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.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #12: Chick-Fil-A Chicken Nuggets

During at least one semester of my college career, I was forced to eat lunch at the Student Union Building a couple times a week. You'd think that a place whose whole goal is to serve food to college students could do a better job at having decent food, but other than some ethnic options that I could never really trust, the only choices were a limited selection Pizza Hut, and a Chick-Fil-A. And while Chick-Fil-A seemed to think that a chicken sandwich (which supposedly they invented) is just a breaded ball of chicken with some pickles on it wrapped in a wimpy bun, thankfully their chicken nuggets are some of the best nuggets out there in fast food land.

Coming in packages of 8 or 12 pieces, and a choice of dipping sauces, you can count on these nuggets to be tender and not buried in breading. I recommend the BBQ sauce (the honey mustard is a frightening shade of yellow bordering on green), but if you actually find one of these place outside of the student union, they have more sauces to choose from then just BBQ and honey mustard.

The waffle fries here are also pretty tasty if you can get them fresh.

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Now that I've addressed this week's FFFFF, I have something to say. This is going to be the last of the regularly scheduled Friday Featured Fast Food Favorite. I'm kind of worried that I'm nearly to the end of my Fast Food Favorites, and I'd hate to keep dragging a dead horse. Before I'd know it I'd be telling you how much I like the bigger straws at Arby's or how Wendy's salt packets are the best. While from time to time something may catch my interest enough to merit a one-time comeback of the FFFFF, I've decided that its time for the 5-F to be retired. Besides 12 is a nice round number. Don't worry though, this doesn't mean that Friday's will just be another day here at the Big Digital. Stay tuned next week for the debut of a brand new weekly feature.

In retrospect, here a list of all the FFFFF:

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #1: Arby's Chicken Bacon 'n Swiss
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #2: Einstein Bros.'s Turkey Sausage and Cheddar Egg Sandwich
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #3: Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #4: Taco Bell's Zesty Chicken Border Bowl
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #5: Panda Express's Orange Chicken
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #6: Arctic Circle's Bacon Cheeseburger
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #7: Great Steak and Potato's Great Steak Sandwich
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #8: Schlotzky's Turkey Bacon Club
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #9: Sconecutter's Club Scone Sandwich
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #10: Sonic's Chicken Club Toaster Sandwich
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #11: KFC's Twister
Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #12: Chick-Fil-A Chicken Nuggets

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #11: KFC's Twister

I'll be honest. I had to think for a (brief) moment about what to feature today for the fast food favorite. But after a quick moment of pondering I remembered that I had failed to feature anything from another Utah original: KFC. I could be mistaken, but I think that Kentucky Fried Chicken has officially changed its name to KFC much like other organizations like the AAA, and I forget the rest, but its a change that's the exact opposite of IHC changing its official name to Intermountain Healthcare, although I guess IHC was never its official name anyway, but now its not its name at all.

Sorry for the confusion to anyone who is unfamiliar with our state's largest medical provider and my life's largest research location.

Back to the lecture at hand: The Twister.


The Twister is essential a chicken strip burrito, for lack of a better term. And I think its an admirable idea. Chicken strips by themselves tend to be a bit dry, even with some sauce to dip them in. By wrapping 3 of them in a tortilla, you allow them to be surrounded by lettuce and tomato, in addition to some kind of sauce that's in there. Personally, I like to get some dipping sauce, usually BBQ or Honey Mustard, and empty the packet's content into the open end of the Twister. I've seen a chicken strip salad at other places, but this is the only place I'm aware of that sells a chicken strip wrap.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #10: Sonic's Chicken Club Toaster Sandwich

This week's Fav comes to us courtesy of Sonic Drive-In, a place that I only eat at rarely because I never seem to live anywhere near one. And while I do usually love their television commercials, they do not seem to be funny enough to make me drive 10 minutes out of my way to find one. That said, there is a sandwich there that I really do like: The Chicken Club Toaster Sandwich.



The sandwich comes on two thick pieces of Texas Toast and has chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a nice honey mustard sauce. I think the toast really makes the sandwich. And the honey mustard sauce is a nice touch.

