For some damn reason, Chick-Fil-A has become suddenly popular in Western New York. If you don’t know, C-F-A is run by anti-gay Christianists who gave (and still may give) money to anti-gay hate groups. Also, they love sweet baby Jesus so much that they don’t open on Sundays. Fuck ’em — if I want to get the ‘beetus, I have plenty of other shitty options for greasy fast food.
The New York State Thruway Authority is remodeling the rest stops and has engaged Chick-Fil-A as a vendor. Of course, the Democrats, who are well in the majority in New York (not that you’d notice, sometimes) are making a stink, and Lindsey Graham is willing to “go to war” for Chick-Fil-A’s right to give New Yorkers a regular glycemic challenge.
First, it’s nice to hear that Graham is willing to go to war for something, since he wasn’t willing to even go to training.
Second, if you’re in New York, this is one of those issues where a little backlash might actually change something. You can contact your assembly member via this form, and your senator via this one. My gerrymandered state leg assembly district is represented by a Republican, so I just wrote and told her that it was the acme of stupidity to engage a vendor for a highway rest stop that is closed on Sunday.
That all said, for those of you who aren’t in New York, I have to say that our rest stops are pretty much OK as rest stops go. I’ve driven a number of toll roads, and I’d rate New York’s stops as a solid B/B-. The best rest stops that I’ve seen are in Ohio, oddly enough. Illinois’ are pretty nice, as are Maine’s. The rest stop with restaurant is pretty much a toll road phenomenon, since it is often a PITA to exit and get back on the road, but perhaps some of you have rest stops you’d like to nominate. It’s a trivial topic until you need to eat and use the restroom on a trip, of course.
Baud
The closed-on-Sundays problem is a legitimate argument. But the state would get sued if they discriminated in contracting on the basis of a company’s views, abhorrent or not.
I don’t eat there, but I thought Chick-fil-A was always pretty popular wherever they were.
lee
I’m not sure what the status of Chick-fil-a is.
They have recently been donating to some rather liberal groups.
Jay
So, the rest stop on “the Highway from Hell”, well short of the summit, has:
– culturally accurate histrory information boards,
– heated Public bathrooms,
– EV charging stations,
– food trucks,
– off leash dog park,
– a stunning view of 5 mountain peaks
– a trail head for a loop trail to the high alpine
Barbara
So are they going to be open on Sunday? Because there are an awful lot of people traveling on the Thruway on Sunday afternoon and evening. That would seem to be an appropriate neutral reason for not retaining them as one of the options.
lee
@Barbara: IIRC, they have lost contracts before for not being open on Sunday.
MrSnrub
@lee: Ugh.
Ohio Mom
Yeah, the owners of Chik-Fil-A stink, and they are loud about it. But I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like the views or activities of the owners of any of their competitors, either. I came to terms with the idea I’m complicit a long time ago.
Full disclosure: I don’t like their food but Ohio Son does, and I’ve purchased their food on his behalf.
VOR
@Baud: I ate CFA once because it was convenient and I was curious. I walked away unimpressed with the food. Plenty of other chicken places who do better (Cane’s, Popeye’s) and lots of strong chicken options at regular fast food: Wendy’s, the new Burger King hand breaded chicken sandwich, the new McDonald’s chicken sandwiches, etc…
I wonder how much of their business comes from conservatives choosing CFA as a cultural identifier.
Low Key Swagger
This company may be evolving, I know that my daughter and most of her gay friends have stopped their boycott. They ain’t Hobby Lobby. As for being closed on Sunday, I actually like that their employees get a day off regardless of the reason. Unless church attendance is mandatory, and I don’t think it is. I stopped eating there because the food is so bland.
germy
@Barbara:
Those NY rest stops are full of fast food options, so a hungry traveler would have choices if that chicken place is closed on Sunday.
Low Key Swagger
@VOR: I don’t think that’s the driving force force. My kids and their friends love the food. It does taste different from other fast food chicken (peanut oil?) but still isn’t good. My wife thinks their salads are the bomb, as the kids no longer say.
lowtechcyclist
Cheryl from Maryland
A friend of mine undergoing chemo always wanted to eat at Chik-Fil-A during treatments as it was one of the few foods she could keep down. I ate there once with – it was bland and awful at the same time. Sweet, even their so-called waffle fries.
Low Key Swagger
I might add that to me, picking this hill to die on would be a pretty lame move for NY Dems. Lots of truly important policy matters to focus on. YMMV
germy
My local sinclair station did a story on the controversy, and they framed it by showing file footage of happy young chick-fil-a employees who just happened to be Black. The moral of the story was “Angry libs want to take jobs away from Black people.”
I’m not kidding, that’s my sinclair station. It’s always pretty obvious what they’re up to.
Antonius
@Baud: Wouldn’t that be discriminating against their business model, not their religion?
Central Planning
I liked the CFA spicy chicken sandwich.
