Fast Food Junkie

I was recently called out on my somewhat out of control LOVE of fast food. Not all fast food, but I definitely make some questionable food choices on a regular basis. I became a fast food fanatic last semester during my initial exploration of the world of unkosher meat products. At that point in time I was dancing 13 hours a week not including rehearsals and performances. The best perk of being a dance major is that I never have to go to the gym, and I really don't have to watch what I eat very much because of all the physical activity. Unfortunately, I am graduating in May, and will have to seriously change my eating habits when I don't have the same physical exertion built into my schedule.... but for now I can eat as much greasy fried food as my overworked heart desires!

Unlike many other food bloggers I am a food lover, NOT a food snob. I'll try anything once, and chances are, if it's fried, I'll probably enjoy it.

Over the course of the past seven months of working at a Restaurant I've had a surprising amount of drive-thru meals on the go. I think at this point I have narrowed down my favorite artery clogging meals at each joint.

I'll start with the big honcho himself, Micky D's of course! I will fight to the death with anyone who claims that there are fries that are better than Mc Donalds golden crispy fried potato slivers (except of course the duck fat fries, which I have yet to find).

Another favorite is their oreo Mcflurry (580 calories), and if I'm feeling particularly reckless with my body the McGriddle (420 calories), Cinnamon Melts (460 calories), and the McRib (500 calories) never fail me. Oh, and their iced coffee is my new obsession... clearly I'm a fan.

However, this is not my favorite fast food joint. My go-to food while drunk, sober, tired, hungry, happy, sad, basically anything but classy, is fried chicken!!! So of course, being in Louisiana I have many options to choose from. To be honest, some of my favorite deep fried thighs come from shady gas stations for 99 cents a piece. But when I'm not in the mood for sketchiness Popeye's is golden. Their chicken is good quality (shocker) and their dirty rice might be my favorite dirty rice in the city (sad, I know).

I also really enjoy Cane's, a local Chicken Tender franchise known for their spunky sauce and light and fluffy texas toast.

When I'm too late for Popeye's (they close at 1 am) and too far from Cane's I have sunk to low moments of craving my fried feathered friend to the point of going to KFC. Those were not proud moments, but they actually have a tasty spicy sandwich with bacon on a Hawaiian bun. It's no southern fried chicken, but it works. Plus, it's better than just getting chicken nuggets at Wendy's, which I do way too often, but they're only 99 cents! Clearly my cash flow dictates my meals, but the way I look at it, the more I save by eating shitty fast food, the more I can spend at fancy four star restaurants.

The only one of these drive-thru's which I hate is Burger King for three very valid reasons: 1. The King in their commercial seriously creeps me out. 2. I have not been able to find one thing on the menu I like. 3. I had the unfortunate mistake of trying their chicken fries. BIG mistake. Just trust me, don't do it.

I saved the best for last. It's not really in the same drive-thru genre as these other greasy establishments, but it is a gem among sketchier establishments. Get ready for it... Waffle House. Oh yes, so classy and soooo tasty. I'm not even kidding. People make fun of me to no end when I tell them how much I love waffle house, and I mean LOVE. So much so that I have been known to drive all the way to Arabi (30 minutes away) by myself to get my hash brown fix.

And I was lucky enough to be in the area today, ironically for an interview to be a fitness instructor, so I just had to go and get my fill of grease and cheese. If only the interviewer knew what I had just ingested, I would have had no chance of getting the job.

I usually like to get the "All Star," their biggest breakfast combo on the menu: 1 waffle, 2 eggs, 4 pieces of toast, grits or hash browns, sausage or bacon and coffee. But I actually exercised some form of restraint since I haven't danced in almost a month. Impressive, right?? Instead I got cheesy eggs and hash browns made "All the Way." That means they're covered (cheese), smothered (onions), diced (tomato), peppered (jalapeno), chunked (ham), capped (mushroom), topped (chili), and country (gravy). Oh yes, all of it! I was a little scared at first because I've never actually gone "All the Way" at Waffle House but it was actually pretty good. It would have been great if I had left out the overwhelming chili, but at least I know for next time. And there will be many more next times!