Buc-ee's (Leeds, AL)

Off the I-20, Leeds, AL

 

Buc-ee’s is a chain of insanely big gas stations annex all-American food and crap stores that originated in Texas and now has more than 40 locations in the South, primarily in Texas though. It seems to cater primarily to the Average Joe, but of all racial backgrounds.

 

I get a Pulled Pork sandwich ($7.48), which is a fairly large soft bun filled with extremely tender and juicy pulled pork doused in a sweet sauce and with caramelized onions. It is very tasty but could have had more meat (particularly for that price).

 

VERDICT: 87/100

Tasty pulled pork sandwich in a carnivalesque setting.

Slutty Vegan (Athens, GA)

700 Baxter Street, Suite 800, Athens, GA

 

Slutty Vegan is a new chain out of Atlanta that serves vegan burgers and sandwiches (fried chicken, hot dogs) and fries as well as some desserts. It is Black-owned and the story of founder and CEO Pinky Cole is inspirational! Slutty Vegan currently has five locations in and around Atlanta, with Athens being the furthest, but is opening new locations outside of Georgia soon. Inside, the music is extremely loud — to the extent that you can’t understand the people behind the register, and they can’t understand each other — and the personnel (has to) do an annoying loud routine when you come in and leave. All burgers have sex-themed names, are made with Beyond Meat, and come only in (pricey) combos. Weirdly, you cannot eat inside or outside, while there is no drive-thru.

 

I get the Sloppy Toppy ($15), which comes with lettuce, tomato, caramelized onions, fresh jalapeños, and “slut sauce” on a vegan Hawaiian bun. It looks messy and tastes mostly like a whopper, but one with a good kick because of the jalapeños and sauce. The fries are thick wrinkle-cut, but they lack a bit of flavor, despite the light seasoning.

 

VERDICT: 80/100

While I love everything about the story of Slutty Vegan, it is not for me. Then again, I am not the target audience. To be honest, there is no reason to go here if you are not vegan. It is crazy loud, you cannot eat inside or outside, and the food is expensive and not remarkable. However, if you are vegan, this place comes as close to the “real” experience as anything I have ever seen.

Slapfish (Hilton Head Island, SC)

 1024 William Hilton Pkwy, Hilton Head Island, SC

 

Slapfish is a national chain of upscale fast food fish restaurants with currently some 20 locations across the US. It has an eclectic menu, which reflects more a fish restaurant than a fast food chain, including Chowder Fries, Lobster Roll, Fish & Chips, and various salads.

 

I get the Fish & Chips, choosing two pieces rather than one ($14), which comes with home-made Tartar sauce. The two pieces of fish are lightly breaded and well fried: very good! The fries are thick and crispy, with light seasoning. The Tartar sauce is yellowish and has a bit of a citrusy taste.

 

VERDICT: 90/100

Very good fish & chips and the other, healthier options, were good too (although the salad had a lot of fries in them).

Royal Donuts (Saarbrücken, Germany)

Dudweilerstraße 2A, 66111 Saarbrücken, Germany

 

Royal Donuts is a chain of donut shops with some 170 locations in Germany. This particular one is rather big and situated in downtown Saarbrücken. It serves only fancy (and expensive) donuts. The donuts themselves are regular size but they have big toppings.

 

I get a Chocolate-Raspberry and a Pistachio donut (both are €3.50). As they have been made a long time ago, they are a bit cold and hard. The chocolate has not much flavor but the raspberries do, including the filling in the dough. The pistachio donut has a good taste.

 

VERDICT: 82/100

Original but they look better than they taste.

Wurstteufel (Weißenburg in Bayern, Germany)

Eichstätterstrasse, 91781 Weißenburg in Bayern, Germany

 

 

Wurstteufel is a chain of sausage stands across Germany. I visit one at the parking lot of a small mall, outside the center of the small town of Weißenburg in Bayern. It has fries, sausages, meat balls (though not today), and somewhat surprisingly burgers. Interestingly, for the first time in my life, the people working in the stand ask me to take a picture without them in it.

 

I get a Currywurst with Fries and Mayo (€6.10) and get a choice of different levels of spice (I choose 2 out of 3, mainly because 3 is habanero, and I don’t like that flavor much. The sausage is overcooked (has been laying there for too long), the curry sauce has small pieces of bell peppers in them, and the powder has a serious kick. The fries are small but crispy. All in all, quite good.

 

VERDICT: 87/100

Original Currywurst with a kick

Farm Burger (Athens, GA)

 100 Prince Ave Suite 102, Athens, GA 30601

 

Farm Burger is a chain of "grassfed" burger joints in the South East. It originated in Atlanta and now has 13 locations in 4 different states. The Athens location opened recently so I went with the family to check it out. The menu consists of several different burgers (and build-your-own) and sandwiches, sides, salads, and shakes and floats (as well as some alcoholic drinks).

 

We order a whole lot of different stuff. First, to keep the kids busy, we got a Basket of Fries & Rings ($5.75). The fries were pretty good, the onion rings were mainly fairly flavorless crust.