I’ve stopped going there because of their politics, but really it’s because I’m trying to eat healthier. I don’t need to damage my health AND give them my money.
lee
@MrSnrub: Like I wrote. It is not as straightforward as it used to be.
The 2 franchises close to me fly Pride Flags.
Hoodie
@Low Key Swagger: A lot of Americans (particularly kids) like bland.
Baud
@Antonius:
It’s ok to “discriminate” against them if they aren’t open on Sundays. It’s not ok to do so because they support right wing causes. MM mentioned both issues in his post.
germy
Maybe I can use my Freedom Phone to order some chick-fil-a, to own the libs.
Immanentize
@Low Key Swagger:
I was just going to drop a similar comment. One of my son’s gay best friends made up little licenses for his buds that had a picture of him, thumbs up, with:
“Chick- Fil-A — Now Gay Approved!”
I keep saying: the kids are alright.
We olds in such situations remind me of the Gallo boycott. It was huge when I was, uhh, maybe underage drinking? Maybe not. None of us bought Gallo! Spit! But when Gallo finally broke and dealt with Chavez and the UFW, and the boycott was called off, people still didn’t buy Gallo. But my Union AFSCME friend taught me: you gotta punish them when they do bad, and reward them when the do good.
He could have added: This is the way….
Spanky
Well, I’m not a player in the boycott because my fastest fast food is Starbucks, which isn’t going to win any awards anyway. But I do agree that being closed on Sundays should be a disqualifier. One would think (heh!) that every state has a standard contract for rest stop vendors, and that Sunday business would be a standard requirement.
Baud
@Immanentize:
this has been a pet peeve of mine for a while — we have suffered from an inability to do positive reinforcement well
Delk
Dan Cathy, the billionaire owner of Chik-fil-a, continues to fund anti-gay causes.
MrSnrub
@lee: I’m still skeptical. They’ve backtracked before. Let’s hope the change is genuine this time.
Immanentize
@Baud: i agree. It’s how we get leftier than thou leftovers. They cannot ever agree something is good. Maybe not perfect or even good enough? But just better and a step or two in the right direction.
germy
@Delk:
Dan Cathy inherited the business from his father. His father’s first restaurant was called the Dwarf House, oddly enough.
They’re strange people.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
On whether they are gay friendly: That Vox deep dive from 2019 says “The fast-food chain is changing its charitable giving approach in 2020 — and says, in an oblique way, that it will no longer donate to such organizations.” I think it’s fair to want receipts on that, and, yes, we should reward change, but I’ll reward it when it’s consistent over a reasonable period of time. 17 months, IMO, isn’t that.
On whether this should be a hill to die on: This is a winnable fight, the stakes aren’t that high, but if we win, we show we have power. When have Republicans ever shied away from fights because something “more important” needs to be fought? They fight everything. Nothing wrong with showing them who runs the state on matters big and small.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I’ve been always leery of CFA; any restaurant that makes a big deal about something besides their food like politics likely has poor quality food.
Steeplejack
I used to stop by Chick-fil-A once every few months when the urge struck. Their spicy chicken sandwich is okay, and their service is good. Rarely a wait. Since the fast-food wars have heated up, I find I like the Popeyes sandwich better. And it may not be the sandwich but the sides; their beans and rice muddle is great (in a fast-food-y context).
Re the New York controversy: not being open on Sunday should have been preëmptively disqualifying for a thruway concessionaire.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Baud:
This is false on its face. For example, if the company held the view that only whites should be hired, they would definitely be denied a contract.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Steeplejack:
Popeyes is going to get a contract for the new Thruway rest stops, which makes you wonder why we need two chicken restaurants in one rest stop.
Just Chuck
Popeyes and now Burger King have much better chicken sandwiches. I respect the closed-on-Sundays thing, but agree it should be a disqualifier for the rest stop concession.
Baud
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
Hiring decisions are not the company’s views. Those are their actions.
ETA: To my knowledge, no company has tested the limits of this principle by opening supporting an organization like the KKK or the official Nazi party (as opposed to the unofficial one). My guess is that Chick-fil-A’s donations wouldn’t be viewed by any court as coming close to that limit either.
schrodingers_cat
I like NY rest stops also the ones on MA Turnpike. There is one that has a Ben and Jerry’s and in the summer they sometimes even feature farmer’s markets
This coastal elite has not visited either Ohio or Indiana.
SpongeBobtheBuilder
I just want to second the Ohio Turnpike rest stops are the best. They are clean, but more important, they have a big open area where you can let your toddler run off some energy no matter what the weather is. The floors are always shiny clean, and there are many restrooms.
As a veteran of many, many car trips from Chicago to New Jersey and back, Ohio stands out as the best, and it’s weird, because Indiana is right next door, and they are AWFUL. They have an example example right next door! We usually hold it until we get to Ohio. Indiana is fortunately a narrow state going east to west.
