Diet Coke

Posted on 4 March 2013 by Terry Chay

So the local McDonalds didn’t have seats and messed up my drink order with Diet Coke. This 4Square Mayor had decided that they’re one mess up away from becoming the worst McDonald’s in a two block radius (there are three).

Walking back to the office with an ad-hoc “to go” order, I had a sip of my drink. I was immediately taken aback and had another sip to confirm what I just tasted. Then I crossed the street and threw it away so as to not subject a panhandler to the zero calorie “dirty water of capitalism.”

I then had two blocks to contemplate taste of Aspartame in my mouth. Now I know this is offensive to you Diet drinkers, but to us sugar-lovers, I was taking by how the aftertaste of Diet Coke feels like I just threw up Coke and re-swallowed it.

Luckily, the Wikimedia refrigerator is fully stocked.

They should change the color of Diet drinks to make them easily identifiable. I don’t know why I should have to suffer this taste once every few months because half of America has the mistaken impression that zero-calorie drinks will make them less fat.

The neighboring McDonald’s

Posted on 27 June 2012 by Terry Chay

My co-workers are constantly amazed and appalled about my obsession with McDonald’s trivia. Most common comment once I get started: “How are you not writing the Wikipedia article about this?”

One of the weird talents is the knowledge of every McDonald’s in San Francisco (I’ve been FourSquare mayor of most of them). There aren’t that many.

Because of this, one of the strangest pairs are the two McDonald’s on Market Street which are less than a half block from each other. You can actually see the one from the other.

I thought about this while I stopped by one as I picked up breakfast at one and walked passed the other on my way to work. Are people so lazy that they need to put two McDonald’s right next to each other? In fact, there are four McDonald’s within a few blocks of each other here, but there are none north of Golden Gate Park where I live. Is McDonald’s too high brow for the Avenues that it can only be services by a Jack In The Box and Taco Bell?

Then it occurs to me that the clientele is notably different between the two. It’s mostly because one has nearly no seating and therefore doesn’t smell like a bathroom got backed up, which is doubly odd because the smelly one doesn’t actually have a bathroom.

I’m thinking of calling one the “[high class Market McDonalds][]” and the other “[low class Market McDonalds][].” (I’m adding the term “Market” because the one on Front Street is actually nicer than both.)

My faith in the world of business was restored.

If you’re ever in the Financial District stop by all four sometime and you’ll know what I mean.

In-n-Out layover (and mouseovers)

Posted on 9 May 2011 by Terry Chay

My classmate, Frank Ling, of Groks Science fame, had a couple hours layover in San Francisco on his return home to the radioactive wasteland.

Marie and I stopped by SFO to pick him up for some linner—why not In-N-Out Burger? “A burger sounds good.” And off we went.

Quality you can taste In-N-Out Burger, Millbrae, California Olympus E-P2, Voigtlander 25mm F0.95

Continue reading about linner with Frank (and my new lens) after the jump.→

Stuff I should know

Posted on 18 May 2010 by Terry Chay

I went on a morning run for the first time in months. I ended up running to the Stuff You Should Know podcast, which turned out ironically to be about “How McDonald’s Works”. Audio file:

Download:

You see, along with the running kick, I decided just this week to stop eating at McDonald’s for a while. I was in danger of taking back my FourSquare mayorships of all the fast food places in SoMa—and my stomach was starting to revolt.

(I finally lost my FourSquare mayorship of those and the Fisherman’s Wharf Burger King. Burger King! I thought I’d have that one forever. Who eats at the Fisherman’s Wharf Burger King more than once?!)

Though I knew most of the stuff in it, I found the podcast interesting because I had forgotten about the McLibel case and its impact on fast food.

Now the podcast is old so all the corrections have probably been aired a hundred times, but I thought I’d mention the ones I noticed on during my run.

The reason for the real-estate deal was because Kroc felt that the franchising fees to the McDonalds’ brothers were too onerous. By sub-leasing the real-estate, they could pocket most of those fees. (This is explained in the book Fast Food Nation.)
I think the character’s name they couldn’t remember was Officer Big Mac
I think the damages that Crofft/H.R. Pufnstuf got were, in the end, much larger than the amount they mentioned on the program ($50,000).
The McDonald’s coffee lawsuit was eventually settled for a much lower amount on appeal than the amount originally awarded.
Speaking about the book, Fast Food Nation, it was that book that accidentally revealed the “natural beef flavoring in the french fries” fact that touched off the lawsuit. The order presented in the program had that backwards.
Finally, there is no way selling 5 million double cheeseburgers would compensate for the $10 million in damages from that lawsuit.

Any regular at McD’s knows the double cheeseburger is on the Dollar Menu ($1) most everywhere except in places like San Francisco, where I happen to live. There, it has been replaced with the “McDouble.” What’s the difference, you say? One slice of cheese. Even here, the double cheeseburger isn’t more than about $1.29. (Yes, that’s 30 cents for a slice of cheese. Believe me, I’ve been dreaming up some serious McDonald’s arbitrages over the last few years.)