 

 

 

Then, my wife had The Chicken ($9.25), ground chicken burger, smoked gouda, kale coleslaw, crispy onions, and sherry-date bbq. She liked it. I had the DBL Bacon Burger ($10.99), which included "two 50% beef/50% bacon patties, Tillamook yellow cheddar, grilled onions, pasture-raised bacon, house pickles, and dijon mustard" -- I replaced the mustard with "fb sauce" and skipped on the cheese. Overall, it mostly tasted enormously salty.

 

After all of that, we also got a Seasonal Shake ($6.25), which was strawberry. I had expected it to have fresh strawberries in it, but it was a thick syrup. I was also a bit dismayed by the fact that they made it and poured the relatively small glass full and kept the rest (roughly one-third of what they made). At that price, a bit more would have been appropriate. Then again, it was mostly sweet and not particularly flavorful.

 

VERDICT: 80/100

Farm Burger is an upscale burger chain but the prices rather than the quality are upscale. Most of the dishes were underwhelming and too expensive. I ate at the Decatur location a long time ago and had a pretty similar experience.

Nando's PERI PERI (Washington, DC)

1210 18th Street NW, Washington DC 20036

Nando’s PERI PERI is an international chain of South African-type chicken restaurants that does roasted chicken by the piece as well as in bowls and sandwiches. It has a variety of heats and sauces, which can also be found in supermarkets.

 

I get the classic Nando Chicken Breast Sandwich with two sides ($13.99) and a Lemonade ($3.69). The piece of chicken is disappointingly small and the “heat” comes from the sauce rather than the (nice) seasoning. Despite lacking heat (I got Medium as they described it as quite spicy and it was very hot outside), the sandwich has good flavors, including from the nice roll. The slaw is very creamy and has an original mix of flavors (do I taste dill?), while the garlic bread is simple and very tasty. The strawberry lemonade was a bit too sweet but with some added water quite refreshing.

 

I later get a Naughty Nata ($3.62) for dessert. The nata came from the fridge and was then heated up on the grill, which is a different approach (and took quite long). It comes closer than most natas, but is overly sweet and dough too soft.

 

VERDICT: 85/100

While a bit disappointed by the sandwich, I overall really liked the (original) flavors.

The Halal Guys (Buford, GA)

 2925 Buford Dr Ste #1210, Buford, GA 30519

 

The Halal Guys is an international chain of shawarma places that started in Manhattan and has since moved across the US and into Canada and the UK. It has a very limited and simple menu, mostly plates or sandwiches with gyro, chicken, or falafel and a couple of sides (fries, hummus, baba ghanoush). It gets very good reviews online (at least the Buford location), so I decided to check it out. It works similarly to Chipotle, which means that you go through all the choices and pay at the end.

 

I got a Chicken Sandwich ($8.99) and a side of Hummus ($4.99). The pita is thick and fluffy, the chicken are cubes with a slight flavor, and then you can choose your toppings - I chose lettuce, tomato, onion, and "white sauce". Altogether it was a huge sandwich, but also a fairly flavorless one. The hummus was also mediocre, despite the fluffy pita.

 

 VERDICT: 80/100

Just like Chipotle, The Halal Guys offer pretty basic "ethnic" food in a clean and fast setting at fairly high prices. Good as a fallback option but in most cities you should be able to do much better.

BÖCKELS Beste (Erkelenz, Germany)

Aachener Strasse 115, 41812 Erkelenz, Germany

 

BÖCKELS Beste is a regional chain of over 30 currywurst places in Germany, mostly in North Rhine-Westphalia. This particular one is in an OBI, a big German home improvement retailer, situated just next to the entrance. It serves only currywurst and fries but this location also has a cafe with coffee and two types of cakes. 

 

What makes them particularly interesting is that they have a choice of six levels of spicy (all powders).

 

I get a Currywurst (€ 2.79 or ~$3.15) with level 6 (Es Drauf Ankomen Lassen). The sausage is good, the sauce too (not too sweet and good temperature), and the heat is quite brutal. It is really HOT but does not fully kill all taste. Shame it doesn’t come with a roll. T had a Medium Fries (€ 2.59 or ~$3) with curry sauce, also level 6, which was also brutally hot, but the fries were very good for Germany.

 

VERDICT: 89/100

Very good currywurst. Und Mega-Scharf!

Fly Chicken Torggata (Oslo, Norway)

Torggata 9A, 0181 Oslo, Norway

 

Fly Chicken is a national chain of fried chicken places, with 6 locations (in cities) in Norway, which serves fried chicken sandwiches, fried legs and wings, and a few sides (mostly fries). This particular location is in the food court of a shopping mall close to the central station of Oslo.

 

I get the Superfly sandwich (145 NOK or ~$16) and a portion of 5 Fried Wings (60 NOK or $6.75) with a side of the hot sauce. The sandwich has a big piece of well-prepared fried chicken, which is juicy and crispy, on comes on a brioche bun with lettuce, onion rings, and some BBQ sauce and sour cream. It is tasty but heavy. The wings are heavily coated, a bit like KFC, and taste mostly fat. The hot sauce is indeed spicy but has an odd flavor.