Roger Moore
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
I’m not sure that’s true. If the company hired only whites, they could get in much worse trouble than just losing a contract. If they actually followed hiring laws, but their owner funded political organizations that advocated repeal of the Civil Rights Act, I’m not sure that would be legal grounds for denying them a contract.
A Ghost to Most
I have never eaten at Chock-Full-Of-It, and never will.
They bless with your food there.
hueyplong
I like Popeyes and definitely like the beans and rice side, but the calorie count on that one is a little startling. Seeing the number made me think I was at a Hardee’s.
Almost Retired
For decades there was a Chick-Fil-A at the nearby Mega Mall, and the locals mostly shrugged it off. And then, inexplicably (to me anyway), Chick-Fil-A became a phenomenon, and the stores that opened up a few years ago are always jam-packed. The food didn’t change – It’s still totally meh. I don’t get it. Also, too – and I can only admit this from behind the anonymity afforded the random blog poster – I think In-and-Out Burger is wildly overrated.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
My question is whether Hobby Lobby applies in reverse. The Supreme Court ruled that closely held corporations can have religious beliefs that allow them to ignore laws where there’s some kind of conscience exception. Does that apply in reverse, so that a closely held corporation can be punished if its owner does something illegal? I sincerely doubt this Supreme Court would rule that way, but it’s a fun legal argument.
Anonymous At Work
My personal reason for boycotting them:
In 2003, when the founder’s virulent anti-gay views and donations came out (equating gay lifestyle to full-on bestiality), CFA was about to run a promotion with Jim Henson Studios. The foundation decided to pull the promotion. CFA put up a sign stating that THEY had canceled the promotion due to a safety recall of defective Jim Henson Studios products.
Having virulent views on gays, sure, whatever, won’t shop there. I spread the boycott because CFA wouldn’t accept responsibility or accountability for their views, and then lied about it.
VeniceRiley
Doesn’t qualify as a classic rest stop, but Baker, CA is such an easy on/off HWY 15 and has the Alien Fresh Jerky Store, many flavors of jerky and artisanal hot sauces. great place to buy small gifts. And the tallest outdoor thermometer in the world. And I was able to get a weird size tire replaced there that one time.
Roger Moore
@VeniceRiley:
Overall, I have not been impressed by California rest stops. They are well maintained, but they tend to be pretty basic. I don’t think any of the official ones have anything more than vending machines.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
If the illegal conduct is conducted via the corporation, I don’t see why the corporation couldn’t be punished. Corporate criminal liability is a thing (legally, if not in practice).
marklar
@SpongeBobtheBuilder:
Indiana is also a pretty narrow state going ear to ear.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Another vote for the Ohio ones as the best I’ve experienced. I will be experiencing the NY ones for the first time shortly (and Maybe MA too) as we are driving from Maryland to Vermont to visit family tomorrow. I also drive the PA Turnpike to go home to visit the folks in MI and although many of them are newly redone they still pretty much suck compared to the Ohio ones. I lived in downstate Illinois (Cham-Bana) for a couple years but never had to use the toll roads there – I wasn’t going or coming in any direction that made it more direct than the alternatives.
Redshift
There are nice huge rest stops on I-95 in Maryland (non-toll). They’ve had some restaurants that are good enough that I looked for them closer to home.
They also remodeled and enlarged them a few years ago. It’s surprising how higher ceilings can make a rest stop feel less crowded, more should do it.
Revrick
When I was a kid, rest stop restaurants were Howard Johnson’s. The fried clam strips were my favorite.
raven
The one on the Chicago Tollway that looked over the highway was the bomb in the 60’s. They are called Oasis, we used to go to the Hinsdale one and hang out.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Also, I’ve never had Chik-Fil-A, or Popeyes, and honestly the last time I ate at a fast food restaurant that wasn’t Subway is so far back I can’t even remember. I used to get cravings for McD’s back in the day but once you stay away from that crap for a couple years when you try it again you realize how awful it is which goes for BK, and I’m guessing Chik too. At least that’s what happened to me. I think the last time I had fast food is Five Guys like three years ago if that counts. Wendy’s Chili is still palatable, or was the last time I had it but that was like 15 years ago now.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I was thinking of the owner doing something not through the corporation that would be grounds for denying a contract if the corporation did it. I still think Hobby Lobby is terrible law, and I want to see how consistent it is. I don’t think it’s reasonable to make it something that happens at the company’s convenience. They shouldn’t be able to say “we have our owner’s religious beliefs” when it helps them but say “no, we’re a separate entity” when their owner’s beliefs hurt them.
Kathleen
@VOR: Their customer service is outstanding. I had temp job and it was the go to place for lunch. I haven’t been back since.
Barbara
@Roger Moore: Right. They would get in trouble if they only hired whites, but having an opinion that they should only have to hire whites if that’s the way they want to run their business is just their opinion and not disqualifying.
