I know I say I stay out of the national chains like they served the plague - but every once in a while a chain does it right. And when you really only do one thing, it's hard to screw it up. That's why I like going to Fuddrucker's in a pinch. And they're quick, especially during the lunch hour (they usually have a ton of burgers cooking and just pull off what's ordered - I've gotten a burger in Minneapolis in less than two minutes one time!).
The concept of Fuddrucker's is pretty low tech. You order your burger, they make it up, you pick it up at the counter and then you go to a large condiment bar to add your ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce, etc., etc. And they have the cooking aspect down to a science so it's difficult to screw up the burger.
I usually go for the 1/3 pound burger, medium, with pepper jack cheese when I go in. And the good thing about Fuddrucker's is that they're all pretty much the same. Springfield, MO to Chicago. Minneapolis to St. Louis. Sioux Falls to Janesville. You know what you're getting at a Fuddruckers.
They just opened one up here in Davenport about six months ago. It's like the others with one big exception - the times I've gone in the cooking time is SLOOOOOW! It's like they have to butcher the friggin' cow out back, grind the meat and then cook it up. Cindy and I went in on Labor Day to get a "quick" burger. 25 minutes later, they finally called my name. I'd been in there before and it was the same thing, but it was the middle of the afternoon so I figured it would be that way. But Cindy and I were in around 1 p.m. and there were a number of people in the place. Can't quite figure that place out yet.
But like I say, in a pinch, you know what you're getting with Fuddrucker's. It's always good.
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