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Hi, can I take your order? Yeah, one second. The top five fast food restaurants made $115 billion last year. But does that make them the best? I mean, people have been debating this for years, but what if the best fast food restaurant was a place we've never heard of? That's why today we're going to the most unknown fast food restaurants in America to see if they compete with the giants. Some of these are historic one-of-one locations, but others are just getting their start and they want to play in the big leagues. So let's answer the question: Is the greatest fast food gem somewhere out there secretly hiding? And can we find it?
The search begins. And we're starting in. Lima, Ohio. I've never even heard of this place. Kewpee's been around since 1923. These guys are OG's! And it's the third oldest fast food restaurant you've probably never heard of. But they've been around this long, so there's got to be a reason that they're still around. They once had 400 locations, but it's been reduced to three. Fun fact: the Wendy's founder went here when he was growing up, and supposedly that inspired Wendy's. So in a way, they do play a big role in the fast food world.
Also, look at this line! It's literally wrapping around the block, so surely it must be good. So we went in to order, and the vibe is crazy here! You kind of feel at home with the classic bright seating, all the babies in the corner. Honestly, I can't compare the inside of this to any fast food spot I've ever seen. It's almost like AI-generated. But anyway, we ordered a standard hamburger, fish sandwich, and fries, and it came out in five minutes for a grand total of $10.50. So far, we're meeting the expectation of a solid fast food spot,
but we're starting with the unlikely option: the fish sandwich. First of all, no toast on the bun. I've actually never been to a fast food place that doesn't toast the bun. Toasting hasn't made its way out here quite yet. Cheers. Crunch is there, but the flavor is not. This could be so good! I was coming here really hoping to be shocked, and I am: shocked at how little seasoning there is on this sandwich. I taste nothing. The texture is nice, though. I like the texture of the bun. The fish is moist, but there's no salt. There's no flavor.
There's no seasoning. I mean, you know, I might as well just eat a bag of chips at that point. That's not the end. They have redemption here. Let's try the fries. These, on the other hand, are actually not bad. This is like an OG McDonald's fry. The flavor is good. The texture is perfect. Great crisp. Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside. They could possibly add maybe a little more, but I'm not going to deduct points.
This is a really good fast food French fry. Great work, great work. But the most important part is yet to come. This is the second oldest fast food hamburger restaurant in the world, second only to White Castle. Hamburgers must be good. Traditional toppings. I got olives and banana peppers because I noticed that a lot of people tend to order it that way here. Cheers. It's not bad if your standard is cafeteria hamburger. I'm sorry, to me, this is like a standard hamburger, and I don't mean standard in the sense of good, I mean standard in the sense of fast food burgers.
There's not much Maillard on the meat. It could use more salt, although the olives are resolving that, so the salt levels are actually pretty good. I don't know. There's like so little to talk about in this hamburger. It's definitely not going anywhere on my top 10, or my top 20, or my top 30. But it's not a horrible burger. That said, we came all the way out here for a reason: to see how they line up with the big dogs. Do they line up? No. It is better than one place, though: Whataburger. In fact, everything is better than Whataburger.
This is better than Whataburger. Onto the next! You might think this place is named "Eat" by the fact that the very front door has a giant sign that says "EAT." That is just what you do there. This is Happy Dayz. They're known for the iconic pork tenderloin sandwich; we will eat that at the end. I couldn't really compare it to any existing big dog fast food restaurants; the closest comparison is Jack in the Box because of the random assortment of menu items. It took roughly 10 minutes to come out, but to be fair, it was a big order. Neither here nor there on speed. But first, we're starting with the patty melt.
I love a good patty melt. I have a recipe for a patty melt in my cookbook-New York Times bestseller, by the way, links in the description. This was not bad; it was really close to being good. The only issue, guys: there's no f***ing salt in this at all. None. Zero. What the f*** is going on!?! Everything about this was proper, though, besides the fact that there's no salt. And I know you're thinking like, "Josh, give it a break." It's the one thing that is going to enhance the flavor of it.
