I can’t remember the circumstances that led me to actually try the McWrap at McDonald’s. It seems wildly out of character for me. I mean, seriously. But I gave the chicken and ranch wrap a try, shortly after it was introduced, and loved it. Of course, I ordered it without the ranch dressing, on account o’ the blecch. That always leads to the order-taker looking at me in confusion and disbelief: “Are you serious? You’re not just going to use it as a transfer platform with which to move sauce to your gaping maw? That’s the whole point!” In any case, I ordered one hold-the-ranch and thought it was fantastic. And I’ll attempt to bullet-point the reasons why:
- It was tasty and fresh and included a mixture of pleasing components: crispy chicken, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, cheese, etc. It was shockingly good.
- It was a sizable serving, at a reasonable price. In the beginning, anyway.
- It was easy to eat while navigating Interstate 81, the Devil’s Parkway.
- It felt like it might not be completely unhealthy.
I loved ’em, and found myself craving the things on a semi-regular basis. Then it all went wrong… I’m not sure why, but the price kept creeping up, up, up. I’ve rarely seen such a fast ‘n’ steep escalation. I think they introduced them at a special introductory price, to get people acquainted, and didn’t want to just crank them to the permanent price all at once. So, they eased us into it. But every time I bought one it felt like it was more expensive than the time before. Eventually, it became an issue and I would grimace when they gave me the total. Sweet sainted mother of Florence Jean Castleberry… I still bought them but was starting to take price into consideration.
Then they were gone. All gone. It all happened so quickly I sometimes wonder if I’d just imagined the whole thing. They had big delicious wraps at McDonald’s? Yeah right. Maybe I should go see a doctor?
In any case, what’s your favorite discontinued fast food item? Please tell us about it, won’t you? Also, what were your thoughts on the McWrap if you tried it. Please bring us up to date on all of it in the comments.
And I’ll be back soon. Much sooner than this one. Sorry about that…
Have a great day, my friends.
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That’s funny, Jeff, My first thought was the McDonald’s chicken fajita wraps! I also miss the McDonald’s steak sandwich. I used to love that steak sauce. And I would probably recoil in horror at the sugar, but (also the Golden Arches) the raspberry danish was delicious! I worked there so I have a point of reference.
Didn’t Wendy’s used to have a serve yourself salad and baked potato bar? A loaded and cheap baked potato sounds pretty darn good.
The Taco Bell Bell Burger. I’d like that one back. I didn’t appreciate TB like I do now. Just the taco meat on a bun with cheese.
That’s exactly the one I was thinking of. It was really good. I wonder if they’d make one for you, if you asked them.
I wonder if they’d make one for you, if you asked them.
Shouldn’t be too hard. They already have all the fixin’s on hand:
https://www.theonion.com/taco-bells-five-ingredients-combined-in-totally-new-way-1819564909
I don’t think they have the buns any more.
Pizza Hut’s Priazzo. Pizza with an upper crust.
Taco Bell chili cheese burrito. So bad, but so good.
They brought these back a couple of years ago here in Southern Indiana/Louisville, KY area. Still as bad (and good) as they used to be!
Never heard of this particular item, but I see multiple petitions around the web with thousands of digital signatures, demanding that McDonalds bring back the Mcrap. It looks like a fine alternative to sodium and fat. I guess if McD doesn’t restart the assembly line we’ll never again taste vegetables and chicken in a soft tortilla. They look too complicated to make at home.
jtb
I liked the McD chicken McBites, soooo much better than those nasty nuggets. I also liked the chicken wrap but in our area it was one chicken strip in a huge wrap so you mostly got wrap. After tearing off all that extra wrap, it was pretty good.
As you might know, I achoo corporate fast food. However, local, independent fast food was great when I was young and planning to live forever. (Actually, it’s still good; I just need to pace my pacemaker.)
King’s Drive-in on 6th Avenue in Tacoma, Washington in the 1960s had a large gold, glass-enclosed crown on its roof which, in the evening, contained a DJ, a stack of 45 records and a turntable. Outside the glass was a transmitter that broadcast an AM radio signal a half dozen blocks, which could, of course, easily be picked up from the King’s parking lot on your car’s AM-only radio.
Since the DJ was enclosed and didn’t have a phone, requests needed to be conveyed via pantomime, e.g., one finger pointing up from each ear might get Wooly Bully played. With more requests than time, somebody figured out that if you got your date to remove her blouse momentarily your request would go to the front of the queue. Removal of the bra wasn’t necessary: this was the ’60s, not the 70s. I guess that’s the fast food item I miss most.
John
Not have a Dick’s Burgers local? I always made time for a stop for a couple of Dick’s (write your own joke) when in Seattle. Great, simple burgers.
Limey, I lived in Seattle for a few years in my early 20s, and got me plenty of Dick’s. But Tacoma is not Seattle, which I find to be a good thing, so we had to make do with Kings and ladies undergarments. As I recall, you come from the land where football is football, so you might not know this brief anecdote about President Lincoln . . .
Lincoln was asked how long a man’s Dick should be. He answered, Just long enough to reach the ground.
Come to think of it, I guess it’s a little short for an anecdote, and a little long for a Dick.