Another thing I like about Sonic is how they are putting credit card readers out on the drive-thru ordering station. I mean, we no longer are signing receipts at fast food places, so why not just speed that part of the process up.

I also like that Sonic seems to have a pretty wide variety of specialty drinks, shakes, and side dishes. You aren't stuck with just a drink and fries to go with it. Onion rings, chili cheese tots, cream pie shakes, etc. Sonic's got'em. Others don't.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #9: Sconecutter's Club Scone Sandwich

This week's review takes us to another Utah original (I'm always surprised to find out that all these restaurant chains started here, although I guess I haven't lived enough other places to find out if they actually exist elsewhere): The Sconecutter.



While being a Utah original, they happen to have a pretty weak web-presence and it was pretty hard to find any pictures of any of their scone sandwiches, so I decided to just get the logo which required some cutting and pasting just to get it isolated. Anyway, moving on to the sandwich itself...

The Club scone comes on your choice of white or wheat scones (white for me). Its main ingredients are sliced turkey and a couple strips of bacon, and the toppings include lettuce, tomato, cheese, sprouts, and pickle and onions that I always skip.

I think the key to a good sandwich is the bread that hold it together. Great ingredients can be ruined by bad bread (see Gandolfo's). I think that Sconecutter does a great job of making scones that are consistently hot, fresh, and the right amount of thickness, along with just a hint of classic scone taste. And the way it holds all the ingredients in makes it feel kind of like a burrito. I do recommend getting some sauce (mayo at the least) to put on it because otherwise it can be a little bit dry.

While Sconecutter is a bit pricier than regular fast food fare, I find that it makes a nice change from the run of the mill menu. Open 24 hours, I believe, so its makes a nice late night fastfood run when you've had your fill of Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers, but aren't in the mood to go all out with a place like Village Inn.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #8: Schlotzsky's Turkey Bacon Club

I'm going to have to hurry to get this one in under the midnight Friday wire, but I can't be held totally at fault. In case you weren't aware, Blogger had a bit of a brain cramp and my blog has been inaccessible over large portions of the last two days. Thankfully it seems to be back up and running. *Crosses fingers*

This week's fast food favorite comes to us courtesy of Schlotzsky's Deli, another fast food joint that I can't seem to find outside of the mall food court these days, which is kind of weird considering the relatively considerable wait time for your sandwich to be ready. There used to be one down the road from where I live, but its gone now. Too bad. Also for a word, it really has a high consonant to vowel ratio. (9:2) Those Poles (is Schlotzsky's a Polish name?) really know how to get the most out of their vowels.

I am totally in love with Schlotzsky's Turkey Bacon Club sandwich (and most of their other sandwiches for that matter). I couldn't find a picture of the club itself, but here's a picture of their Original:



I think what really makes the sandwich for me is a) the quality of their baked fresh daily bread, and b) the toasting process that makes the bread so nice and crispy and melts the cheese and get the turkey warmed up....mmmm. Its really a shame that there isn't one of these near my house anymore. At approximately $7 for a combo meal they could be really taking my money off my hands for me. Just thinking about it makes me want to drive downtown and get one tomorrow.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #7: Great Steak and Potato Company's Great Steak sandwich

I've been taking a bit of flack lately for my apparent obsession with bacon (the unfancy portion of the pig). And while I can neither confirm nor deny any feelings for bacon at this time, I've decided to offer up a weekly favorite which is coincidentally pork free:

Great Steak and Potato Company's Great Steak sandwich.


Essentially its a cheesesteak with lettuce and tomato. Cooked up hot on the grill right in front of you. Served with some burn-your-mouth-hot french fries it was a staple of my time working at the Church Office Building, as the vocal leader of the Temple Department programmers could rarely be talked into eating at the in-house cafeteria. Its a little pricey, but as a special occasion meal its a real winner. Granted, I'm sure in Philadelphia this place is fairly run of the mill. But here in Utah, we just don't have very many fast food joints that will grill up some steak for you at a moment's notice.

Great Steak and Potato Company falls into the category of fast food places that I've to date only seen in Shopping Center Food Courts. I can't figure out why this place isn't more popular and why the only one that I have ever even seen is in the one at the ZCMI Food Court. I think they have several delicious menu items to choose from. In fact the only reason it hasn't made it on to the blog until now is that I forgot that it existed until today as I was trying to think of what to write about.