You lose out on half the experience. We got the fries next. These look promising. I thought the fries at Kewpee were better. More crispy, better seasoned. These aren't bad. I mean, they're not incredible and they're not horrible. They're mid. I'll still eat them, though. Fritter next. Could this be a redeemer? Yes, those are good. Weird. This reminds me of the coconut griddle cakes that we had in Thailand, but like an American fried corn version. Super crunchy.
Almost like McDonald's chicken nugget crunch, seasoned with a little bit of salt, which is nice. But it's a salty-sweet contrast, because the inside has this, like, custardy, creamy sweet corn filling with actual pieces of corn. This is a banger hidden gem! But it's not over. Here it is: the pork tenderloin sandwich. And you might be thinking, "Is that the sole of my granddad's boot in between two buns?" No, that is a flattened-out pork tenderloin that is frozen, breaded, fried, and has a tiny bun. Here we go. See that? That's ground meat. That is not actually pork tenderloin. The seasoning is not bad.
I like this more than the burger that I had at Kewpee. I can say that it could use a little bit of salt. It could just use flavor in general. I don't taste pork at all. That said, kind of into it. I feel like I would eat this and be happy, but I'm not going to, like, be blown away by it. For cost and convenience, I think this is pretty up there for the quality of the product you're getting. This feels like really low-quality food, if I'm being honest. Somehow feels lower quality than, like, an average fast food place.
I almost want to rate this. it's. I'm not coming back. We have a distinct goal here. I want to find the hidden gems, and I want to find the people that can compete with the big dogs. Can this place compete with the big dogs? No. This is not a hidden gem. But I know they're out there and that's what we're fighting for. So, we move on. So we say goodbye to Ohio and fly back home to Austin, Texas, where we're joined on our search by our channel favorite, Chef Christian. We're at Top Notch. I've always wanted to go here.
It's considered an Austin classic. The one interesting thing about this place is, supposedly, they're doing actual char-grilled-over-charcoal burgers, which is really unique. There's only one location. "Can I get just two cheeseburgers served with the works, and then just one order of fries, and then that's it?" However, I can't resist getting a good old-fashioned fish and shrimp platter while we're here. Burgers ended up taking about five minutes, and the seafood platter, another seven.
Honestly, for seafood made to order, I'm not complaining. And that clocked in to a total of $30.06, which makes it middle-of-the-pack for affordability. Not bad. Grab a fry. Cheers. These taste like what McDonald's fries used to taste like. So crisp! Crazy to see such a small fast food joint putting out fries that, to me, are gold-standard fast-food-style fries. The burger, on the other hand, I'm a little worried about. First of all, this burger is cold, which I don't know how that's possible.
Cheers! That's what it is. Flavor-wise, it's actually pretty good. Yeah. This is, like, 10% meat, and then 90% other shit. Flavor's outstanding! It tastes great, like, it's seasoned nicely with salt. This is like an old diner burger. There's not a lot of fat in it. There's not, like, juicy, fatty, rich meat. It's sort of just like plain, it's beefy. I'm glad we didn't get the one with extra sauces.
Like, this is simple. The meat stands out. Unfortunately, the meat wasn't warm or hot, but the flavor of the meat is there. For a cold burger, I mean, I would eat this. I'm having a fun time. I would come here for that vibe. So, we have the fried seafood platter. Comes with fried shrimp, fried fish, fries, toast, coleslaw. $14. Cheers. A little oily, but nice. Fried fish is banging! Oh my god, it's seasoned so nicely, and it's juicy. You know, I actually love this. In comparison to Long John Silver's, I think that this is comparable.
I don't think that it's, honestly, better or worse. I think it is good, though. I know it sounds crazy, but I would come back for the seafood platter. I don't know that I would be as allured by the burger. If I was going to compare this to Burger King, because that's really what this is comparable to. Burger King is doing char-grilled burgers, but it's fake. And they come cold, just like theirs. These tasted better. These actually tasted of charcoal because, guess what?
They're fucking using charcoal. So, they're beating the big dog. But we're moving on. We're at Buddy's. This place is an up-and-comer. They're actually attempting to become one of the big dogs. The question is: do they have what it takes? I do like this "Tossed Season Fries". Wait, why is it "season"? Wouldn't it be "seasoned"? I gotta say, I love the simplicity of the menu. There's only four items.
