Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Discontinued Fast Food Favorites Hall of Fame

Some of you who've been reading for quite a while now will remember how I used to do a weekly feature on Fridays about some of my favorite fast foods. Eventually that, like all good things, came to an end. However, the other day I stopped by the last Arby's that I knew of that served Onion Petals still (the one closest to my home having discontinued them a couple years ago), and found that, sadly, they too had stopped serving this delectable side dish. It got me started thinking about other discontinued fast food favorites and so, I present to you the Discontinued Fast Food Favorites Hall of Fame. Just to clarify some of these were only limited time availablity, but really is that any better?

1. Arby's Onion Petals
The aforementioned side dish from Arby's was different than your typical onion ring, as it wasn't deep fried until it was black and was actually more onion than batter instead of the reverse.

2. Taco Bell's Club Chalupa
Probably most famous for the commercials it spawned that talked about going "clubbin", this take on the classic chalupa featured ranch sauce and bacon.

3. Panda Express's Beef and Potato
I'm still waiting for them to come out with something that would deter me from getting a double portion of Orange Chicken in my 2-entree plate. The Beef and Potato was a good one. I always want to ask why they have sweet 'n sour pork, but not sweet 'n sour chicken.

4. Wendy's Bacon n' Cheese Baked Potato
The other day I decided I wanted one of these, only to find out that this dish, essential a potato bowl filled with bacon and cheese soup is no longer available. Apparently only healthy eaters want a baked potato and they don't want it with tons of bacon and cheese.

5. Taco Bell's BLT Soft Taco
This taco still holds a place in my heart. Growing up we never went to Taco Bell. One day in high school I went there with some friends and ordered one of these and found it to be delelectable. Sadly, I then found out it was available for a limited time only. Ah, where have you gone BLT Soft Taco.

6. McDonald's Arch Deluxe
"The Burger with the Grown Up Taste" This burger made the list for two reasons. 1) It was actually a pretty decent burger. 2) It came on the scene while I was in the midst of my 2 years of working at McDonalds. And the PR push on this one was something to behold. We got new hats, buttons, etc. Everything was about the Arch Deluxe. They changed some of the other sandwiches as well to look similar with similar buns, packaging, etc. For fun we used to welcome people to the drive-thru by saying, "Welcome to McDonalds, Home of the Arch Deluxe, the Burger with the Grown up Taste". Anyway it was a decent burger. Too bad it didn't last.

7. Arby's Western Chicken Club
I may be messing up the name on this one, but there's no messing up its worthiness of a spot in the Hall of Fame. This Arby's creation was a sliced chicken sandwich (remember when they had sliced chicken there, instead of just Crispy or Grilled chicken fillets) with lettuce, tomato, and bacon. I remember I was always amazed that it would fill me up and I wouldn't even need to order fries to go with it. Very tasty as well.

8. Wendy's Monterrey Ranch Chicken
This one is the granddaddy of them all. During my freshman year of college, I lived just down the street from a Wendys and this special menu item made its debut. Chicken breast fillet with Monterrey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and Ranch sauce. I know it doesn't sound much different than anything else, but there's just something about this sandwich that has to be tasted to comprehend. It made a brief reappearance a few years ago, when Wendy's was cycling through a whole variety of specialty chicken sandwiches (Jazzy Blue, Wild Mountain, Parmesean Supreme), and I was able to show others why I had always remembered the Monterrey Ranch Chicken Sandwich. Sadly it is gone again now. I guess its possible that you could have ordered this sandwich during the period when Wendy's required you to build your own sandwich each time you wanted to order something, but I was always afraid I'd screw that up and get something terrible.

Feel free to leave your discontinued favorites in the comments.

14 comments:

Claire said...

what about when wendy's stopped serving honey as a condiment to their chicken nuggets? disgraceful.

Hero Supreme said...

I will go on record and say that the Wendy's Monterrey Ranch Chicken is AWESOME!