Oh yes, I go to McDonald’s way too much. Three months ago, I was disappointed to find out that they built my sausage mcmuffin with egg backwards. Last week, they made my double quarter pounder wrong.

(FYI, I was able to avoid my fast food craving by stopping by the Prather Ranch Grill stand in the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market on the way back. So much better, and with drink, only $2 more than McDonald’s here.)

The Baseball Roll

Posted on 24 February 2010 by Terry Chay

Stopped by Nama Sushi for a quick bite. Nama is located right across from the ballpark so, of course, they’d have sushi with baseball references in them. Marie has found a new favorite roll for this place.

The Baseball Roll Nama Sushi, South of Market, San Francisco, California Olympus E-P2, M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6M 1/6sec @ ƒ4, ISO800, 19mm (38mm) I’m trying to figure out a good kit for food photography. I know it somehow involves the Olympus E-P2—the only camera that can be handheld, shot in low light, and is small enough. It turns out, you really need the RAW file, not for the dynamic range, but to recover what the in-camera overdoes. The key to postprocessing food seems to be aggressive white balance and color correction before even thinking of messing with the vibrancy. Saturation is a definite no-no. I like the post processing effect I used. Makes it look tastier somehow.

These rolls are yummy: salmon on deep tempura-fried salmon, crab, cream cheese, spicy mayo, masago, and green onions. Ten pieces for $9.50. They have a tendency to fall apart when you dip them, though. Good thing the roll doesn’t need wasabi and soy sauce.

German America

Posted on 5 July 2009 by Terry Chay

I hate three-on-ones. Especially because I’m so often “the one” side.

I was trying to explain on this most American of holidays, while American politics has a clear historical affinity with the British, American culture has a historical affinity with the Germans. Of course, I was shouted down as being an absurdist—the main argument being apparently American’s are the most anti-authoritarians in the world but the Germans are a bunch of goose-steppers.

The fact that we’ve just finished eating frankfurters and hamburgers (not to mention nearly every American major beer marque) being completly trumped by by lazy idea of putting it between two pieces of bread.

I exaggerate.

But not by much.

The facts are tricky things (after the jump).

Où est le boeuf?

Posted on 16 April 2009 by Terry Chay

One of the weird consequences a publicly-known fast food obsession housed in a tiny body is that friends keep sending me tasty things like turbaconducken and This Is Why You’re Fat.

A friend e-mailed this gem from Canada.

The Double Big Mac in McDonald’s Canada

Yum!!!

three observations after the jump

Great taste tastes great

Posted on 7 July 2008 by Terry Chay

At San Francisco Brewing Company:

View from a room San Francisco Brewing Company, Financial District, San Francisco, California Nikon D3, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G 1/60sec @ f/2.8, iso1600, 24mm (24mm)

I grab Marie’s glass and drag it toward me. “It smells like you squeezed a whole lemon.” I take a sip. “That’s way too sour! You should get another one.”

“Nobody can squeeze that much lemon.”

“The lemon is only there to cut the taste of the unfiltered yeast.”

beer talk after the jump

McMusings

Posted on 25 June 2008 by Terry Chay

Because Morgan thinks I need to blog more fast food…

Today at lunch, I was talking really fast when a friend corrected me, “That’s a Sausage McMuffin, not a Egg McMuffin with Sausage. But the one with the ham is just called an Egg McMuffin™.”

“Actually, it’s the Sausage McMuffin with Egg™, because I think they used to have a plain old Sausage McMuffin before they added the Sausage Biscuit™ to the Dollar Menu™,” I corrected the correction.

Then I decided to mess with his mind.

“You want to hear something weird? In the Egg McMuffin™, they put the Canadian bacon above the egg, but the the Sausage McMuffin with Egg™, they put the sausage below the egg, but above the cheese. What’s up with that?”

Trust me, his world was rocked.

A Grand Slam

Posted on 27 February 2008 by Terry Chay

It’s important to listen to feedback from your readers:

Comment on my blog from John:

Lol, what a complete load of bollocks. I can’t believe I wasted my life reading this.

Comment on my blog from “photog”:

“You are not a real photographer, look at your shots. Stick to being a dork and don’t post this nonsense. Your camera doesn’t help your images.”

…

There is this old joke about how waitresses at Denny’s have to look ugly in order to make their food taste better:

Diner: “Excuse me, miss. There is something wrong with my Grand Slam breakfast.”

Waitress: “Hmm. Let me see.” holds breakfast next to face “Now does it look better?”

…

To John, photog, and others. Thanks for being the Denny’s waitresses of this blog. I always appreciate how your insightful commentary make me look good.