It's giving In-N-Out vibes. Can we get two Double Classics with cheese, the number three? And can we do that with seasoned fries? All right, your total will be $30.04. Thank you. Well, she apologized for the wait, which I thought was really nice. I want to be clear: we did wait 15 minutes just to get to the order window. And how many cars were ahead of us? Three? Awesome. Thank you. That was a 30-minute drive-thru experience. Convenience? Yes. Speed? F*ck No. Affordability? $30 for two meals.
I'm gonna say it's on the high end. Grab a fry. Cheers! Oh, that was a good crunch! I like that. That was a good crunch. Very good fry. I feel like this is what Five Guys wanted to do with their seasoning. Oh, Five Guys fries. Bottom of the barrel. Yeah. These are phenomenal. The crunch is good, the seasoning's nice. It's got a little spice, it's got, like, a Cajun-cumin spice to it. And the salt levels are really nice. Salty and crunchy.
We have a good start. But let's see how they go with the burgers. Mine's just pretty seasoned. Wow! They could have been. You said it's pretty seasoned? Mine is pretty seasoned. There's zero f*cking salt on mine. Do I have COVID? Just. Take a nibble of mine. Marginally better. It's f*cking mid. I'm so annoyed looking at this burger. I was like, "This has gotta be good." I hate to say it, like, I want to see Buddy's succeed.
It was a huge letdown in the burger, and that's the mainstay. They have four menu items, and guess what? They're all the same thing with different toppings. so really, they have one menu item, not including the fries. Something like this that wants to compare themselves to, like, a Shake Shack. they're not quite there yet. There's a lot of things they need to work on. I think that the potential is there. Had they seasoned the burger properly, had it been a little bit juicier, not so dry in the patty, I think that I would have been more excited.
I don't think it's that hard to make a burger good. And so when I have one that's that mid from a place that's, like, emphasizing how it's artisanal and crafted, my expectations are high, and I felt kind of let down. So we move on. I've always wanted to come here. It is Sandy's. This is an Austin classic, but truly kind of a hidden gem, because many Austinites don't know about it. Most people in the US definitely don't know about it. As far as I know, there's only ever been one. Aesthetically, when you look at it, you're like, "This is an old-school establishment."
Sandy's is exactly how fast food worked in the '40s and '60s: a walk-up window, a tiny interior kitchen, a short menu. This is food designed for speed. You know, McDonald's before all the efficiencies. Now, while they did have a drive-thru, the order window looked too classic to not order through. It took around five minutes to get our meal, and it came out to $22.28. All great markers of a great fast food restaurant.
Could this be the hidden gem that we're searching for? Starting with our fries. It's like an average fast food fry. A little dry. a little floury. Overall, this french fry is below mid. It's not great; it's really not great. Hopefully the hamburger's better. I can see the thickness, the girth on that bag. I'm excited for this burger! These are big-way bigger than I thought. And this is the cheapest one. It almost feels like Carl's Jr. commercials, where after they take a bite, they have to use their whole arm to wipe.
Supposedly, they won "Best Burger in Austin". This is truly. so far away. It's not even in the top 10. Is it a bad burger? No. Is it a good burger? No. It's missing flavor. I taste nothing. It resembles a steamed burger. There is no Maillard. The only umami you get in here is tomato and mustard. Maybe I overhyped it, but. Kind of a letdown. But that's what this video is all about. That's why we're going to unknown places.
Are they as good as people say they are? Or is it just because of the vibe of the nostalgia? If I'm being real, this is a very, very, very, very, very average burger. It's bad. Thanks! We have our Taco Bell comparison. It is El Tacorrido. I call it El Tacorrido, even though that's technically not the right pronunciation, because it was just what everybody called it when you went there. By everybody, they were all white people. This place is special to me, though. I used to come here almost every morning. If I was running the morning shift at any of the restaurants I ever worked at, I always came here first.