Wierd side note: The spellchecker on blogger tells me that 'blog' isn't in their spelling dictionary. If I weren't so confused on what constitutes irony (thanks for that Alanis Morrissette), I'd call that ironic.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #6: Arctic Circle's Bacon Cheeseburger

Its a little sad for me to note that I haven't made an entries in the blog since last Friday's entry. Maybe that will be my new goal: at least one entry in between the Friday features. Anyway, I'm starting to get busy with a little project for school (we'll call it the Spring Break Wrecker for now), and I'm actually heading down to Las Vegas for the weekend. So I can't be beholden to this blog at all times.

Anyway, on to this week's feature: The Black Angus Bacon Cheeseburger at Arctic Cirlce (Hold the pickles, please).



Now, as a kid I remember eating at the Arctic Circle in the old downtown part of Tooele (even older than the current downtown). But as an adult, I never seemed to live near one. Just recently I realized that there was one just a few lights from where I live, so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did. While their menu is loaded with different burgers, chicken sandwiches, and fish items, I've yet to move beyond my first selection, the Bacon Cheeseburger.

Nothing too fancy, unless you consider bacon fancy, in which case we need to have a talk about which part of the pig qualifies as fancy (My vote goes to ham -- anything that can be the main course of a holiday meal deserves the title "fancy". Sorry bacon. I love you, but you ain't fancy). But always taste good and goes great with their fries and fry sauce.

The fact that they have fry sauce featured promiently on their menu made me look a little further and I discovered that, like KFC, Arctic Circle is a Utah original. I think we should consider a new state slogan: "Utah -- Cradle of several fast food joints". I'm not sure I even what our current slogan is. I remember when I was little seeing stuff that said "Utah: A pretty great state!" or something to that effect. Not quite "Best Valley City", but not much better.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #5: Orange Chicken at Panda Express

I'm finally getting this up at 7 on a Friday night. (Don't worry, I have plans at 8, I'm not home blogging away my sadness).

This week's Fast Food Fav comes to you courtesy of Panda Express. A restaurant that I frequent from time to time. Its not very close to home but on occasion I'll stop on the way home from school. Anyway, as you may or may not know, they have a fairly wide selection of entrees. The problem is that so far I've yet to find anything that compares with the Orange Chicken or even comes close.



So its kind of a double edged sword. I LOVE the orange chicken, but am not really excited about anything else on the menu. So I can't really go there frequently and just eat the same meal over and over again. You would think they could come up with something else as good as that. In fact they've had some entrees I like pretty well that have disappeared off the menu (sweet and sour chicken, beef and potato).

But the orange chicken can stand alone as their signature item, and maybe someone will get suckered into ordering the Beef and Mushrooms (which is really the Mushrooms and Vegetables and a tiny bit of Beef).

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #4: Taco Bell's Zesty Chicken Border Bowl

I realize its Saturday afternoon as I post this, but please forgive me. I returned home around 5 yesterday and had so much catching up to do that I really felt more like being a content consumer than a content producer. I have posted some photos to Flickr (many more still to come), so feel free to peruse those.

Without further ado, I give you this week's Fast Food Favorite: The Zesty Chicken Border Bowl from Taco Bell.



I know this picture is small, but the bowl itself is quite filling. Its got a base layer of refried beans and rice, topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, crunchy tortilla strips, sliced grilled chicken, and a zesty ranch/salsa dressing that really seals the deal for me.

This is a menu item that you can count on to fill you up. I used to think I needed some kind of side to go with it if I was hungry, but I would always find out that I was pretty stuffed after just the chicken bowl. But then you feel obligated to power through the rest, since you did just buy it after all, and heaven knows it ain't keepin in the fridge.

As a corollary to this item, I'd like to mention the 2 vital rules for Taco Bell dining.

#1: Never eat the ground beef.
#1a: Especially never eat the ground beef after midnight.

Trust me on those.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #3: Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger

This week's fast food favorite is no other than the king of late night fast food runs, thats right, Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger.



