Raising Cane
I’m never surprised to see In-N-Out Burger at the top of a list. In this case, the highest customer satisfaction ratings according to a survey by Sandelman & Associates.
What I am surprised by are the regional chains I’ve never heard of. Number two with a 59% overall excellent rating is Baton Rouge-based Raising Cane’s. What on earth is that (and what's up with the horrible apostrophe S) ? Apparently, a whole eatery founded on chicken fingers. And that’s seriously all they serve, either with starches in a similarly tan color palette: Texas toast and crinkle fries, or three crispy strips on a bun.
Only two of the ten restaurants exist in NYC: burrito purveyors Chipotle and Qdoba. Panera Bread and Chick-fil-A can all be found in close proximity to the city. But the rest? I don’t think so. I do know that Pei Wei is the budget P.F. Chang’s only because I have a P.F. Chang’s fetish despite never having set foot in one.
Anyone have other random chains they love? I feel so out of here sometimes.
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‘member Burgerville? It’s still around. And even better. They use local goods when they can: Tillamook cheese and milk, Franz bread, Oregon berries when in season, and even a locally-made veggie burger (not Gardenburger!).
It’s the only fast food I’ll eat around here!
portlandgirl: yes, I remember Burgerville. I can’t pinpoint when it went from being a regular fast food place (albeit better than many other chains) to one touting local ingredients. It gets all sorts of accolades not but I’m pretty this all happened after my time (pre-1998).
Violette Crumble: I haven’t been to a Popeyes in a million years, but I do love fried chicken. I think certain locations in NYC offer the fried turkey at Thanksgiving but they always sell out. I just noticed that they have branches in 20+ countries on the world Who knew there were Popeyes in Bosnia and Suriname?
I just ate at Raising Cane’s while in Las Vegas recently. I screeched across several lanes of traffic into the drive-through after recognizing name from short-lived reality series “Secret Millionaire”, which promised to be most fantastic TV show ever (undercover millionaires live in trailer parks and give loads of money to the deserving poors they befriend after revealing their true identities!) but was super disappointing in its lack of both long term story arch and toothless meth cookers.
The young, folksy married couple who founded Raising Cane’s were the participants in the first and only episode I watched. They were plucked from a bayou-adjacent manse, jammed into Old Navy cargo pants, stuck in a bare trailer for a week, and paraded through preselected volunteer projects. At the end, couple dressed to the nines and tearfully apologized to head volunteer for all their terrible lies while handing over a check for fifty grand. The people on the other end of the check cried too but clearly didn’t remember who the hell these people were. Then they all emotionally vomited. As did I.
Um, so anyway, the food was ok. I remember saying to my companion, “They are following the In-N-Out business plan, do one thing really well. But chicken fingers? I don’t think I want chicken fingers”, while looking at the menu. The chicken was extremely fresh and juicy in a natural way but the batter was blandish, not quite crispy enough. They provide you with authentic Louisiana hot sauce packets which tasted exactly like Tabasco. The crinkle fries were surprisingly good, not of limp Del Taco variety, and I ate all of them. Texas toast was useless as giant hunks of white bread could be astride chicken tenders and potatoes, wished it had more garlic. Also they make fresh lemonade too sweet and flat, not enough acid, reminded me of Crystal Light with pure cane sugar.
Miss Ennui: Wow! Secret millionaires, Old Navy and emotional vomiting? You have no completely sold me on Raising Cane’s even though I have no interest in chicken fingers. There is a mysterious new chain restaurant coming to downtown Brooklyn and I can only hope and pray that it’s Raising Cane’s. Actually, it would do amazingly well here. You don’t know how many people I’ve met who eat chicken but can’t deal with chicken parts that contain bones. Huh?