I actually had to Google Domino’s Pizza because I thought it was spelled with an e. When I was doing my tiny bit of research for this quick blog, I was shocked. I had no idea that Domino’s stock was nearly $400 a share. I considered purchasing some when it was $30 a share and I almost wish I did. We’re not here to discuss finances, although money definitely has a role to play in Domino’s success. Let’s talk about our annual tradition of getting Domino’s.
No matter how much disposable income you have, and whether you’re in the middle of a pandemic or not, you should never pay a meal delivery service for fast food.
It might not have been Subway, but it seems that the sandwich juggernaut gets the credit for redefining the fast food experience. That extra amount of ownership that you have over the finished product because you had more of a, say, than normal in the constructive process brings you back for more. Chipotle is the latest company to turn billions of dollars from this consumer experience and while small poke shops are barely keeping their head above water doing the same, the dream remains for chefs and entrepreneurs. They’re looking for the perfect food for an untrained chef to put together lunch-lady style. This food would have to be easy to assemble, use inexpensive ingredients, and popular. Was anyone else thinking of pizza?
![IMG_7425[1]](http://hungryandfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IMG_74251-e1445908353605.jpg)
Mustard’s Last Stand ALSO has great meat burgers and hot dogs–they are from Chicago, after all. ESPECIALLY, the hot dogs. I, however, will be focusing on their vegetarian options as…that’s what I eat! However, from Chris’ input, he’s usually always satisfied with their burgers, full of flavor and gets him satisfied. Alright, let’s look at the place!
According to our friend, a Boulder-native basically, Mustard’s has been in this same spot since before he can remember. It’s pretty tiny inside, but you can eat outside too and enjoy the day. They even offer blankets you can use to go sit by the creek that’s extremely close by. We do that sometimes, or we’ll just go to town right in the shop. The servers can be brusque, but we don’t mind, as long as we get our food. It’s best to go to non-peak hours, unless you want to be crammed in that tiny place, but you gotta do what you gotta do. The wait time is medium to long, but for me, it’s worth it.
I’ll start off with the fries. The fries here are delicious. I don’t know what they do to ’em, but the seasoning and the way they cook them make them delectable. They have that perfect crispy exterior that makes you dig for more and more. Let’s move on to the burger. And remember…we’re talking veggie burger. More specifically…the tempeh burger.
The tempeh burger
What is tempeh? It’s a soy product that comes from Indonesia and has plenty of protein for us vegetarians. You can read more about it here. Alright, back to the good stuff. This burger is definitely the best veggie burger I’ve ever had. The texture is right, the flavors are out of this world, and the condiments are perfect. They serve it with ketchup, mustard, pickle, onions, hot peppers, and sauerkraut. I think next time, I’m not gonna get the sauerkraut (I usually don’t, anyhow), because it overtook the flavor of the burger and the cheese. And the hot peppers could be a bit hotter. But those are my only complaints. The slab of cheese they throw on there is real and you can definitely tell. It’s a melt-in-your-mouth kind of experience, and one I always enjoy going back to.
Mmmmmm-mmmm!
Mustard’s Last Stand will always be a place I enjoy going to. It’s a local joint where both Chris and I can get equally satiated without feeling left out. He gets his meat, I get my tempeh, and we split the fries (but we always wish we had gotten two orders). Mustard’s has something for everyone and they never skimp on the flavor. The price is decent too. Hit this Chicago-joint up to stay hungry and fit!
You might also like…
BONUS KITTY PIC
I don’t know why Sajah is getting all the spotlight…maybe because the camera can actually pick him up
Boulder is full of spots to grab a quick meal and there is a ton of competition when it comes to burger joints. It’s convenient for the college population and the relatively large high school. Businesses can capitalize and those that cater to that population seem to do well. Obviously Five Guys was happy with their business on the hill because they just opened a new location in the 29th Street Mall. Burger King and McDonalds are right next door to that new spot and Wendy’s has a location farther south. Mustard’s Last Stand (review to come) is probably our favorite fast food burger spot but recently Snarfburger opened on Arapahoe.
