Right now, I have a craving for a place called Naugles. They were Mexican-American but the food was of better quality than most fast food places. It was also nicely spiced. Not overly hot but you could really taste the food and not grease.
I know they are still around, but I wish one would come to my area - Bojangle's. I just love that place. It's like a better KFC. I only get to eat it if I go down south for vacation. I'd love to have one near me!
They are still around, albeit hard to find, and not really the same as they used to be, but I always liked Church's Chicken. I think they are paired with White Castle these days, and there aren't any stand alone locations. Another favorite would be A&W Rootbeer restaurants. I used to work at one, owned by a local franchisee, who would actually make the rootbeer there fresh in tanks in the basement - it wasn't shipped in from some distributor. It was made with real sugar too. Their hamburgers were great, especially their "Mozza-burger" which was mozzarella, thousand island dressing, and bacon, along with lettuce and tomato. Their chili-cheese fries were great too.
I miss a pizza chain called Cozzolli's. They had those huge New York slices that you fold in half. Those are getting harder to find in my neighborhood.
We used to have Jack in the Box nearby but unfortunately all the branches went out of business. It didn't help that it was so expensive when it was here so I'm guessing it's why not many people bought from there but I loved their burgers there even if I'm not even that big of a fan of burgers to begin with. Hopefully someday someone will take interest again and give it another try so I won't have to wait until I go to the US before I get to eat there again.
I would have to say Hardees. I think they are still around in some areas but they took ours out a few years back and replaced it with a Fazolis. Hardees was my favorite place to go for breakfast. They had some really awesome biscuits and gravy and their cinnamon raisin biscuits were to die for. I loved them anyway. I really miss them. I love Fazolis but I wish they would have kept Hardees here. At least I think there are a few around, not sure where they are located now. So much better then McDonalds and Burger King. Does anyone have a Hardees near you?
I think there's a connection between Hardees and Carls Jr. I used to see the names together but I don't eat at CJ's anymore so I don't know if this is still true. Sometimes the items look good on TV but their commercials are so stupid.
I couldn't think of any fast food places that actually went anywhere. I can think of plenty that aren't where I live but they do still exist. P.S. Carl's Jr & Hardee's are basically the same place. The name really seems to depend on location in America. The only real difference is I have always preferred versions of burgers at Carl's Jr. When I lived in California I preferred them to even the infamous In N Out. In the Midwest, though? No thanks to any Hardee's. It's an okay burger but it seems like the low rent version of Carl's Jr in creativity, construction, & (for some reason) taste.