Of course, loudly braying that you would like to have the right to only hire whites is likely symptomatic of discriminatory hiring practices, because their management employees no doubt get the message loud and clear. So you would be supremely stupid to do that, but privileged rich brats who inherited a business are often not nearly as bright as the people who spawned them.
Steeplejack
@hueyplong:
Pro tip: put on your calorie blinders when going into any fast-food place.
SFAW
This is the second time in two or three days that I’ve seen former JAG Off. (and current jagoff) Lindsey Graham talk about going “to war” over some RWMF pearl-clutching idiocy. [The other was from a few years ago, but highlighted in a tweet.] If only he were as willing to fight FOR America and (what we used to think of as) American values (not to be confused with ‘Murican Values).
How does that guy look himself in the mirror? He’s an ass-licking toady who couldn’t spell “integrity” if you spotted him the first nine letters.
And, yes, I can count.
raven
boo
The tollway also will take down the Hinsdale oasis’s glass pavilion to make way for Tri-State improvements later.
Delk
@raven: stopping at an Oasis was awesome!
SFAW
@Steeplejack:
Peripherally related: many years ago, friends of ours informed us that calories consumed “up to camp” (i.e., on vacation in Maine) do not, in fact, count.
raven
@Steeplejack: The costco “chicken bake” has 770!
Baud
@Roger Moore:
I don’t think there’s a uniform rule, but I know that there are many regulatory situations that require assessing not only the corporation as an entity, but also its officers, directors, and controlling shareholders. As a general rule, I don’t think a state would face a constitutional problem if it said that it won’t contract with a corporation run or owned by a felon or a fraudster.
hueyplong
@SFAW: Graham periodically feels the need to verbalize some butchiness.
SFAW
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Did you ever get counseling for that?
Searcher
@lee: The fun part is that now you have some RWNJ “going to war” for Chick-fil-A, others who regard them as apostates, and most cause-seeking leftists still giving them the side-eye.
Steeplejack
@SFAW:
That’s just scientific fact.
Kathleen
@raven: Did Costco bring that back? I read on The Internet it had pulled that plus a lot of other menu items, the chicken casserole being the most popular. Customers supposedly sent angry letters and flooded web sites with angry comments. I am curious to see if Costco responded to the complaints. I love Costco but it’s just not practical for me to be a member right now. I read they are bringing samples back so I may have to reconsider!
Brachiator
A CFA near me serves tasty chicken sandwiches and good salads. They also serve a great mac n cheese. I don’t eat there often, but noted a few times that this location is very family friendly, including gay families. Go figure.
SFAW
@Baud:
Such a kidder, you are. You should add this to your stand-up routine.
Nicole
There is a Chik Fil-A in midtown Manhattan that always has a line out the door. I don’t get it. I had it once, when it was offered at a job, and it’s fine, but nothing to write home about.
I do very much like Popeye’s rice and beans. And the spicy chicken.
Doug R
@Jay: There’s another $5,000,000 rest area on the Okanagan Connector. Non-drinkable water, but everything but food. Although there is a brand new gas station/lodge the next exit up the road. With the same gas price as in town, at least for now.
Barbara
@Brachiator: Is CFA a franchise? Papa John’s Pizza is a franchise and I felt kind of sorry for the guy who runs the locality closest to us when the founder/CEO made racist RWNJ comments that generated a lot of blowback, because the local franchise owner is a good guy.
Ohio Mom
Oh, Howard Johnson’s! I remember them. Once as a tot I had a meltdown in one.
It was during a long car trip and it was the second HJ stop in a row. I was convinced we were back where we had started, that I had sat patiently in the car and had not gotten any closer to home.
My parents tried to convince me all HJ’s looked alike but that was a very queer concept for me to assimilate. I mostly calmed down because they were so desperate and I wanted to please them.
On another note, you who are praising Ohio rest stops, you must be talking about the turnpike, a toll road that goes across northern Ohio.
Because the highways I travel, I-71 which goes diagonally across the state, from Cincinnati in the southwest corner to Cleveland in the northeast corner, and I-75 which goes north/south along the western edge of the state, have absolutely spartan rest stops. Restrooms and vending machines.
lowtechcyclist
I honestly don’t get the “ChickFilA is bland” comments. What’s the standard of comparison? Your local Ethiopian restaurant? Or MickeyD’s?
Michael Cain
At least locally here, the starting pay is much better than most of the fast food chains, and full-timers get benefits.
Two anecdata points: (1) A number of people I know who frequent Chick-Fil-A really like giving their order, then choosing their table and sitting down with their drink until someone brings the food and always asks, “Do you need anything else?” as if they mean it. (2) The playrooms seem to be enormously popular with the littles, pulling in a lot of mothers with 2-4 year-olds.
Full disclosure: I eat there from time to time because it is popular with the granddaughters. Most recently not because of the playroom, but because they both love the frosted strawberry lemonade.