.
Dick’s locations were all in Seattle or north until 2018, at which time they opened a joint in Kent, which is about 14.7 miles north of Tacoma. A long ways to go to get Dick’s, especially in the years before the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Defense Interstate Highway System. And we DID have Frisco Freeze and Pick-Quick. And we had dicks — just no Dick’s.
John
Ah, see, I learned something today. I was always in Seattle or Kirkland, and I just assumed Dick’s were further south too.
Now I really want a cheap burger! 🙂
achoo as in sneeze? or eshew?
Eschew, I assumed.
I was attempting to combined the idea of avoidance with the idea of allergy. Lousy pun, but there you have it. jtb
I enojoyed it. A fresh pun is a good pun.
“Lousy pun, but there you have it.”
And untimely, too. These days, there is nothing funny about social sneezing.
There was One Potato Two in your local shopping mall, but it (and the mall) is long gone.
I tried that KFC donut sandwich based on your IG post. If you repost this update in the future, that will be my answer for sure. It was amazing!
Every time I see it advertised I’m amazed that such a thing exists. They’re actually good?
I hate to say it but, yes! I probably couldn’t eat it again but am glad I tried it the one time.
I miss McDonalds McSkillet Burrito [Jeff has an article/review on this item in the Fast Food section of the site], but the one item I REALLY miss is Wendy’s Spicy Baconator. It was only around for a year or so, about a decade ago. Think standard Baconator with jalapenos, Pepper Jack cheese, and some sort of Sriracha-type sauce in place of the ketchup. Ring-burning bliss! RIP to my beloved Spicy Baconator.
Yumbo.
Del Taco used to have a chicken fajita back in the late 80s that was alarmingly good. It wasn’t greasy, the chicken was seasoned just right, and most importantly, the chicken was fairly good quality for a fast food joint—no gross gristly bits.
Carl’s Jr. used to have a hot dog when I was a kid that was weirdly good. That one has been gone for decades.
I remember an enchirito I used to get at Taco Bell. A burrito covered in red sauce and cheese in a small tray eaten with a spork.
Also the taco supreme at Jack in the Box. A delicious frozen taco heated up in their fryer oil. A delicious greasy concoction. Alas no more Jack in the Boxes on Long Island.
This is about Taco Bell, not MFLI, who obviously gets to enjoy whatever he enjoys. . . I don’t think you get to make up new words by combining a bunch of pieces of old words unless you’re German, e.g., bundesburger is a beef sandwich to enjoy whilst invading Poland. I suppose though, as long as you’re going to eat a FrankyStein dish, you might just as well eat it with a FrankyStein utensil.
jtb
MFLI, I like that!!
Love my spork –
A spork is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with two to four tines. Spork-like utensils, such as the terrapin fork or ice cream fork, have been manufactured since the late 19th century; patents for spork-like designs date back to at least 1874. Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork
When I was a kid, my mom called it a runcible spoon. The word ‘spork’ had yet to be coined at that point. Yes, we had some in the silverware drawer.
“They danced by the light of the moon.” You have a pretty cool Mom.
John
And just to close the loop, the word I was complaining about was “enchirito”. We’ve already lost the “spork” battle, so I was trying to hold the line, but I might as well put my finger in a dyke if that’s your idea of a good time. The North Sea will win every time.
John
LOL, I wasn’t sure which word you were referring to but when you mentioned “FrankyStein utensil” it had to be the spork.
Don’t worry, It’s not you it’s me, I’m usually wrong about these kind of things
🙂
MFLI
And 2 for 2!
“When I was a kid, my mom called it a runcible spoon.”
Hilarious. My mom called it a thelonious fork.
We always kept them right next to the pompatus butter knives …
Better that than a felonious thork.
My mom was Brubeck fan, but I’m not sure she knew about the thabulous Mr. Monk. He of the angular music (not banjos).
And pompatus… that’s been discussed previously. Then as now I’ll cite https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/972/in-steve-millers-the-joker-what-is-the-pompatus-of-love/
Steely Dan references are always welcome and actually gain patina with age like fine metalwork. When all my dime dancin’ is through, I run to you.
jtb
McDonald’s McDLT or Chick-Fil-A’s Spicy Chicken Biscuit. The Styrofoam container supposedly killed the McDLT, it kept the hot side hot and the cold side cold. I really don’t understand the demise of the Spicy Chicken Biscuit, they still have spicy chicken, and still serve biscuits. Another reason why I am going to start submitting unsolicited applications to corporations and apply for the SVP of Common Sense.
God, please tell me Jeff didn’t contract The Hoax. He deserves grand praise and significant book sales for his short-form writing, and little more than mild colonic discomfort for all the uhs and you knows in the ‘cast. But not this. Not The Hoax. There are some gangsters in the west wing who’ve been earning big time points for a virus for months, or however long those jobs are lasting these days. Save the virus for the people who lie — not for Jeff, who does the thing he’s terrific at for free and the thing he’s only OK at for money. He’s an innocent, and shouldn’t be walking around with The Hoax. Am I the only one drinking tonight?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR7cqzaWYkE
John
. . . and a little more Mishka Shubaly. . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IYVFbwJVSc
jtb