Screw the McRib: Bring Back These 5 Discontinued Fast Food Items

From The Village Voice
http://www.villagevoice.com/
By Lauren Shockey Tue., Nov. 1 2011 at 2:54 PM

If you haven't been watching television, reading any food blogs, or paying visits to McDonald's recently, you might not know that the cult favorite McRib sandwich is back. The sandwich stuffs a pork patty (sorry, no actual ribs) into a bun, topping it with with barbecue sauce, onions, and pickles, and will be available at the fast-food chain until November 14. Good news for McRib fans, but what about other discontinued fast-food eats? Can we get a limited time run for these following five favorites:  

5. McDonald's Arch Deluxe: The Arch Deluxe sandwich was a quarter pound of beef on a split-top sesame seed bun topped with a circular piece of peppered bacon, leaf lettuce, tomato, American cheese, onions, ketchup, and a secret mustard and mayonnaise sauce. It was developed to appeal to "grown-up" tastes, but ultimately flopped due to the high price. Whatever, if New Yorkers are willing to pay $26 for the Black Label burger at Minetta Tavern, it's likely they'd cough up again for a pricier fast-food sandwich.

4. Taco Bell's BLT Soft Taco: True, Taco Bell might not be Fork in the Road's favorite fast-food chain, but this dish -- which, naturally, combines the fillings of a BLT into a soft taco -- was one of the better dishes that the quasi-Mexican fast-food chain created, and reminds us fondly of our childhood. But alas, it's now been replaced by dishes like tacos made with none other than Doritos shells.

3. Burger King's Firecracker TenderCrisp: Also championed as an upscale alternative, the TenderCrisp took a breaded, deep-fried chicken fillet and served it with mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato on a brioche bun. The Firecracker version, though, swapped out mayonnaise for a lightly smoky, bold spicy sauce.

2. Arby's Polar Swirl: Essentially the Arby's equivalent of a Dairy Queen Blizzard, the Polar Swirls were shakes with candy and cookie mix-ins. As Blizzard lovers can attest, the Blizzard is effing awesome, but since there are no DQ's here in New York City, a relaunch of the Arby's Polar Swirl would be as close as we could get. Or Dairy Queen could just open a branch here.  

1. Sonic's Fried Pickle-O: Hello, who doesn't love fried pickles? It's a goddamn mystery as to why this drive-in chain (home of the awesome Cherry Limeade, might we add) doesn't bring back these sliced dill pickles, which have been breaded and cooked to a crisp golden brown. Served with yellow mustard or cool ranch dressing, it's the ultimate snack food. And fried pickles are a hipster trend, now, too! No time like the present! Bring back the pickles!

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