Fast Food --Arby's

I've always thought that California was the greatest microcosm of America. To me, this huge country is most fully represented by this huge state. You have aspects of the North, South, Mid-West, the West and the East. All kinds of landscapes and coastlines, big mix of attitudes, a land of dreams, and a big economy (which of course is currently bankrupt).

And, for better or worse, it's impossible to picture America without fast-food, whose birthplace is here in California. Consequently, every chain is well represented here. This state is a fast food mecca.

I've decided I'm going to post on-going reviews of my fast-food experiences. I should have taken a photo of my meal at In-N-Out Burger, but I'm sure I'll be back and will get one next time.

Quick interjection, my mom asked me what the best meal I had on the cross-country trip was. That's easy. The fried chicken sandwich I got at 10:30 am at a Dairy Queen in Scottsdale. It was the first one made of the day, so I was waiting for about 10 minutes for it to be prepared. But it was prepared with attention, detail, and care. It tasted like it was prepared with love. I ate it as I drove through Phoenix and into the desert. I was heading into California that day, I hadn't heard the horrible, tragic news about Nicholas, everything was in front of me and optimism reigned. The next meal I had that day was at the Oasis in Claremont while the ribbons of my back tire were being removed in favor of new, functional one.

So today, after dropping some resumes addressed to local beverage distributors in the post, I knew I wanted, a fried chicken sandwich. A slew of options lay before me, all on the same street. I thought of El Pollo Loco, though I'm scared of it because for some reason it brings to mind images of salmonella poisoning. I absolutely refuse to ever eat a Jack-In-The-Box, because they did have an outbreak of e coli and because their mascot is creepy and highly disturbing. I considered Carl's Jr, but I've never been there and I hear the burgers are great and I couldn't start a relationship with them on a lower tier. Then, as my car moved propelled forward, the big Arby's sign came into view, high in the sky, no longer obscured by the sign for the Mexican place next door.

Arby's it would be. I remembered it fondly from my youth, and I knew they had the kind of chicken sandwich I wanted. Spicy fried chicken, shredded lettuce, seeded bun. Glorious. (editor's note, absolutely no mayonnaise. i hate mayonnaise. i use it only in limited situations, usually with tuna, and as adamant as i am about avoiding it, i've found that the yahoos out here put it on just about everything, so it's stealthly invaded my system and therefore made me even more stringent at looking out for it.)

No chicken sandwich glory today. And no sublime fast food experience either. The place was drab, the food was drab. The chicken looked grey. The clientele was economically depressed. No smiling faces. No crowds. Curly fries that were just out of the fryolator and still tasted old and warped. Before I even finished eating I started to get a knot in my stomach. There was no knot or brown out slow down caused by the food at In-N-Out Burger. Here I had it immediately. Like a brown out, my vision dimmed, I became sluggish and felt like I'd been punched in the gut, my mood turned apathetic, you know what I'm talking about. Bummer. Yes, it was 2:30 in the afternoon in inland San Diego, but I don't think this particular Arby's location gets much better at peak hours. However, I truly enjoyed my diet Dr.Pepper.



p.s. Nicholas, you are deeply missed and in our hearts forever.