It’s weird because of so many groups that are lactose intolerant, depending on the country/region. On one hand, it could mean it’s so good they’re eating it despite the risk. On the other, it could be showing that their ice cream is becoming more popular around the world.
My experience with chains in China was limited to Pizza Hut. That was a case where the pictures looked like pizza you would find elsewhere. What was actually on the menu were combinations of ingredients I’d never seen before. The tuna pizza with Russian salad dressing sauce and a bit of definitely-not-mozzarella cheese on top was tasty, though.
There are A&W and DQ stores within 20 minutes of me in the Bay Area. I remember being treated to Dilly Bars, Buster Bars and Blizzards at the DQ as a kid. A&W burgers and onion rings were the best and I am sure I still have an A&W root beer mug somewhere. I used to love the tray of food hung on the window by the girl in the spiffy uniform.
Must be regional. They are pretty common here in Kentucky. A&W is often paired with Long John Silver’s in the same building. Dairy Queen is pretty popular too, we have five in my city. DQ is about the only place I can get a pineapple milkshake.
Interesting to hear from people around the US how many DQs and A&Ws still exist. I honestly thought they were gone because I’ve travelled a lot around both coasts and the Deep South and never seen one of either. For comparison, both chains are everywhere in Canada. Like, my small home town has one on every corner basically. There are places where you can see one DQ from the other. They’re like Starbucks.
The cakes do melt, but one time I got a cone at carvel in late spring/early summer and it just…didn’t. Even as it approached room temperature. To this day I couldn’t tell you why.
The great fast food chain? Nation’s Burger. The founder started it in/near Oakland CA after the war, expanded it successfully for a few years, but by now there are only a dozen or so of them left, mostly in the East Bay area of northern CA. Burgers, fries, veggie burgers, grilled cheese, similar fried stuff, variety of shakes, and in most of them, pie.
Yup. Carvel was a distinctive voice. We didn’t bother having a TV in NJ in the 80s, but his ads were on the radio a lot, and Carvel ice cream cakes were a standard thing.
When I moved to Monmouth County (Central NJ) in ~1980, there were no chain pizza places. All the pizza restaurants were family owned, and three of them apparently hadn’t kept the family happy, because they burned down that year. There were lots of takeout fast food restaurants in the area, but in Red Bank itself there was a McD’s for a few years, until the town council chased it away. Some years later a Pizza Hut opened; I don’t know why anybody went there, since it was a heavily Italian area and even the bad family-owned places were a lot better.
Back when I ate meat, I went to Arby’s once or twice, but it was never that interesting. I’ve been to them more as a vegetarian, because the one near my office was the only drive-through that still had coffee in the evenings for the commute home, and they also had good fried potato cakes.
