By Jim Duncan CVFDude@aol.com

Fast Food: the latest news

The fast food universe is now expanding at warp speed. It took McDonald’s (McD) three decades to franchise 1,000 stores but Subway now has 20,000 while Papa Murphy’s, Panda Express, Sbarro and Panera all hit the 1,000 mark this year. The industry changes as quickly as it grows. McD slowed expansion because new stores were eating up existing store sales. Now into their 23rd new slogan, McD is re-branding itself as a healthy, environmentally conscious alternative to their old self.

McD isn’t the only industry player attempting a makeover. I checked several other local outlets, that recently launched new products. A Burger King “homestyle melt… just like mom used to make” featured four half-slices of bacon, three slices of half-melted Swiss cheese, two burger patties, garlic cheese sauce and sourdough bread coated with “buttery flavored” spread. I liked the flavor of the flame seared burger patties, but the other tastes amounted to 810 calories and 58 fat grams of sweet and salty weirdness. I could not eat this sandwich. Hardee’s, who honestly pursues the high calorie diner, introduced a similarly scary breakfast burrito with 902 calories and 60 grams of fat. Wendy’s new vanilla Frosty has increased their frosty sales by a whopping 60 percent. It even impressed this ice cream snob. Real sugar was the main sweetener and the Red Head’s flavor scientists are getting good at faking pure vanilla.

Few local independents survive in this competitive industry. Two of the best in Iowa closed at the same Douglas address in the last three years — City Fish & Chicken Castle and now South Philly’s. Also on Douglas is Saraj, “Home of Des Moines’ Best Gyros.” Gyros meat should be well seared. Mine was. It should be lamb. Mine was, partially. Saraj’s espresso had the nostalgic flavor of Turkish coffee, which is what all espresso tasted like before Starbucks took over the world. Saraj also made a veal kebab, plus stuffed filo, kulumbas and baklava.

Iowa Castle specializes in gyros, too, with an all-lamb version. I was told this is “the very first in a franchise chain to be.” Its ambitious menu included burgers, vegetarian burgers, hot dogs, soups, pizza, salads and an assortment of fried foods. Two things impressed me: Chili, which cost only 99 cents, was from the old Greek-American (Coney Island, Chili King) school, tasting of meat and spice, not tomatoes; pork tenderloins were the best fast food sandwiches of their kind, infinitely better than the ones BK serves. Mine was an expertly breaded, golden crisp loin chop, cut far enough down the rib cage to not need the kind of pummeling that typical pork tenderloins do. The meat was over half an inch thick, too.

A newly remodeled Bruegger’s on Ingersoll has seriously upgraded. They escalated the coffee wars with a big deal — a $99 per year bottomless cup, which can also be used for soft drinks or tea. Because they also offer free, easy to access Wi-Fi, coffee could be a lost leader for them. The store is designed with new furniture and a new layout that tempts customers to hang around. Their bagels are still state-of-the-art and have company on the sandwich board with ciabatta, wraps and soft buns, which did not compare well to their bagels or to local artisan breads. Their salad bowls lacked the good designs of the store itself. They resembled dog dishes except that dog dishes aren‘t so flimsy they easily crack apart. Bruegger’s choose-your-own salad concept failed the healthy shopper, too — it didn’t even make simple vinegar and oil available on my visits, only pre-mixed dressings of dubious content. CV

Bruegger’s
3730 Ingersoll Ave., 279-4030
Mon. - Fri. 6 a.m. -7 p.m., Sat. 6 a.m. - 6 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Iowa Castle
1925 N.W. 86th St., Clive, 252-1400
10:30 a.m. - 10 p.m. daily, drive through open till midnight weekdays , and Fri-Sat. until 3:30 a.m.

Saraj
3811 Douglas Ave., 255-1133
Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., 5 - 9 p.m.
Sat. 1 - 9 p.m.

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