Carl's Jr.

This Week In Food: Black Sleep of Khali Ma, Playground's Cocktails, and Boozy Dippin' Dots

We've had some colorful stories these past couple of weeks because of Michelle's return. Who knew a new baby mama was so good at writing about food!? Let's take a quick look at what else happened this week... Edwin reviewed Hue Oi in Fountain Valley for his weekly story. They he announced the openi ... More >>

The Week In Food: Linx Sausages, Drunk Drive-Throughing, and The Great Awakening

It's that time again and I bet you missed me, didn't you? Let's take a look at what happened this week in food... Edwin reviewed the highly, highly, anticipated Linx in the Orange Circle and it was amazing as you might have guessed. That would have been a real bummer if it wasn't after all the wait ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Offers OC Lunch Date With The Laker Girls!

Who likes hot women? We have no issues with athletic ladies sporting purple, and you shouldn't either. Get to know a couple this month, as burger behemoth Carl's Jr hosts a series of meet-and-greets with your Los Angeles Laker Girls!And if that's not reason enough to do your laundry, we've got more ... More >>

Lisa Becker Has Patience for the Patients

The bipolar activist wants to cure OC's problem with the homeless who are mentally ill

The Five Next Big Trends in Mexican Food in the United States

This Thursday, I fly to the University of Houston in what will be the official end of my Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America tour. It's been a great ride that has taken  me from the Bay Area to Texas about a million times, the South and virtually all other points, but while the tour en ... More >>

Congregation Ale House: Eat, Pray, Glug

Drink beer and eat burgers with other blasphemes at this Long Beach brew house

Game of Burgers: Fast Food Fiefdom, Final Round: TK Burger Versus In-n-Out!

Well...hello again! Last time we did this tournament, Dave had a showdown between G Burger and Umami Burger in the Burger Baron category, with the La Habra upstart beating the Los Angeles chain in a controversial upset.That was on August 9. I was supposed to follow by matching up TK Burger versus In ... More >>

Game of Burgers: Fast Food Fiefdom, Second Round!

This bracket ain't fancy-schmancy, but it's got some great burgers worthy of your stomach space. (And some not-so-great ones.) Read on!   

Game of Burgers: Fast Food Fiefdom, First Round!

Sorry, ladies and germ: I really wanted to do as thorough a Game of Burgers first-round review as possible, but the news side of my life has occupied the past couple of days. Instead of being completely thoughtful, I'll try to be succinct, and offer my thoughts.One thing I do want to explain: the ov ... More >>

On the Line: Greg Pugliese of Pizza e Vino, Part One

Greg should be the unofficial city ambassador for San Clemente. Not only does he reside there and prefers the beach, but he enjoys dining close to home. And why not? Greg shares stories of his mom's insane cookie-making skills, and we discuss two more concepts the owner has in the works. More on tho ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Is Testing An Ice Cream Burger (AKA 'Brrrger') Only in Orange County

Sometimes, we just luck out. Because look what we've got here. It's the new "Ice Cream Brrrger" from Carl's Jr., being tested only in OC. Don't freak out--they didn't simply add a scoop of rocky road to their Western Bacon Cheeseburger. Because that would be gross. Maybe. Nope, it's a ... More >>

3hree Things: Must-Haves For Unapologetic Baseball Geeks

Watch out for 3hree Things every Tuesday, where Riley Breckenridge, drummer of Orange County's favorite local alt-rock band Thrice, gives his take on life in Southern California as an OC native.If you're a baseball superfan like me, your GeekMeter™ has probably been in the red since Spri ... More >>

"Marketing Visionary" to Protest Outside Carl's Jr. Corporate Offices for Their "Soft Porn" Commercials

​We only report the facts here, folks, so there's this: a self-described "marketing visionary" from Orange County named Basia Christ is urging people to make the drive up to Carl's Jr.'s corporate offices in Carpinteria this Friday to protest urge a boycott of Happy Stars and all the other things ... More >>

3hree Things: On Kate Upton's Carl's Jr. Commercial

Watch out for 3hree Things every Tuesday, where Riley Breckenridge, drummer of Orange County's favorite local alt-rock band Thrice, gives his take on life in Southern California as an OC native. That's Carl's Jr.'s new commercial for Kate Upton's boobs the Southwest Patty Melt, an 890 calo ... More >>

How Does McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Fare Against Other Fast-Food Fishwiches?

