Revisiting the Golden Arches

Finally finished reading Gospel of Food which had a nicely well balanced discussion about McDonald's and I found myself in Long Beach at 3:30 on Tuesday, desperate to get back to work but famished, not having had time to eat at all that day. The closest food available was a McDonalds and I was in and out of the drive through with two tiny cheeseburgers (one for Rover) a more than ample sack of fries and a diet Coke in about 1 minute for about 4 bucks. The burger, is a comforting institutional style one with a dainty application of condiments and a single pickle slice, right in the middle. The bun is ethereal and fluffy and the beauty was, even though I hadn't had this simple treat in many years, it was the same as I remembered it, and while the word classic is overused, it was comforting and I will indulge the hankering as mindfully as possible, every few years. The fries are sad vestiges of their beef tallow predecessors. The texture's not bad, but there's no potato flavor at all. Nevertheless, clean, reliable, and probably not the devil incarnate. That would be Burger King...