And speaking of the Arch Deluxe, why can't McDonalds have a bacon burger make it big? And why cant they just use strip bacon instead of some weird circular bacon?

Lastly, what about the McRibwich Sandwich!?

j said...

Glad to know that someone else knows the wonder of the Monterrey Ranch Chicken.

As for the circular bacon...I think its gone the way of the Arch Deluxe. My McGriddle the other day had some tiny pieces of broken up bacon on it. I actually used to cook bacon there before the circular bacon came and went. Not sure what the process is now.

And as for the McRibwich (or the McRib as its more official known), I've never had one, so it didn't make my personal Hall of Fame. Certainly its had more hype than any other discontinued menu item that I can think of.

Anonymous said...

i miss the honey too... and the arch delux - those were so good.
the mcrib comes back all the time you just have to pay attention
it's at my mcdonalds right now. in fact with all of this talking about it...i'm probably going to get one for dinner...

Anonymous said...

im pregnant right now and for some strange reason I have been craving the Arby's Roast Chicken Caesar Market Fresh Sandwich. so... I rushed down to my local Arby's only to find that they were discontinued about 5 years ago. this was the best sandwich EVER, and I can't possibly see why they would discontinue it. I guess I will just have to hope and pray that bring it back and soon.

Mother of Monkeys said...

Wendy's has the Monterrey Ranch Chicken Sandwhich again...on the 99c menu at my Wendys! Not sure if its the same thing...but it was good...

silicon212 said...

The current thing that Wendy's calls the 'monterey ranch' is NOT the same, at all. Not even close.

The original was a large sandwich on a kaiser roll with a breast fillet, bacon ranch sauce (the bacon is what made this thing btw), monterey jack cheese, and lettuce and tomato.

The bacon ranch sauce made excellent fry sauce as well, I'd always order a side of it for just this reason.

Unknown said...

I loved the original grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy's!! It was on a regular bun and had a piece of lettuce, a slice of tomato, and the honey mustard that's the same as their dipping sauce. And then I'd get an extra dipping sauce for good measure lol! This was about 16 to 18 years ago. Now when I order it I have to specify exactly how I want it bc otherwise it's totally different than my old fave!

Unknown said...

I loved the original grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy's!! It was on a regular bun and had a piece of lettuce, a slice of tomato, and the honey mustard that's the same as their dipping sauce. And then I'd get an extra dipping sauce for good measure lol! This was about 16 to 18 years ago. Now when I order it I have to specify exactly how I want it bc otherwise it's totally different than my old fave!

Unknown said...

I agree the arby roast chicken Caesar fresh market sandwich was my only pull to eat at arbys. Now I have to settle for turkey and Swiss one.

McDonald chicken Caesar salad in a cup. Long before the nasty Paul Newman dressings.

McDonald mcland cookies and fried (not baked) pies.

Anonymous said...

arby's onion pedals....what a bone head move to stop making them!!!

as for the number one bone head move by a fast food place......drum roll please........mcDonalds fried apple pie!!!

if they brought that back once a year around thanksgiving or halloween they would sell out no matter how many they made.

we know the dam things are not really great for you being deep fried, but let us make that call for crap sake!! even if you just got one a couple times a year, it would be a great day when that day rolled around.

Anonymous said...

About 22 years ago Arby's had a roast chicken club that the chicken was all cut up into chunks and seasoned , along with bacon, Swiss , lettuce tomato and Mayo. I loved that sandwich and have never found anything similar. Their new chicken club tastes nothing like it.

Unknown said...

I could have this sandwich every day. And did for a long time. I wish that they would bring it back. It seems like every time Arby's gets a good sandwich it doesn't last long.

Lana said...

Oh!!! The Arby's Roast Chicken Club. Have eaten a zillion of them. Was the best sandwich ever. Can still remember how it tasted! So good!! Why do these restaurants get rid of the good stuff???