​ Once again, it's fish sandwich season at the nation's fast food burger joints, a.k.a. Lent. It is said that 23% of Filet-O-Fish consumption happens during this period. But how do the others measure against what's arguably the nation's most popular fishwich, which McDonald's now offers in a doubl ... More >>

3hree Things: Who Are The People In Your Neighborhood?

I'm sick as a dog (a colloquialism that I've never quite understood, because I've never seen a dog with its eyes swollen shut and gallons of snot pouring out of its nose). The amount of garbage coming out of my face holes is alarming, and if what's coming out of my head is any indication of what's g ... More >>

3hree Things: Random Thoughts About The 2012 Grammys

Watch out for 3hree Things (usually) every Tuesday, where Riley Breckenridge, drummer of Orange County's favorite local alt-rock band Thrice, gives his take on life in Southern California as an OC native.​ Because a column that usually runs on Tuesdays should run on a Monday. Because the ... More >>

3hree Things: A Box Full Of Cassettes And Shame

Watch out for 3hree Things every Tuesday, where Riley Breckenridge, drummer of Orange County's favorite local alt-rock band Thrice, gives his take on life in Southern California as an OC native.​I'm not gonna lie. I didn't spend my formative years as a music listener (late-80's/earl ... More >>

What We Learned, 1/13-1/20/2012

R.I.P., John​Here is the week that was and what we learned from it . . . JAN. 13: John Berry is stabbed to death behind a Carl's Jr. in Anaheim and, thanks to a passersby, police quickly capture not only the alleged murderer of the 64-year-old homeless man but the accused serial killer of three ot ... More >>

[UPDATED with Victim I.D.:] John Berry, OC Homicide No. 2: Itzcoatl Ocampo Held in Fatal Stabbings of Homeless

​UPDATE, JAN. 16, 8:53 A.M.: The homeless man fatally stabbed behind an Anaheim Carl's Jr. Friday night has been identified by friends as 64-year-old John Berry. He's been described as a spiritual man who was so beloved by neighbors and patrons of businesses near where he was murdered at La Palma ... More >>

Mexico As Imagined By the Washington Post

Flickr user yarhargoat​It gets fatiguing reading the same articles on travel to Mexico that parrot the U.S. State Department over and over again. Precious few of those people have ever actually been to the places they're writing about, but they turn the fear dial up to 11, the result being that Am ... More >>

Buy a Gift Card, Get Stuff for Free! The Best Fast-Food Gift Card Incentives This Holiday Season

​There are just as many Black Friday addicts as there are naysayers who roll their eyes at the commercialization of Christmas, if not more so. For those of us who don't exactly give a damn about finding "the perfect gift", we say: how about those rectangles of hope we call the gift card? Restauran ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Does Handmade Biscuits. Really?

Dave Lieberman​It's a rare occasion when we link to Fast Food Maven around here, but I was intrigued by the recent article post handmade biscuits at Carl's Jr.After all, everything in a fast-food chain comes preportioned and pre-dumbed-down so that anyone can do it, right? Creativity and individua ... More >>

FREE Breakfast Sandwich At (Most) Carl's Jr's. TODAY

Anne Marie PanoringanWatching TV sometimes pays off....​Some of us can spend hours doing nothing. I choose to pass the time catching up on my DVR. Who knew last week's dramedy would be a source of free brekkie news this week? Behold, the free sausage biscuit.Definitely not the first time Carl's Jr ... More >>

Sabores Mexican Grill Shutters; Bella Cuba Moves In

Photo by JB​It used to be a Carl's Jr. Then Lani Grille moved in around 2006, trying its best to fill the grand space, the biggest dining room in a restaurant-heavy island at the northwest corner of Bristol and Sunflower. Lani offered Asian-inspired Polynesian food, something the South Coast Plaza ... More >>

Hardees Commercials for Fried Bologna Biscuits

​ You may or may not like Carl's Jr's. commercials. They're purposely polarizing and provocative. The ads use either tits or creepers to capture your eyeballs and your wallet. Now they're using both at the same time--creepy old man moobies to sell Hardee's Fried Bologna Biscuit breakfast sandwic ... More >>

This Week in Food: Luxe Loncheras, More Luxe Loncheras, and Even More Luxe Loncheras!

Photo by the Elmo MonsterOur requisite mention of Piaggio for the week!​We went luxe lonchera crazy this week, and even crazier in other departments. The bedlam after the jump!