My man Ryan outside Snarfburger
Snarf’s is probably our favorite fast grab sandwich shop in town so we had to give their newest creation a try. I went with my boss twice already and I’ve had the same feelings each time. It’s okay but the comparisons to In-n-Out cannot be justified. Those who say it is better than In-n-Out are a little bit off, in my opinion. You go with the comfort of knowing that it’s not a chain, but at the same time it doesn’t have that same taste as a place like White Mana (Hackensack, New Jersey) who serve the best burger that I have ever had.
Here is some more information with some positives and negatives. The parking is horrible and the lot shouldn’t even exist. A dumpster takes up one of the few spots and the recent construction on Arapahoe has surely destroyed business in the summer. The small shop is well-air conditioned and there’s a decent amount of seating between indoor and outdoor options. They also have your typical soda fountain and offer milkshakes and concretes, which is nice. I have a hard time going to a burger joint when you can’t get a milkshake. Service has been fast and slow but that usually just depends on how busy it is. They usually have 3-4 employees during lunch rush hours and I’m sure you can’t fit many more in that small kitchen.
As for the meat, they have your standard burgers (with hot sauce), hot dogs, veggie burgers, and fried bologna sandwiches. I haven’t had one yet because they seem overpriced but that’s a favorite back east. And of course they have fries. The fries and shake are solid, although the fries aren’t as good as Mustard’s. And the prices are somewhat comparable to Mustard’s, but still seem a little on the high end. Nearly 4 dollars for a small single burger is a bit much. Especially when the majority of the patties I have had have been overcooked, pretty hard, and chewy. I think they try to caramelize the outside but they overcook the inside in the process. They probably don’t have a ton of experience making burgers so they’ll get better with time.
The absolute top reason for returning is the custom options for your burger. I’m not talking about what you can do at Five Guys with all the toppings. You can get the typical condiments and veggies thrown on, plus bacon if you desire. I’m talking about their willingness to throw 6 patties onto a single burger. You can add a patty for $1.50 and that’s what I do, six times. They get all excited when you do it and apparently I have the record for biggest burger ordered thus far. I’m sure someone (if not a CU athlete, I will return) will get a bigger burger. That one took me about 7 minutes to finish but I did it with no water or drink whatsoever. That was fun.
The bottom line is that the food isn’t good enough for me to suggest going to Snarfburger but if someone else does, I would oblige. I’d get a double bacon cheeseburger, shake, and fries and be pretty content with paying a bit more than I should. Just know that parking will be bad and the wait could be long if you go at a busy time. Oh, and I don’t know what they plan on doing in the winter with such limited seating indoors.
Snarf’s might not have hit the gold mine like they did with their sandwich shop but they still have room for growth here and I’m sure Hungry and Fit will return in the future. Because an occasional “cheat meal” at a burger joint can be a tricky way of staying hungry and fit!
You might also like…
BONUS KITTY PIC
Sajah found a favorite spot under the desk
I have to talk a little about this place and even though we have pages of other and much better blog ideas, I can’t help myself. While we were doing our second thirteen hour drive of the weekend, from Iowa back to Colorado, we naturally got hungry and needed to refill our car’s gas tank. When we checked out what was nearby on Yelp (hungryandfit.yelp.com) we saw that there was a Mediterranean Restaurant named King Kong in Lincoln, NE. This sounds like a Guy Fieri intro to his places on DDD. We decided to go with this over Wendy’s and Subway despite mixed reviews and we are quite happy that we stopped by this interesting location.
The outside
The decor was all King Kong themed from a huge King Kong holding the main sign to a bunch of gorillas on the front yard to movie posters and stuffed gorillas hanging from the ceiling. It reminded me of a place down the shore on the boardwalk with all the cheap prizes and arcade games but the food was something else. I believe this is a one-of-a-kind location even though it looked like a chain. This place must be the offspring of a marriage between a Greek and a good old-fashioned American. It was all burgers, fries, gyros, “hammus” and everything related to those two. They also had Philly Cheesesteaks so maybe the Greek was from Philly.