JustRuss
I’m OK with them being closed Sundays, guaranteed day off their employees can plan around. But not for a state contract in a context where consumers have limited, or no, options, like rest stops. Should be a disqualifier.
Old Dan and Little Ann
If there’s no Sbarro at a NYS thruway stop, I’m not Fucking eating there. I’ve never has cfa.
Omnes Omnibus
@lowtechcyclist: Popeye’s.
JustRuss
@Almost Retired: I don’t get the In-and-Out love either. It’s a perfectly OK premium fast food burger, but…IDK, maybe I don’t appreciate the genre sufficiently. Waiting in line 20 minutes+ to order “fast” food never made sense to me.
ian
You guys get amenities at rest stops? Including restaurants?
I must live in some kind of g*d forsaken place. We are lucky if there is a dead antelope on the side of the road at ours.
Peale
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Yep. What I miss though is Roy Rogers. There’s been a big hole in the Thruway since Roy closed up shop. The logical replacement is Hardees or Arby’s, but we don’t got those out here.
mike t
Having just driven from Wisconsin to PA and back in the past week, I concur that Ohio and Illinois have fine rest stops. However Indiana is a horrible state to drive through. In my limited travels, only Arkansas is even remotely as bad
Martin
@Baud: I won’t lie, their food is pretty tasty, and their customer service is good though it does dip every so slightly into the kind of saccharine urge-to-please that activates the cult warning system part of my brain. Pretty sure that’s mostly from having been calibrated in NYC where making a slightly unreasonable request would at best result in being sarcastically told off and at worst spit at.
But it’s my understanding that Popeye’s sandwich is better. So I’d just go there instead.
Ned F.
I get my BJ updates through Feedly, and I clicked on a post by Anne Laurie about the “Freedom Phone” but it is not available. Yes, I get behind in my reading, which is why I hardly ever comment. Anyhoo, the post is gone. Whatup?
Eunicecycle
@SpongeBobtheBuilder: I have to agree on the Indiana rest stops. They are AWFUL. The restrooms are filthy and at least in one of them the smell goes into the food court. A fast-food employee told me that it’s not the fast-food employees’ job to clean the restrooms, but sometimes they do because customers complain to them. The state is supposed to have employees to clean them, but being Indiana (I’m a Hoosier by birth, BTW) they don’t want to pay for anything. For freedom, I guess.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JustRuss: In-and-Out would not be a “premium” burger, it’s competition would be more McD and Burger King. In SoCal, Habit Burger would be more of a premium burger.
Martin
@JustRuss: You refer to it as premium, but it’s a $2.40 cheeseburger, and that’s pretty discount priced.
Most locations aren’t a wait, but if you’re near a university or one of CAs geographically gated rest stops <cough>Barstow</cough>, then yeah, it can be pretty damn busy.
NotMax
@kathleen
Michael Cain
@JustRuss: In-N-Out has started opening stores in Colorado. The most recent one opened this past week. Local police issued traffic warnings in advance, along with instructions on where on public streets the drive-through line would form.
NotMax
Blockquote fail. Fix.
@kathleen
Colloquially known as Costco dim sum.
Brachiator
@Barbara:
Don’t know. I used to avoid the place, but once stopped by because I was very tired and hungry after work. This location was like a weird throwback. Lots of kids and teens coming in after baseball games and cheerleading practice, still in uniform. Families with kids. Some apparently gay couples and families. Maybe some kids decided this place was going to be the official hangout, like Arnold’s on the tv show Happy Days.
The staff and manager was unfailingly friendly and polite to all the customers there.
Martin
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah, burgers in New York used to be trash (I’ll assume Shake Shake addresses that) but CA really nailed it. Habit, Ruby’s – tons of good burgers here.
Brewpubs really fixed a lot of America’s dining sins as well.
Martin
@Barbara: CFA is a franchise.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Giving up tax revenue from Sunday public rest stop operations to own the libruls….
NotMax
@JustRuss
Taco Bell is the standard bearer for food that’s in ‘n’ out.
;)
Eunicecycle
@ian: i think we’re talking about the plazas on toll roads. That’s what I mean, anyway. But even on other interstates, Indiana’s roadside rests suck. I really had to use one, one time and had to hold my breath as long as I could.
randy khan
Illinois rest areas are called “Oases,” and they’re built over the road, with big glass windows looking out on the highway. They’re kind of impressive.
Water in the desert
JAFD
My mother (may she rest in peace) really liked CFA. Meself, the smell of their hot cooking oil turns my stomach.
A couple of decades ago, when I frequently traveled the Delmarva peninsula N-S, the rest area where Delaware 1 and US 13 crossed, north of Smyrna, was absolutely first class.
