise curly fries. They are natural cut and well seasoned. They are very good when hot, but this order, gotten on a Sunday afternoon at the nearly empty Arby's in Oaklyn, were barely warm. The cuts are very nice, lots of corkscrews. I like the corkscrews. I still wish they had the old natural cut fries too - it was nice to have a choice, or to have both.

They also have something called Loaded Potato Bites. Little triangles of potato product stuffed with sour cream, cheese, chives and God only knows what else - these were so not my thing. I did not like them. Sometimes they also have Potato Cakes, sort of a poor man's McDonald's Hash Brown, but not for breakfast. I'll review them on another trip I guess, as this one was not good so far.

Not a pleasant experience this stop, guys. Arby's, please bring back the natural cut regular cut fries and the Onion Petals.

French Fry Diary 225: Chick-Fil-A

The claim to fame of Chick-fil-A is their sandwich. The Chick-Fil-A Sandwich was originally created by S. Truett Cathy at the Dwarf Grill in 1946. The chicken is pressure cooked in a deep fryer, the buns rolled in butter, with the trademark pickles of course. The pickles were originally intended as a surprise for the customers. Wow, what a surprise! And while the sandwich, sans pickles of course for the catastrophically picky eaters among us, is darned good, that's not what we're about here. We're here for the favorite fried food.

When I first encountered Chick-fil-A, it was an overlooked little diamond in the rough at the lonely end of the Echelon Mall back in the 1970s. Nobody but a select few knew about it, but those lucky few loved it. Among them were my fry-enabling older sister and brother - thank you, Bobbie and Warren. I still love Chick-fil-A, and them, to this day.

While today Chick-fil-A is world renowned for their amazing Waffle Potato Fries, that's not how they started. Their original fries were shoestrings, similar to Burger King's fries of the time (the good ones, although maybe a bit limp and greasy, but in a good way) and came in single orders in paper sleeves the size of a BK or Mickey D's small fry. A large order however, was a long sleeve, about eight to ten inches long that three of the small orders could be put into one on top of another. Yep, you got it. One large order of the old Chick-fil-A fries was actually three small fries. As always, they were innovative and ahead of its time.

After a while Chick-fil-A caught on and malls everywhere had their own stores and soon, Chick-fil-A began to open their own free standing restaurants outside of malls, hell, sometimes nowhere near malls. In that space of time, specifically 1985, they changed their fries. I'm not sure it was for the better, but it was for the different, and a good kind of different, as Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries are among the best in the fast food world.

The waffle fry is a complex beast, and a combination of several potato-cutting styles. They appear to be discs that are natural cuts in a criss-cross pattern that allows for more even cooking when deep-fried. Chick-fil-A fries are always hot and perfect for munching in the car ride home, so getting two orders on a drive thru run is always necessary. They're addictive.

The waffle fries themselves are huge, sometimes requiring three or four bites. This is truly a prime potato product for the favorite fried food. Now I'm not a fan of potato skins so the tops and bottoms don't thrill me much, but for those that do dig them, those are treasures. And also the tiny bits at the bottom of the bag are very yummy.

Part of the original charm of the Chick-fil-A franchise was that you could take the Chick-fil-As, the boneless white chicken 'patty' (for lack of a better word), and re-heat it when you got home, sometimes days later. They would come six to a box, shaped like a barn (it may have even been called a barn, I don't recall). You could even buy your own Wonder Bread hamburger rolls, butter them, heat them and make your own sandwiches. When the Chick-fil-A sandwich became more popular, they kinda stopped selling the chicken patties unfortunately.

Reheating their food at home still works for any of their chicken products, and also their fries - whether you're using the microwave or the conventional oven. That's really something. But remember if doing a sandwich in the microwave, take it out of the bag. There's foil inside, and if you forget, there be fireworks and eventually fire. Soooo not fun.

I love these fries, they rock. Many try to recreate the magic of the Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fry, but nobody comes close. Highly recommended.