I haven't been here in a very, very long time, I'm sad to say. I think it's sleeper; I'm hoping it still is. Shall we dive in? Yeah, let's do a pasty. Cheers. That's tasty. My one complaint, though, is it's not traditional al pastor. It's not sliced; it's like ground meat. Maybe the chicken will redeem it for me. Those are good, man! It's probably the best chicken taco I've had in a while. Those are seasoned. nicely.
They're fatty; they're not dry. A lot of chicken tacos are dry, but that's because they use breast. Now let's try the quesadilla. Whoa. Banger! Bang, bang, bang! Compared to Taco Bell-slaughtered them. Not even in the same playing field. These are more comparable to, like, a street food taco. We got 'em in four minutes and it's delicious. You're eating this first thing in the morning before your shift; you got enough to pass lunch.
Now that we've finally found something good, the question is: this is the OG, they have a couple more locations. Should they be a big dog? I think yes, I think they should be a big dog. Although, if they became a big dog, would they be able to maintain this quality? I mean, they're handling this with two guys who are probably 12 years old. Imagine scaling that up. I think they would kill it.
This is a banger of an unknown spot. But we're not stopping here, so we move on. Next, we're heading to Los Angeles. McDonald's got its start here before becoming the giant it is today. But are there any upstarts or hidden gems lurking, waiting to break out? To help me answer that question, I'm joined by my good friend Noel Miller. Not just a comedian, but a man with zero food knowledge. He has a good palate and he can definitely operate as the tasting voice of the people. Okay, so we're at Brolly Hut. What's a brolly?
Well, they got umbrellas everywhere. There are sconces or umbrellas. The whole thing's shaped like an umbrella. It's a UK term for an umbrella-I'm finding this out-and I have no idea why they did that, but obviously did not help them because they only have two locations. The outside is rough, but I'm not going to judge a book by its cover, because as soon as I walked in, there was a different story. Nice little clean line, everything was organized. I was feeling good. The menu was super full. They have tons of options.
They even have breakfast, hash browns. They have a real grill. Got to be good, right? After a 20-minute wait, we ended up paying $49.45 for two burritos and two sandwiches and fries. It's also Ice Cube's favorite fast food restaurant, supposedly. So, how good is it? So this is their most popular item: it is the pastrami burrito. I was expecting, like, slices of pastrami and cheese, but the thing is, sliced pastrami inside of a burrito would not move like this.
Would not have this kind of motion to it. Doctors be like, "Go ahead and cough." Why the f*** is there chili in this? I don't know, but I don't hate it. I gotta be honest, it's not bad. It's decent. All I'm tasting is chili and cheese. This is like 50% chili, 50% pastrami. But it's not bad. Like, I kind of like it. Sh*t's good. If you like, like, a sort of soupy bean and cheese burrito, this is basically that, but the meat version.
Okay, so we have the steak sandwich. And this was something that's ordered the most. You have steak that is genuinely so cooked, its entire lineage can feel the pain. This is beyond well done. This is "Congratulations". But maybe it's good. Cheers. This is a beef jerky sandwich. Sorry, I almost suffocated to death. What? Mother of God! It. doesn't taste bad, though. I'll give it that. It doesn't. As tough as the steak is, why do I want to keep eating it?
It's seasoned really nicely with salt. Although this, like, quarter-pound of lettuce on this is totally ruining it. If there was an image in the dictionary for "mid", it would be an image of this sandwich. You're not getting anything that special. I wouldn't eat it again, but I don't hate it. I'm coming back. I'm gonna be at Brolly Hut every day. You're a Brolly Head? I'm a Brolly Head. Wait, how are the fries? Oh, my bad. I jumped ahead. I could use some salt on this.
It's like raw potato. I'm gonna be the a**hole in this video. This could be good, but the lack of so many things: salt, texture, there's no crunch. I'm here to show you all that. As much as Josh might complain, he's still gonna eat. That's how you know he's still a big boy inside. All right. Brolly Hut. Didn't hate it. Didn't love it. Moving on. We are at an unlikely find because it wasn't on the list. Thanks to Noel, we have this Storm Burger.