Peale
My partner tells me that CFA is great chicken, but I’ve never been really all that excited about it. I think he just likes the fries more than other places. He’s Filipino, though, so he’s probably got more nuanced taste for the variations between fried chicken types than I do. I do like dipping my fried chicken in spaghetti at Jollibee, or in red beans and rice at popeyes, and wish chicken karaage would be a thing that replaces nuggets.
As for the burger question – I think thats just not going to be decided until Culvers and In-and-Out meet somewhere. Since Culvers is moving West at about the same rate that In-and-Out is moving East, I expect that the final truth will be had somewhere around Grand Island Nebraska when both open up side by side. I’ve had In-and-Out. Still like Culvers better.
Anyway
@Kathleen:
As a mostly-solo dweller I find Costco overkill.
I recently drove to UIUC from Philly and join in the praises of OH rest-stops. I’m from Wawa-land and enjoy the Sheetz’ in PA/MD/WV.
ian
@Peale:
Fort Collins, CO, about an hour south of where I live, has an In-and-Out and a Culvers. Not sure how close that is to where you are.
sab
@Ohio Mom: I ahree with you on Ohio rest stops. Turnpike they are okay. Regular imterstate ones barely have plumbing. But most exits have fast food and regular restaurants nearby.
Peale
@ian: Does Ft. Collins still exist? That sounds like the burgerlarity horizon may have been crossed where the fanatics of both franchises meet and FrenchFrytomachy finally occurs.
Michael Cain
@ian: Nope, no In-N-Out in Fort Collins yet. From memory, so suspect, every one of the four In-N-Outs that have opened in Colorado have created traffic problems for at least a few weeks. None of the existing Culvers seem to have done that.
The California Diaspora has been a thing in Colorado for more than 30 years. I expect that’s some of it.
NotMax
The Thruway to Tomorrow!
pacem appellant
I grew up in CA and whenever we’d visit family in NJ the concept of toll roads and turnpikes blew my mind. Now, we have toll roads, mostly in Southern California. I grew up thinking that the East Coast would finally see the light and have publicly funded highways. I never in a million years would have guessed that the glibertarian toll road would come to CA. Though when it did it sent straight to Orange County checks out.
Gravenstone
@SpongeBobtheBuilder: Indiana was always lower quality, but the decline accelerated when the state sold the tollway management rights to an Aussie company some years back. Funny bit about the Ohio tollway plazas, there’s a pair a few miles down the road from my childhood home. That was a very common place for teens from my area to get their first jobs.
MazeDancer
Called my Dem Assembly member and to my surprise someone I knew was working in her office and answered the phone. They had signed a protest letter last week, already.
After much search – they want you to fill in a form at the state Senate site to be given your Senator’s contact info – called my GOP Senator. Machine answered. Left a message.
Actually felt good to have a reason to call some elected reps. As my all Dem DC representation doesn’t really need prodding. Not that I am complaining.
And, c’mon, can’t have a food place closed on Sundays on the Thruway.
Delk
A Culver’s just opened up in my neighborhood directly next to the Montrose Brown Line stop. It’s about a quarter of the size of a regular Culver’s and definitely does not have a drive-thru.
Gravenstone
@Peale: Mmmmmm, Butterburgers…
Kathleen
@NotMax: I loved the samples. I’ve even heard celebrity interviews where celebrities admitted they like the fact that they can “lunch” at the sample stations.
Kathleen
@NotMax: I thought that was White Castle?
Kathleen
@Anyway: Exactly. But I love the Costco Experience. Plus they’re liberal and pay and treat their employees well so I liked supporting that.
Low Key Swagger
In n Out is the best fast food chain out there. Clean, fresh local food, real fries, and affordable for working folk. Not a milkshake guy, but everybody raves about them. They are also extremely well managed, they have controlled their growth and maintained their standards, while not raising prices very often. I will die on this hill.
I should also add that CFA is a very difficult franchise to get. The application process is terribly invasive, and back when I though about a franchise of some sort, I immediately wrote them off. I’m glad I never bought any franchise though, and just opened my own place. Whew.
Almost Retired
@Peale: Until this thread, I have never heard of Culver’s. My curiosity is piqued! Since I am about to embark on a massive roadtrip through some of the country’s most COVID-plagued Counties (although LA is holding it’s own here…), I intend to seek one out, even though a “butterburger” sounds rather disgusting.
burnspbesq
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, but how many rest stops anywhere have killer ocean views like the one between San Clemente and Oceanside?
Michael Cain
@Almost Retired:
Just personal opinions about Culver’s… Butterburgers are fine, it’s one of the few places where you can get a pork tenderloin sandwich, and stay away from the chicken.
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Sodium, too. Once I started looking at nutrition info, my fast food intake went way down, and my blood pressure went along for the ride.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@burnspbesq: That’s a really nice rest stop.
Revrick
@Ohio Mom: Over the years, I’ve traversed every toll road in New England, the Middle Atlantic, and the Midwest, most with my parents on vacations in the late 50s and early 60s. Howard Johnson was always the place to stop. They clearly went out of fashion, because a sit down restaurant with waiters couldn’t handle a large volume of customers.