Five Non-Slutty Carl's Jr. Commercials

​Eater published a fun, if predictable, collection of what it calls Carl's Jr.'s Slutburger ads--you know, those ads featuring hot chicks eating burgers that made founder Carl Karcher sad in the last years of his life due to their wanton sexuality.Of course, Carl's Slutburger phase is a relatively ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Turkey Burger: Not Bad

Flickr user keenanpepper​During last week's Carl's Jr. Missed Connection, I mentioned that I was waiting patiently for a turkey burger and a salad. This is a new development at Carl's Jr., whose advertising for the last half-decade has revolved around manly men doing manly things and eating 1,000- ... More >>

This Week in Food: Pexican Cuisine, Urban Homesteading, and iPhone Calories!

Flickr user Robert Banh​Another fantabulous week at Stick a Fork in It, with stories suited for the Diggers, Forkers, and Know Nothings among you! Highlights after the jump!

Carl's Jr. Missed Connection

Original image: Flickr user keenanpepper​I was the hungry corporate drone with barely any time to grab food and get back to the salt mines, waiting as patiently as I knew how for my turkey burger and salad.You were the large-and-in-charge woman in front of me in line, holding a paper sack that--be ... More >>

Carl's Jr., Hardee's to Sell Turkey Burgers--Chain Finally Going Healthy?

Is this burger going the way of Carlos Jr.?​Carl's Jr. has spent most of the last decade boasting of its waistline-busting burgers, proudly proclaiming their entrees are for sloppy guys who think a salad and any thought of health is one fey thang, hanging their hat on 1,000-calorie-plus creations ... More >>

Do We Really Need a Jack In the Box Food Truck?

From JIB's Munchie Mobile Facebook Page​Carl's Jr. has one; so does In-N-Out.  Last week, ball-headed Jack got a truck of his own. Jack In the Box's so-called "Munchie Mobile" is tricked out in side graphics featuring the typically business-suited mascot all muscled-up in a He-Man pose and ri ... More >>

Are the Days of Chain Restaurants Hiring Illegal Immigrants Over?

​Back in my Anaheim High School days, students who worked did so at one of two spots: the Carl's Jr. on Broadway and Harbor Boulevard, or the Family Fun Center (which mostly hired people from Valencia High, but that's another story). Imagine my surprise five years after graduation, when most of th ... More >>

This Week in Food: (Possibly) Racist Peanuts, Pee-wee Herman, and Mimosas!

Flickr user @jbtaylor​Always a busy week 'round here, and highlights after the jump!

Carl's Jr. Spicy Chicken Sandwich With Jalapeños: My Go-to Crap Comfort Food

Michelle Woo​Whenever I'm stressed (I'm a journalist, so that's now), I turn to junk food, and most often, it's the 99-cent Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Carl's Jr. I always ask for jalapeños, and they add them for free without question.     Gustavo sees me eating these things a ... More >>

¡Ask a Comida Critic! Was Carl Karcher Really That Much of a Dick?

​From Armando:Gustavo, love your stuff, but I found an obituary you wrote about Carl Karcher, and it was pretty mean. Was he really as big of a dick as you made him out to be?I don't think I made him out to be too evil. If anything, that obit spelled out my mixed feelings about the founder of Carl ... More >>

Civilized Swilling

Boozy but never barbaric, Fullerton's Pint House blazes its own path on the pub scene

Double Up at Apollo Burgers

[Hole in the Wall] Another local answer to Five Guys

Buy Me Some Sushi and Cracker Jack

[Summer Guide] A rundown of the best non-chain eats at the Big A

[Hole in the Wall] Throw Pho Quang Trung's Chicken Pho Before Swine (Flu)

[Hole In the Wall] Mondo Mediterranean Meals at Garden Grove's Kerostena Grill

The Newest Veggie Grill in Irvine Is Good Enough to Fool (Almost) Everyone

[This Hole-In-the-Wall-Life] A Zen Burrito at Fuji's Famous Burgers

This Hole-in-the-Wall Life

Shrimp and Yam Get Married

Sweet, Sweet Goo

La Fondues epic epicureanism

The Return of the Native

Scampi maestro Massimo Navarretta returns with Onotria

This Week in the Meats and Eats of Agora Churrascaria

My City Kicks Your Citys Dining Ass

Dont trust the Times or Pringle: Anaheim is OCs best dining burg

Love Your CountryEat American

A Guide to Orange Countys Best U.S. City Meals