I think they only have one place. I believe it's only one. They want to be one of the big dogs. We have the classic Storm Burger. It's got a great Maillard; it's got a great toast. It looks legit. I'm not going to lie. I feel like Noel wouldn't steer me wrong. But there's only one way to find out. So cheers, dude. I don't even care what Josh says. This is my sh*t. It's really good. If I were to compare this to In-N-Out, this is better. That bun, bro.
I mean, from the sauce, the Maillard is perfect. The beef has a great texture. If I wanted to be a real a**hole, I would say, like, I would prefer no lettuce on it, because I think lettuce dilutes the flavor. And I want to taste more of this beautifully crispy, Maillard-seared beef. I eat everything here because it tastes like a human cooked it. It's a banger. The French fries. Give them a rip. I really don't want to sound like I'm glazing. These are peak fry-peak!
There's almost like a little bit of a batter on them. I normally don't love seasoned fries, because it feels like a cheat or a shortcut. The potato itself isn't crispy; it's just the crust, right? But this-this is both. Like, the crunch is insane. They're seasoned perfectly with salt. We're not doing ratings, but if I was going to rate these fries, I'd give them like a 9.5. That's bananas. And let me say this. If you don't know me, I know, I know I look like I don't eat.
I look like this because I'm such a picky little brat. "I don't want to eat it." That's me. Unless it's this. Then. It wasn't on the list, but I'm glad we went here because I can see these guys becoming a top dog if you're watching. This is phenomenal. Moving on. We are at Jim Dandy, the place with a logo that made me say, "We have to go here." And I thought, "Okay, so there's only one location, right?" There was one once. 30 locations! They were booming. They were doing well. They were selling chicken; it was obviously a great operation. And then I don't know what the hell happened, but they stopped. And then, yeah, went all the way down to one.
That means that there's still a salvageable reason that they're here. And I want to know why. Let me describe the interior for you. You know how when you go to a bank, they're worried about you stealing the money, so sometimes they'll count that money behind the glass and they'll dish it out into a nice little container? Banker opens the door, puts the money in, close the door, you open the other side, you get the money. They want this chicken. They be stealing for the chicken.
They do. It must be really good then. I'm telling you, it is. That's how f*cking good this chicken is. All in all, it took about eight minutes to get our order. And for the experience we had, I'm not complaining. And I want to clarify: we got a full meal: four-piece fried chicken, a full thing of French fries, and two fritters. That comes in at $15. In L.A.! Maybe that's why they're suffering. They're charging reasonable prices. They're not greedy enough. I'm going to go for a fry first.
High school cafeteria fry. Chicken? That sh*t is so hot. Cheers. That is hot. Like they just fried this. Not as greasy as I thought. Wait, this is actually really good. Because if I were to compare this to a KFC, right? Because I would say this is KFC-adjacent. They are f*cking them. They're stomping them. The salt level: absolutely f*cking perfect, like, to the limit. But from a spice standpoint, you got the garlic, the cayenne.
It's got a little bit of heat to it. It's not too spicy. I would like maybe a little bit more spiciness. The flavor is delicious. The best part is the chicken is not lost. It works together in harmony. This is a beautiful piece of chicken. As someone who is on Josh's level in terms of, like, culinary knowledge and experience, this chicken is good. It's actually sad that this is the only location. If they took this concept and put these buildings across America, I think they would kill if they were all this good.
This is like homestyle fried chicken. I mean, my mom makes a really good fried chicken, and this kind of reminds me of hers. We're going to try a fritter and then we're out. I feel like this is either going to be really good or really bad, so I'm just going to go for it. That's actually insane. Jesus. Come take my left foot because I'm getting diabetes today! Unbelievably crispy on the outside, super, super soft and fluffy on the inside. And it just, like, melts.
It's kind of like a cake donut, but way, way, way, way, way crispier. It's like the fried chicken of donuts. I have gone to premier coffee shops in L.A.-no names being named-that sell donuts. None of them as good as this right here. I ate the whole thing. I'm going to have diarrhea later. This is so awesome. Moving on, up next is an unknown spot that actually has an insane amount of influence on fast food today. Glen Bell started El Taco before completely ditching it to kickstart the Taco Bell empire. This location before us is the last one to remain.
