Yes, you read that right, Del Taco!

With only five stores in Michigan, it was very easy never to come in contact with this traditional left coast chain.

I ate there for the first time just about a year ago when after changing jobs I noticed one of their locations along my new route to work.  Felling like trying something new, I went in. They had all your basic taco hut stuff on their menu but then I saw…HAMBURGERS!  What?!? Hamburgers at a taco joint?  Look at the menu for yourself…

I know, madness right?!? It was like dogs and cats living together…I was confused and slightly afraid so I just ordered my soft tacos and got out of there.

But, they had burgers.  So on the list they went for “Fast Food Fridays”…

Without further ado…let’s get to the bacon! [Read more →]

Fatburger!

For a long time – it was just a mythical place out in California.  Then on a business trip in LA, I had my first.  I remember it being good, just sort of crossed it off my internal checklist and then moved on.

Well color me shocked when a Fatburger opened in Michigan.  There is only one store in this entire state and it is literally only 5 miles from me.  This must be fate…

Yet my normal driving pattern never takes me near it.  So on Christmas Eve, while out playing Santa Dad, I made a trip to remind myself about this great little place and officially give that bacon a try!

So let’s head inside! [Read more →]

Sorry gang, I didn’t get to any fast food joint this week so I have nothing official to report for “Fast Food Friday“.

But I would never leave you completely hangin’… [Read more →]

A&W…ah the memories.  I grew up in Milford and just outside of town was an old school A&W drive-in. It was such a treat to go there and get a foot long chili dog and a root beer (in those days served in a heavy glass mug).  It was awesome!

To present day, there’s an A&W in Berkley, just up the road from my house and up until now, I never bothered to go there.

For this week’s look at fast food bacon, let’s pull up and grab a burger… [Read more →]

Arby’s and I have a history.

When I was a wee lad, we’d pile into my grandfather’s blue Chevy Impala (huge boat of a car) and drive over a half hour to go to the nearest Arby’s.  Unfortunately, it also meant that we had to hang out at Frank’s Nursery and Crafts while grandma shopped.  But I digress…

So we’d go to Arby’s and it was a treat! I didn’t dig on the roast beast when I was younger, so GP and I would pick up a couple of ham n’ cheese sandwiches and curly fries and have ourselves a lunch.

Now to present day where while there are more locations, there never seems to be a convenient Arby’s.  As such, it usually falls off the old fast food radar.  If I eat at Arby’s say three times a year, that’d be it.

Well this week was one of those times.  Arby’s you are up!!  Time to try on the bacon cheddar Roast Burger ®.

[Read more →]

If you are ever confused again about where you should eat, go and visit my soon to be new friends over at Eating The Road.

They are the creators of some terrific flowcharts – all helping to make one’s life choices that much easier.  Behold…

Now wasn’t that easy?!?  No more need to make that pesky decision when you can just rely on the chart!

Now if I could only convince them to do a bacon cheeseburger chart.  That would make my “Fast Food Friday” decisions so much simpler.

Check out the Breakfast Cereal and Chain Restaurant charts too…

Oh, by the way, the rest of the blog is pure awesomeness!!  When my blog grows up I can only hope to be so cool.  They are now on my “check every day” list.  Try ‘em, you might like ‘em.

Over that last 10 years or so, as I was watching basic cable programming, I would see a commercial for a joint called Sonic?  Why the heck was this burger joint advertising with a national cable buy when they had NO stores in a whole bunch of states?  The answer, they were softening us up!

Michigan got it’s first Sonic just over a year ago in St. Clair Shores and this week, they opened up a new location in the heart of Oakland County.  It, like the first store opening, made the paper and I believe a TV outlet or two.

What’s so special about Sonic?  I think it’s the novelty of the drive-in concept. Some may say it’s their 168,894 drink flavor combinations.  Other may just be big fans of tots (more on that later).  Whatever it is, it has developed a following.

This was my first trip ever to Sonic and probably won’t be my last.

Enough jibber-jabbin’, let’s get down to bacon business. For the “Fast Food Friday” test, we ordered both the bacon cheeseburger AND the BLT.  Let’s start with the BLT…

 

[Read more →]

All summer long, I have been eyeing the empty store front in the strip mall close to work.  “Coming Soon Five Guys” the sign on the window said.  It seemed like an eternity…about every two weeks I’d drive to that location to get my coney dog fix across the street and that sign just kept mocking me…until last week!

That’s right, Five Guys Burgers & Fries opened in Troy, MI and I can’t be more excited.

Five Guys is a chain that started in the DC Metro area. With just a few modest stores, the five brothers (Five Guys) convinced their dad to start franchising.  In less than 5 years, the chain has grown to include 450 stores in 30 states, working their way out west one store at a time.

There is actually a Five Guys closer to my house, but it’s in a location that just isn’t convenient and if I was to get Better Half to actually go out to eat somewhere with Lil’ Baird tagging along, well burger joints just don’t typically come to mind.  So I waited…

I got to tell you - the burger was WAY worth the wait.  But what about the BACON?  Well let’s find out…for the “Fast Food Friday” test, we ordered the bacon cheeseburger.

 

[Read more →]

or as Better Half and I called it when we were living in Peoria, Steak-N-Puke…

Now that’s not really fair.  To be honest Steak-N-Shake is a good little burger joint.  I’ve never had a bad burger there and they do make some kickin’ shakes.

If you are not familiar, Steak-N-Shake is a small Midwestern chain the stared in Normal, IL and now is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN.  They have 475 total restaurants, but the bulk of those are through Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.  In Michigan, there are only 17 locations.

For the bacon taste test, I decided on their Original Double Steakburger with cheese and bacon. That’s right, they are not called hamburgers at Steak-N-Shake.  No sir, they are Steakburgers.

 

[Read more →]

Here we go with Week Three of “Fast Food Friday”. Every week TDB will be reviewing the bacon at a different restaurant chain.

This week we complete the holy hamburger trinity with my lunch at  Wendy’s.

Wendy’s has consistently been my guilty pleasure.  Whether I’m just sneaking a quick bit on the way home from work or it’s been a late night and I  got just got to eat…if you got four bucks you can get yourself two Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers, fries and a beverage!

For our bacon taste test, I wanted to order a burger that was consistent with what I had at McDonald’s and BK, so I selected the 1/4 lb. Double combo meal with cheese and bacon.

[Read more →]