In-N-Out Burger & Lee's Sandwiches, Anaheim, CA, tasted on May 3, 2004 — There is something about southern California and high quality fast food. Never mind the incredible Mexican food, I mean American chain fast food. The kind decried in Supersize Me (which have you noticed, now that guy is committing his own crimes of scale - ok I should wait to see his new show before passing judgment). The really gross stuff. Or is it? It's kind of ironic that for our first really positive food experience around Disneyland we had to go to the places that embrace their mass marketness, and don't try to pretend they're anything different.

First off, I'll admit, I love fast food. It's delicious. I'll also admit that I almost never eat it since I decided not to be a fatass. Unluckily (or luckily) my two favorite fast food chains in the world are not located where I live in the pacific northwest. However in southern California they are everywhere. Just a few minutes from Disneyland an In-N-Out Burger and a Lee's Sandwiches live not 50 yards from each other. I'm thinking of setting up a tent in the parking lot.

Here's the deal. You can turn up your nose at fast food all you want. But I claim that most of the great food in the world is fast food. After all, what makes for great food in general is focus, simplicity, and freshness. And the original fast food on this planet is street food. Street food often by necessity is focused, simple, and fresh. It's focused because they have to differentiate from the competition of which there's usually a lot. It's simple because how much choice do you have when you're working out of a cart (or a box) in the street? And it's fresh because, where would you store the ingredients?

The big guys in American fast food, McDonald's, Burger King, etc. have tuned their menus into choice after choice of item tuned to stimulate our fat and sugar pleasure centers until we're passed out in a puddle of... well... fat and sugar. It's like a drug. You keep needing more to get the same high. And frankly, that's why I love eating Big Macs and Egg McMuffins. They taste absolutely great when I eat them. But afterwards I feel sick. One day I simply stopped thinking that the sick feeling was normal, and since then they've been a once a year treat.

But back to southern California. In-N-Out Burger, about which I've written already, and Lee's Sandwiches get it right. In-N-Out was actually not the best In-N-Out experience I've had, but it was still better than everywhere else. Not sure if this was a fluke for their Anaheim location, or a pattern. Hard to say until I go back. But Lee's was exemplary.

Lee's is basically a Vietnamese deli done at scale. I'm not a fan of colonialism, but if there's any upside to the French presence in southeast Asia it's Vietnamese subs. The combination of fresh Vietnamese ingredients - various hams, cilantro, hot peppers, jicama, etc. on a French baguette is pretty amazingly delicious. And Lee's has a huge variety. They even do them on these extra thin baguettes which for some reason I find even more delicious as they have a less bread to contents ratio. I could eat three of these sandwiches in a sitting. Lee's also tries to expand a bit by making European sandwiches. I'd tell you how they are but I can never bring myself to order one as the Vietnamese subs always beckon me with their siren song. Those harpies! Lee's also has a host of Vietnamese appetizers and drinks. You can check out the whole menu here. Lots of smoothies, and cool southeast Asian teas and coffees. And Italian sodas? OK. Never mind. That and the weird wireless internet access with a time limit based on how much money you spent are just odd. But that's part of the charm of Lee's. The Delimanjoo pastries are another. These are from a cool Korean machine that just creates pastries in front of your eyes. For the complete description of these check out this report from the Fancy Food Show when we first encountered them. I think the folks at Lee's corporate are experimenting. More power to them as long as they keep focused on making simple great food.

And to the folks in Southern California, please a) create more fast food chains like Lee's and In-N-Out, and b) please let them have some franchises outside of California. We're dying out here.