Is it better than Taco Bell, or is there a reason it was ditched by its creator? We have these incredibly liquid bean burritos. It's not bad, but it's not good. This is like the soup dumpling of burritos, though. This would be good if the beans were actually, like, cooked and had all sorts of flavor in them. This just tastes like canned pureed beans. I know I'm eating, but I don't taste anything. So the original Taco Bell is no longer open, but this could be the closest version of the original crispy shell taco.
It looks like Taco Bell. Yeah, it really does. How do you feel about Taco Bell? What's your opinion? I think they've done a great job serving us rat meat for 40 years! No, I mean, I love Taco Bell. I eat it all the time. Iron stomach, man. I put it down. See how they live up to it. Kind of same as the burrito. It's like, I don't feel like I taste anything. You have COVID. I was going to say, maybe I have COVID. That is ass. Like, the seasoning is not bad, but it's just-there's no flavor.
All I taste is cold cheese and lettuce. I can barely taste the meat. The crunchy taco shell is really crunchy. I'll give it that. The crunch is surprisingly good on it. It makes me want to keep eating it. And you're like, "Maybe the next bite will be more exciting." But then you take that next bite and, ooh, the crunch. And then you keep chewing and you're like, "Oh, another letdown." Until it's gone and you have no more self-respect, and you're sitting on the couch sweating. And that is how Josh got fat.
The last thing is their cinnamon dessert. Cinnamon-this is about 100 times better than anything we just ate. Taco Bell. Whatever that bull you're doing with the cinnamon twists is, knock it off. Go back to this. Now I feel like I'm seeing the heart of Taco Bell and what it could have been: mid, with something exciting at the end. Moving on. We are at what could have been the biggest competitor to KFC in the world-maybe even put them out of business. Except. it's a sad story.
They were up to 300 locations. They were skyrocketing. The food's doing well. People are loving it. But due to bad management, bankruptcy, etc., they were reduced down to only two. more locations. The name? Pioneer Chicken, I might add. The inside of this restaurant is actually pretty decently designed and surprisingly clean for fast food. The service was great. The food came out in under five minutes. I mean, we might have a big hidden gem here. The branding looks good. The chicken looks good.
The fries look good. The inside is clean. I mean, I'm kind of sad for them. So let's see if the redemption is here. Banger! Seasoned to the bone. The crust is like. glass. I don't know how they're doing this. This reminds me of Willie Mae's. We went there and they had a battered chicken. This is better than Willie Mae's! This is a fast food restaurant and they're outdoing, in my opinion, what's supposed to be one of the best fried chicken restaurants in America.
I mean, this is bananas. Yeah, that's how good it is. That's all I can say is, "Yeah!" You couldn't live in LA between the '70s and '90s without seeing a Pioneer Chicken. It's sad that this is one of the only ones. I've lived in LA my whole life. I'm ashamed to say I've never eaten Pioneer Chicken. Mom, dad. what the f---?! God, the fries are great. The fries are perfectly salted, perfectly crispy. This is one of the best fast food experiences I've had in a long time. And if I got this in a nice restaurant and paid good money for it,
I would be happy. You could go to Pioneer Chicken, put it on a nice plate with some nice tableware, charge me 40 bucks for this, and I'd be like, "Yeah, this is f---ing good." This was $15. Come on down to Pioneer Chicken! Pioneer Chicken, kick it into high gear. This is your chance to take it back. Take back the win! Kill KFC, please! We need good fast food restaurants. Let me tell you right now, the Midwest brain will not be able to handle this.
Shout out to all my people in the Midwest! If they put one of these in your city, I promise you: the diabetes is coming twice as fast. And that's what this video is all about. We went to unknown fast food restaurants. The whole point was to figure out: do the big dogs deserve their placement, or are there little guys out there that are doing it better? And there are. The reality is you just got to go out and find them, and they're probably everywhere. And I'm sure there are others that we didn't even cover. So that being said, love you. Subscribe.
Bye!