 

VERDICT: 82/100

Decent fried chicken but with a too high fat-to-flavor ratio.

Andy's Frozen Custard (Athens, GA)

 2180 W Broad St, Athens, GA 30606

 

Andy's Frozen Custard is a chain of frozen custard places with currently almost 100 locations in 14 states, mostly in the Southeasr and Southwest -- although it originated in Missouri. It offers various "Blizzards", i.e. frozen custard blended with various toppings, in various sizes.

 

I got the Bulldawg Concrete, undoubtedly a local name for a more common option, which is frozen custard blended with melted chocolate chips and cherries. The "Small" ($4.99) is actually quite big (and expensive). I eat only a bit of it, as it is mostly just bland and sweet.

 

 

VERDICT: 77/100

Basic frozen custard "blizzards".

Party Fowl (Nashville, TN)

Inside Nissan Stadium, 1 Titans Way, Nashville, TN

Party Fowl is a Tennessee chain of fried chicken places, which also has a location inside the Tenessee Titans' Nissan stadium. The regular locations have a very extensive menu, with Nashville Hot chicken at the center (but also in tacos and empanadas), but they have different types of heat of chicken, and various other things, including gumbos and salads.

I get the Chicken Tenders & Beignets ($18) -- I think they gave me the fries by mistake. It takes 15 minutes or so to get my food, as they are out of everything. The three chicken tenders are huge and I get them Nashville Hot and that brings some serious heat. They are not all that tender but some pieces are really good (and hot!). The beignets are kind of hollow but tasty. The fries were at best lukewarm, but I only tried two, as I was too full. ;-)

 

VERDICT: 88/100

This is excellent hot chicken for inside a stadium (obviously overpriced, although the pieces are big). Would definitely like to try a regular location too.

Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint (Nashville, TN)

 Inside Nissan Stadium, 1 Titans Way, Nashville, TN

Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint is chain of bbq restaurants out of Nashville, Tennessee, with isolated locations in Alabama, Kentucky, and South Carolina. Most locations have a pretty elaborate menu of bbq classics (plus burgers), but this location, inside the football stadium, has a more limited menu and much higher prices.

 

I get a Pulled Pork Sandwich ($11.50) and Homemade BBQ Chips ($6). The pulled pork is chunky but tender, the sauce and slaw complement it well, but the bun is too big, dense, and dry. The Homemade BBQ Chips are not bad, but not really that fresh, which makes them fairly similar to those in a regular bag (except thicker).

 

VERDICT: 85/100

Pretty good (if expensive) stadium food. I would imagine it to be better in a regular location. 

Jack Brown’s Beer & Burger (Birmingham, AL)

2811 7th Ave S., Birmingham, AL

Jack Brown's Beer & Burger is a chain with about 15 locations, mostly in the Southeast. The Birmingham location is quite small and in every top-10 "Best Burgers in Birmingham" list, so I’m not surprised that it is full when I arrive — even though it’s before 6 PM. I can sit outside at the bar though, where they have heaters. They only serve burgers and a few sides, offering various types of the former.

 

I get the Shocker ($8.99) and a side of Fries ($3). The Shocker is a thin patty with fresh jalapeños, fresh habaneros, and house-made Shocker sauce (it usually comes also with paper Jack cheese). The bun and patty are underwhelming but the peppers and sauce are really hot, saving it somewhat. The fries are standard crinkle cut but served lukewarm and a bit chewy.

 

VERDICT: 82/100

I would only come back for the heat.

Dirty Burgers & Ribs (Reykjavik, Iceland)

 

Dirty Burgers & Ribs is a local chain that offers burgers, ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, and sides. It has two regular locations in Reykjavik and at least one drive-thru at a gas station — which is the one I visit. I get a Pulled Pork Sandwich (ISK 1390 or ~$11). As the menu is only in Icelandic, I didn’t know there was cheese on it, but the thick slice is barely melted so I can peel it off. The brioche bun comes with a red cabbage slaw, some kind of sauce, and sweet and tender pulled pork. Not bad at all.

 

VERDICT: 83/100

A very decent pulled pork sandwich, particularly for a non-US fast food place.

M SHack (Jacksonville, FL)

10281 Midtown Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32246

 

M Shack is new local upscale burger chain that currently has three locations in the Jacksonville area. I wanted to visit another location on a previous trip, as it gets raving reviews, but couldn't make it. Now I visit the location in an upscale outdoor mall in a rich suburb of Jacksonville. It has a range of signature burgers, sandwiches, salads, and hot dogs as well as shakes.

 

I get the Asian Burger ($6.99), which comes with spicy coleslaw and hoisin bbq glaze (I hold the pepper Jack cheese). It is medium grilled and has a nice, original flavor with a little kick to it. I also get a side of House Fries ($2.50), which are kind of thicker Burger King fries (with a coating) and very underwhelming. The small Banana Foster Shake ($4.25) is a combination of swirl ice cream and home-made bananas foster puree and is very thick and creamy. Tastes more like caramel than banana.

 

VERDICT: 86/100

Good burgers but underwhelming sides. Definitely didn’t live up to the hype.