The first McDonalds I ever saw was in 1957 on the Berlin Turnpike in Connecticut, bragging over ten million burgers sold.
burnspbesq
On the Heavenly Turnpike, the rest areas all have Bojangles, Del Taco, and Electrify America 350kW chargers that work 100 percent of the time.
Gravenstone
@Almost Retired: To be fair, the butter in the “butterburger” is on the bun. They don’t fry the patty in it.
NotMax
@Kathleen
Experience has taught that White Castle hangs in there measurably longer, when it comes to the “out” part.
;)
L85NJGT
The tollway oasis is an anachronism – rural interstates used to have no off ramp retail, and providing captive users someplace to grab a bite and fill up, could be done at monopoly pricing. The travel service industry has long since migrated from the old US highways to interstate exchanges, and electronic tolling, plus GPS, alleviates ingress/egress anxiety for drivers.
Tollway concession focus seems to have shifted from personal vehicles (and buses) to truck traffic.
The O.G. concessionaire on the Illinois Tollways was the Fred Harvey Company, who invented the concept of providing travelers blandly consistent food and clean bathrooms, while treating female employees regressively, and appropriating Native American motifs for commercial purposes. Also a Scouser.
The Moar You Know
@Barbara: yes. The local franchisees in San Diego remain royally pissed about the Cathy’s need to be loud and proud haters. I think a few of them sued the family.
Rest stops: I don’t even know what y’all are talking about with this “clean and welcoming with food” thing. California’s rest stops are a great place to get meth, blood borne diseases and murdered, in pretty much that order. I’ve lived in this state all my life and used a rest stop bathroom once and it was terrifying. Fortunately, there’s not much left in the way of uninhabited land left along the highways here, so it’s easy enough to find a McDonalds or someplace like that to use their facilities.
Ruckus
@VOR:
I’ve eaten at CFA twice. Once, about 20+ yrs ago in FL and once here in sunny socal about 5 yrs ago. I was unimpressed. Wasn’t bad, just not worth the effort. But then I’ve not been a fan of chicken, ever since I was in the navy. We had to eat a lot of it, I’d bet mainly because it was cheaper. Of course every box of any meat product of any kind it is written on the box it comes in, what grade it is. Every box I ever saw was lowest level of acceptable for human consumption, no matter what it was, chicken, beef, pork. Add in the stellar preparation and you’ve got some good eating. Not. Most often it rated as Better Than Starvation, but only just.
The Moar You Know
@burnspbesq: it’s still scary inside the restrooms, but that’s probably the safest one in CA due to a surfeit of witnesses. That one is pretty, I’ll grant you that, every though it needs far more regular cleaning. I want to hit the campground near there one of these days. It’s the last stretch of undeveloped coast between Ensenada and Ventura.
We (humanity) have done so much damage to this place. It’s really saddening. It was beautiful beyond belief when I was a kid.
NotMax
@Ruckus
#10 cans of peas in the pantry at the summer camp where I worked displayed a large black on white message in bold typeface, within a box:
This product does not meet minimum FDA standards.
Immediately below the box, in smaller print:
Above legend mandatory. Peas actually high quality.
Kim Walker
Burgerville in Oregon and Washington. Local produce and meat (+Tillamook cheese), fresh in-season fruit milkshakes (raspberry, marionberry, peach, strawberry, etc), great salads, reasonable prices.
Love the Thruway in NY. Ohio rest stops are awesome except the vending machines no longer take real money – you need a tappy-type card. Do not like.
Wyoming, Iowa and Missouri suck. Wyoming sucks more because their chain hotels, even the nicer ones, are exactly 2x as expensive as any other state (ie $125 elsewhere, $250 in Cheyenne). They did have a nice billboard thanking Cheney for respecting the Constitution. Credit due.
evodevo
@JustRuss:
Yeah…evodevo son took us to one in CA when we visited there…stood around for, I know, 25 minutes in the heat, and the burgers just weren’t THAT good. Wendy’s was better, and I don’t have to wait half my life to get it…
J R in WV
@NotMax:
OK, you won the Internets for the rest of the week right there. 11 out of 10 points… SCORE!!!
More on topic:
We went to Chik fill-up once when they opened a shop near us. Curiosity might kill a cat…
The food is both bland and terrible, because they add a heaping spoonful of sugar to everything, even the fries. Sweet Ketchup! OMG! :-(
Sweet chicken? On a sweet bun, with sweet mayo? No thanks!!
Yuck!
And at a interstate rest stop, the contract should call for 24/7 service, 365 days a year and 366 on leap years. All the time!!