Alana is still in her challenge so she decided to have a little cheat meal and get a vegetarian wrap while I got a double Kong with bacon. They have all the way up to Super Kongs, which are four 1/2 pound patties with bacon and cheese. The meat was not greasy and was very well, maybe too well, seasoned. Alana ate her whole wrap and they accidentally gave us two HUGE orders of fries. I wasn’t very hungry but I couldn’t even finish everything. It came out to about 20 dollars because my burger was massive but it was well worth it and had a ton of flavor. We were worried that it would hurt our stomach in the car but seven hours later and no signs of any stomach issues.
My burger
So if you are traveling across the country on 80 in a hurry and need a quick bite, or if you are Furious Pete and can eat a lot of food at once, then you should stop at King Kong for one interesting dining experience. You know that King Kong had to have been hungry and fit!
You might also like…
Do I really need to do a review on this? I don’t think so. Most people–even East Coasters–know that this is some of the best fast food you can get. But who doesn’t like a good drool? It’s mostly just on the West Coast right now, though it is slowly expanding. There’s even one in Texas. The In-N-Out company is picky about meat standards which is why (according to a news source), they haven’t landed in Colorado just quite yet. No, this review comes from my sunny home state, California.
Family gathering (from left to right, relations of Fit): Brother, Fit, Uncle, Hungry, Father
In-N-Out beats most fast food places because they do one thing right: they make it fresh. They cut the fries right in front of you and there’s no freezing of the food either. The beef is free of any fillers or preservatives and the veggies are fresh. They know quality. It may take longer, or cost more (even though it’s not expensive), but they have loyal customers all-over who can’t wait to sink their teeth into another burger. They also have incredible milkshakes. We like the black and white (aka chocolate and vanilla). It’s the perfect thickness and creamy with real ice cream.
Alana, you’re a vegetarian, how can you be talking about In-N-Out burgers! Well, now I will lead you to their not-so-secret Secret Menu. So instead of a burger with meat, I will get the “Grilled Cheese,” “animal-style” and, of course, a batch of their delicious fries. I can never finish all the fries, but Hungry and my brother are always there to help. Hungry likes to get the biggest you can get 4×4–4 patties, 4 slices of cheese. Ridiculous, right? Somehow, my brother always fails to tell us the WHOLE secret menu and we end up missing something. But it’s okay, Kai, we still love you.
My Grilled Cheese
If you’re in ANY state that In-N-Out resides in (CA, UT, TX, AZ, NV), you better go get some of their delicious food. And you should probably do a workout before-hand so you can rev your appetite and stay hungry and fit!
After hearing via commercial or a billboard on the road that Taco Bell had a new Doritos Locos taco, with my favorite flavor (Cooler Ranch), I had to try it out. Even though we eat relatively healthy and stay away from most fast food, we don’t mind cheating, if you want to call it that. So, late night one night last week, we drove to the Taco Bell in town for some treats. It’s challenging for Alana because she has a sensitive stomach for low quality and greasy food… and she’s a vegetarian. But she’s a good trooper and more or less went to make me happy.
So I splurged a little and got a Doritos Locos Taco Cooler Ranch, one normal and one supreme, a half a pound chicken and potato burrito, a bean and cheese burrito, and a churro. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any churros so they gave us a marshmallow cookie sandwich and two apple empanadas. By the way, we asked for some hot sauces and they gave us about 10 of each. Let me say that I have no idea what the macros were on this meal, but the amount of fat must have been through the roof.
Our feast
Here is the review. The tacos were a guilty pleasure that I would get again, over and over. I probably prefer the non-supreme version. The chicken burrito was one of the least healthy pieces of food, if you call it that, that I have ever eaten. It was a struggle to finish. Alana ate most of her bean and cheese burrito but I finished it. She enjoyed the cookie sandwich, but I thought that the apple empanadas were absolutely disgusting.
All in all, us being hungry and fit, don’t be afraid to cheat from time to time. If you count cheat meals go for that, but feel free to indulge in a guilty pleasure from time to time. Otherwise you’ll go insane and once you have it, you’ll realize it’s not that great anyways. I don’t want Taco Bell for a while, but I was happy that we went. You can see the receipt below, it was cheap.
