5 Fast-food Joints OC Needs
California's a health-conscious state, or at least that's what the rest of the country thinks. It's also a state that has about 1,500 McDonald's locations, so fast food isn't alien to the California experience. Yet OC lacks some of the top fast-food joints in the country. Here are some we don't have, but should (only real chains are here; we're not suggesting Los Pollos Hermandos).
It might need a new name for English-speaking customers, but the Japanese Mos Burger chain of more than 1,700 locations—which is expanding into East Asia at a steady clip but has no North American locations—has a winning menu. The restaurant eschews heat lamps and makes every order fresh (so it isn't exactly fast food), but patrons are rewarded with tasty hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Even more novel, there's the rice burger (pictured)—meat in between two pressed rice patties. Trust us, it's good.
Whataburger, which started decades ago as a hamburger stand in Corpus Cristi, TX, serves up a variety of burgers, but its classic remains the Whataburger. It's an all beef patty on a big, toasted five-inch bun. So far the 750-restaurant chain's mostly in the southern tier of states. Pictured: the Bacon Jalapeños & Cheese Whataburger, enough to test even the stoutest health-food fanatic.
Jet's Pizza has a simple menu: it serves up thick pizzas besotted with sauce and cheese and meat, usually cut in rectangles, along with Turbo Sticks (really just pizza in another form, served up with even more cheese) and fine wings. All heavy, but all good. For the most part Jet's, which are often found tucked away in strip centers, are still east of the Mississippi, but the chain's on its way west.
Famed now for its insanely successful IPO, Shake Shack should be famous for its first-rate burger-and-fries plus hot dogs and "concrete" shakes menu. Shake Shack started as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park in Manhattan and these days is still mostly in NYC, but also sports locations along the East Coast and Chicago, and even Vegas and London—but nothing here on the West Coast. Yet. The company's got boatloads of money now for expansion.
The first Pollo Tropical restaurant opened in 1988 in Miami. These days the restaurant is expanding rapidly in Latin America, though residents of the southeastern US can enjoy its Cuban fast food, including open flame grilled chicken marinated in a blend of tropical fruit juices and spices. It would be a good fit in California, but so far none are here.
