Come for the cookies!
Written: Jul 21 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sour dough buns, brewed tea, exemplary chocolate chip cookies
Cons: Not as widely accessible as a McDonald's or BK
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| TheAdvocate's Full Review: Carl's Jr. |
I grew up eating at Hardee’s, a brown and orange clad fast-food place in our small midwestern town. My absolute favorite thing to get was a big iced tea (they brewed it fresh) and a “Big Cookie,” a chocolate chip cookie as big as your hand, from palm to fingertip. In the early 90s, though, most of the Hardee’s from Chicago to Denver slowly began to shut down. Today, there are a few left across Iowa, but none near me.
However, as I was travelling through the midwest earlier this month, I stopped in one of two (two!) Hardee’s in Clinton, Iowa. Oh! The ecstasy… brewed caffeine, the perfect cookie… I was in heaven! And I noticed something encouraging: that little star that you see on Carl’s Jr. signs was right there on the Hardee’s sign, too. It seems these two places enjoy some sort of connection, so I decided to check out my neighborhood Carl’s Jr. as soon as I got home.
From the moment I walked in the door, I was impressed. The Carl's Jr. dining room was clean and so were the people behind the counter. After our order was taken, we were given cups for the self-serve fountain and our desserts. The sandwiches were brought to our table by a man wearing a manager’s outfit, complete with a tie. And when I went to fill up our cups I was thrilled to see real brewed iced tea. (More and more fast-food places are serving that disgusting Lipton spigot stuff.)
My sandwich, the Sour Dough Ranch Bacon Cheeseburger, was wonderful. The sourdough bread was a refreshing change from burger buns. I remember Hardee’s was just getting into the same type of sourdough sandwiches before they started closing down. The burger itself tasted similar to Hardee’s burgers I’ve had in the past. If memory serves, Hardee’s used to supplement their beef patties with soybeans. I’m not sure if Carl’s Jr. is doing that, too, but I prefer it; I’m always looking to increase my soy intake (soy is an estrogen blocker and some studies have shown it to fight breast cancer).
My son ordered the Chicken Stars kids meal; he’s almost 6 and the star-shaped chicken went over big with him (he thought maybe he was eating starfish). The prices seemed comparable to other fast-food places: $2.89 for the kids meal and my sandwich was 2.99 as a single item (not a combo).
The pivotal moment came, however, when I tried the Carl’s Jr. chocolate chip cookie. No, it is not the same "Big Cookie" that Hardee’s used to serve (and still does in eastern Iowa). It’s about twice as thick and at first I thought it tasted a bit processed, like Wendy’s chocolate chip cookie – not my favorite, but passable. But I tried another one a few days later and changed my mind. The dough seems to have just the right ratio of salt and brown sugar to compliment the bittersweet chocolate and now that I’m used to this thicker cookie, it ranks as one of my favorites.
There are also a few other dessert items at Carl’s Jr.: two flavors of cheesecake, danishes, and cake w/frosting. This beats the one- or two-dessert item choices at most other fast-food places. Carl's Jr.'s menu is similar to other burger joints, with the addition of those yummy sour dough breads.
At the end of our quick meal (we wanted to hurry back to the Bear Creek Lake beach), our first Carl’s Jr. experience was topped off by, of all things, the trash cans! They had open tops – no more pushing those dirty trash-can flaps with your hands. (I have always hated doing that.) Our restaurant also had an ATM machine and a kids' play area with not Legos or Duplos, but those cool gears that you can link together and turn. All in all, we were happy with Carl’s Jr., and we’ll definitely be back.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
TheAdvocate
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Reviews written: 53
Trusted by: 98 members
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