Late nights you only need a couple of staff, but people driving thru the night need somewhere to eat something, even if its Taco Bell … or FSM forbid … Chik Fill-up
NotMax
@burnspbesq
While they don’t move the needle on the Scenic-o-Meter nearly as high, there were (are?) two rest plazas on the NY Thruway which included overhead pedestrian walkways as the bulk of the non-gas facilities were on only one side of the road.
One at Sloatsburg, the other’s location escapes me at the moment.
burnspbesq
@NotMax:
I hardly ever stopped at Sloatsburg going up and down the Thruway between home in Bergen County and school in Schenectady, so I’ll take your word for it.
Is the other one out by Syracuse? I vaguely remember that.
burnspbesq
@The Moar You Know:
And as long as it’s owned by the Marine Corps, it will stay undeveloped, thank God.
NotMax
@burnspbesq
Drawing a blank. Poking around Wikipedia gives slightly different info, although that reflects the now of updated construction since the days when we had to keep an eye out for “Dinosaur Crossing Next X Miles” signs.
satby
I don’t really eat fast food any more, though I will get take out gyros occasionally. ChikFilA is complicated. Anti-gay (maybe less so now, I hope) but also very active in re-entry programs hiring the formerly incarcerated, which is a huge need in this society. I solve the dilemma by not getting fast food at all ?
Gravenstone
Welcome to the wonderful world of tollway plazas! At least on the IN tollroad, the plaza gas prices run $.20-.30 above local non-toll rates.
NotMax
@satby
Nearest prison doesn’t deliver?
“15 to 30 or it’s free.”
:)
Panurge
@Almost Retired:
They’ve since come down to ATL, but I discovered them on a job-training trip to Chicago. They once had the best combination of quality, service, and price (though I still haven’t had In-N-Out) with their “Snack-Pak” combos, but they dropped those a year or two ago. You can spend ten bucks on a Culver’s combo if you really want to (double bacon cheeseburger, upgrade to cheese curds, medium drink). A single bacon cheeseburger alone will set you back four bucks.
Gloomyjim
Dead thread and I haven’t read all the comments to see if it was already mentioned but the rest area south of Portland on I5 is kinda cool. Has the State tree from all 50 and the territories iirc. Very nice little hike to stretch the legs on those long drives.
John Cole
They should bring NYC bodega ham/egg/cheese or bagels instead of chik fila
maeve
You are so fucking east coast centric. The midwest has great rest stops. Okay. its because there is lots of wide open spaces but Kansas reststops? Clean toilets, vending machines (okay, they are in cages because people apparently learned to rock them to get the goods out.) wide spaces including dog walking areas.
As I child we went to the east coast to visit relatives and I was shocked (shocked I tell you) to find rest stops where they didn’t even have a fucking bathroom I had to literally shit in the woods.
So dont bring your east coast superiority The midwest has fucking great rest stops As also does the west. Don’t act like the east invented rest stops – you are just catching up.
And I have eaten a great panini at a “rest stop” on a toll road in New Jersey. not at a chain we don’t need no fucking chains.
Michael Cain
@John Cole: When was the last time you drove a medium-long distance — say 300+ miles — with rugrats strapped in the back seat? Salt and hot grease. You can add anything you want to the menu on top of that, but there damned well better be salt and hot grease in a kid-friendly form available.
Lumpy
Even if drivers don’t stop and buy food there, just seeing Chik-Fil-A located at state rest stops sends a negative message to gay people traveling on the Thruway, or the travelers with gay family members, or travelers who oppose bigotry. If Chik-Fil-A stopped sending millions of dollars to anti-gay groups recently, big deal. There are a lot of other franchises NY state could pick, who don’t have Chik-Fil-A’s negative baggage.
Whether the food is good or not is irrelevant (I had a sandwich once, it was okay).
BTW, Howard Johnson’s menu and recipes were designed by Jacque Pepin (watch the JP documentary available for free on PBS’ website).
columbusqueen
I vividly remember the trip to Tennessee for my dad’s family reunion when I was ten. The rest stop in Covington across from Cincinnati was a virtual Taj Mahal. We were all impressed. However, the quality kept decaying as we drove south. By the time we got to the Kentucky-Tennessee border, Mom felt a bucket in the bushes would have been preferable to what we got.
This was also the trip where the alternator on the family car blew out outside Cincy on the way home, but Dad managed to coast it all the way back to New Albany. Good times!
Revrick
The best rest stop in the U.S. is at the southern end of the Maine Turnpike.
1). It’s nestled in a grove of pine trees. Every car owner wants their interior to smell like the Maine Tpk. rest stop.
2). The McDonalds sells lobster rolls.
Case closed.
jame
I like Chic-Fil-A, but only at the one on Gibson in Albuquerque. I tried the one in Bush International, and was disgusted. For fast fried chicken though, nobody beats Cane’s, and Popeye’s chicken sandwich is just as good as they say it is.
Travel food for when we used to drive across Texas to Louisiana and points beyond has mostly been Subways, because they were there, and a “known”.