Currently the star of an advertising campaign focusing on its price of $0.99. And I have never been so grateful for a national advertising campaign. Allow me to explain. For years, the 99 cent Jr. Bacon Cheese was a staple of young college aged men. Available until 2:00 am in most locations, for a mere 99 pennies, you got a bun with a decent-sized beef patty, lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheese, and mayo. Two of these and even my appetite can be sated.

Sadly, perhaps 6 months ago or so, all the Wendy's near me upped the price to a whopping $1.39. Not that this price is outrageous, but its nearly a 50% increase. This price change basically drove me away from Wendy's. Well that and the way they changed the chicken sandwiches a couple years ago.

Anyway, thanks to the national campaign with the Jr. Bacon Cheese at the center, all the stores near me have been forced to drop the price back to its original $0.99 (how come there isn't a cent sign on my keyboard?). Oh, happy day.

BTW, I'm leaving for San Diego tomorrow for a week (projected high of 75 tomorrow). Peace out suckas!

(Day After) Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #2: Einstein Bros.' Turkey Sausage and Chedder Egg Sandwich

I can't believe I let a Friday go by without providing another Fast Food Fav. I mean I've been doing this for a whole 1 Friday and already slacking. Maybe we'll just attribute that to the fact I had a date yesterday.

Anyway, without further ado, I give to you: The Breakfast of Champions (assuming that my two GMS Geography Bee titles are enough to qualify me as "champions"): The Einstein Bros Turkey Sausage and Chedder Frittata Egg Sandwich, on choice of bagels, my choice generally being Asiago.

Now, you would be surprised how hard it is to get pictures of fast food menu items on the web. I guess I'll have to take my camera with me next time to get an actual image of the sandwich, but in the meantime, you can gaze upon the Einstein Bros logo.



Anyway, up until this past October I had never been to Einsteins, and had only on occassion even eaten their bagels, usually in some kind of morning school meeting. But, on a fateful Saturday in October, my good friend Scott was coming with his wife to pick me up to go to the airport to fly to DC for a conference. They had stopped at Einstein's and asked me if I wanted something. I said sure and they listed for me a variety of breakfast sandwiches. I settled on the Thick Hickory Bacon and Cheddar (or something like that). Needless to say I was blown away with the quality and have since made Einsteins a frequent breakfast spot. I soon switched from the Bacon sandwich to the Sausage one. Mmm, turkey sausage.

Just the right amount of spicyness, and if I just drink water instead of lemonade its about as cheap as a McDonalds breakfast, but without the subsequent indigestion. Not sure if thats because they don't have greasy hashbrowns to go with, but whatever it is, it keeps me coming back. I'm almost done with my 2nd frequent diner card (8 punches per card) which I actually didn't even have until I'd been going for a while. And I can use the free one on a lunch sandwich which is actually worth about $2.00 more than a breakfast sandwich, so thats a little hidden bonus.

Einsteins, I thank you.

Friday's Featured Fast Food Favorite #1: Arby's Chicken Bacon 'n Swiss

We all have things that we are passionate about: politics, religion, sports, etc. I for one am passionate about fast food. Thats why I've decided to try to do a weekly post highlighting one of the wonderous fast food items that makes my life extra special. I realize that fast food is not the healthiest of foods and has led to several films and books being created to ensure that we are aware of that fact. So please don't try to warn me. I've been warned. And I'm actually doing much better lately at shopping and then eating the food that I buy at the store.

Anyway, this week I thought I'd start with one of my staples: Arby's Chicken Bacon 'n Swiss sandwich.


You really can't go wrong with this one. Crisp peppered bacon. Fried chicken breast. Sesame seed bun. Swiss Cheese. And some sauce that I think is Honey Mustard. Add a dash of Arby's Sauce and you are in heaven.

Over the years Arby's has had a vast array of chicken sandwiches available, including my all-time favorite, the no longer offered Western Chicken Bacon Ranch, and several other that featured sliced roasted chicken, which I find to be more enjoyable than the fried chicken. But given that none of the Arby's I am familiar with are currently offering sliced roasted chicken, the Chicken Bacon 'n Swiss is definitely a great choice. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.