This morning Rebecca (@bitofmomsense) of the "A Little Bit of Momsense" blog posted an entry with a rather significant blast from my past, asking about everyday vices. Hers, Pepsi (sometimes Coke), chocolate, coffee and fast food. The blast, a vintage video from Canadian band, Men without Hats. After commenting two of my past vices, I realized I forgot one from my childhood, McDonald's.

Having grown up in North America during the height of the MTV age, McDonald's was unavoidable. Eating there was an occasional treat, but I developed a taste for its golden fries. In fact, I think that McDonald's defined the single fried shoe string-style fry for a generation. So, while this foodie appreciates Belgian-style fries, he sometimes has McDonald's on his mind.

Having McDonald's on the mind may be the intention behind the rather creative "thought bubble" advertising, gracing the walls of subways. One photo of the advertising at work has been dugg heavily on digg.com.

Think Good Thoughts
Source: EpicWinFTW Website

Here is another.

Think Good Thoughts
Source: lorenzodom's Flickr stream

Unfortunately, the McDonald's dishes we have on our minds tend to be the product of marketing. Here's another installment of "As Advertised" vs. Reality:

Crispy Chicken:

Crispy Chicken as Advertised
Source: McDonald's of Jackson Michigan Menu


Crispy Chicken Box

Crispy Chicken in Reality

Big Mac:

Big Mac as Advertised
Source: McDonald's of Jackson Michigan Menu


Big Mac in Reality

Angus Burger:

Angus Burger as Advertised

Interesting Sticker

Angus Burger Box

Angus Burger in Reality

Big Mac Snack Wrap:

Big Mac Snack wrap as Advertised
Source: Health Kicker Website


Big Mac Snack Wrap Wrapped

Big Mac Snack Wrap in Reality

Big Mac Snack Wrap Opened

Promotional Buffalo Chicken Snack Wrap:

Buffalo Fried Chicken Snack Wrap as Advertised
Source: Orange County Register Website


Buffalo Fried Chicken Snack Wrap Wrapped

Buffalo Fried Chicken Snack Wrap In Reality

Buffalo Fried Chicken Snack Wrap Opened

The various photos come from foodiePrints' archives. We go to McDonald's somewhat rarely given the sheer number of locally-owned eat-in restaurants we have come across over the years. As for what we think of its various sandwiches, they are somewhat uninspired but nothing unexpected given McDonald's menu. To paraphrase an older entry, McDonald's food suffers form achieving economies scale. Its menu is a fixed one with limited options, prepared with assembly line efficiency. Having streamlined food preparation to ensure lowest cost no matter what ingredients are seasonal, this is the food McDonald's serves.

That said, I think McDonald's food stylists and photographers are very talented, transforming the reality of McDonald's menu into what we end up being marketed.

Almost 4 years ago now (2006), McDonald's entered the coffee wars, completely replacing its regular coffee with something that it felt embodied "gourmet." Essentially, it followed the leads of 7-Eleven convenience stores, Dunkin Donuts, and direct competitor Burger King. The idea, pair a re-formulated "premium roast" coffee with items on its regular menu at McDonald's value-oriented prices. It's not a bad one. Whereas most large coffee house chains like Starbuck's offer snacks to tempt the sweet tooth, sandwiches, and the odd soup, McDonald's offers a more meal-oriented menu. McDonald's, in turn, does not offer scones or biscotti, but does sell muffins. Presumably, its intention was to increase the convenience of purchasing coffee for harried parents of Happy Meal-aged children and young adults who stop by for a quick and inexpensive bite.

In Canada, the battlefield McDonald's entered with its premium roast coffee is presently dominated by national chain, Tim Hortons (Timmies). While Timmies doesn't serve burgers or fries, its many franchises are equipped to serve a full menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It does offer scones, tarts, and, its primary product, doughnuts. Also, a number of Timmies are paired with Wendy's, so patrons can pickup burgers and fries, walk a few paces, and purchase coffee.

Me, I tried McDonald's premium roast coffee last year. I found it on par with Timmie's, quality-wise.

Left: Tim Hortons, Right: McDonald's Coffee
Please note that I prefer coffee from any one of Ottawa's Bridgehead coffee houses, that only serve fair trade coffee. I find Timmie's a necessary evil, when I am not in the walking vicinity of a Bridgehead coffee house. I very rarely visit a McDonald's restaurant, but am a fan of their fries.

On January 25, 2010, Timmies, with 500 franchises in the United States since 2008, entered the breakfast wars by offering an English muffin-based breakfast sandwich at $1.99/each for a limited time. According to the Financial Post, NPD Group Canada tabulated a statistic that "Canada's biggest coffee chain has seemingly triumphed in the breakfast-sandwich segment over competitors McDonald's and Starbuck's with a 51% share." Analysts feel that Timmies intends to further its lead by directly competing with McDonald's.

To date, Timmies has avoided the confrontation, selling bagel-based and home-style biscuit-based breakfast sandwiches. Here is one I picked up while traveling on business to North Vancouver last summer.

Tim Horton's Breakfast Combo

Biscuit-based Breakfast Sandwich
The biscuit-based breakfast sandwich consisted of a hash brown (yes...a hash brown), a sausage pattie, an egg, a slice of processed cheese. It was a very salty and greasy meal.

Regarding English-muffin based breakfast sandwiches, McDonald's McMuffin breakfast icon was created in 1972 when the late Herb Peterson (a franchisee), decided to make a portable eggs benedict. I have yet to try Tim Horton's interpretation. It will be interesting to see what Tim Horton's does with it.

Eight months ago, I finished foodiePrints' piece on poutine and sent it into the blogosphere. Is it definitive? Far from it, but it combines just about everything I could gather together on the subject as of Fall 2008. Odds are it will be a living document. Already, some Quebec foodies have pointed out to me that some regions of the province feel that authentic poutine is served with a sauce brun. Elsewhere, it's a white sauce. I'll be looking into clarifying this in the near future.

That said, Ottawa sure has a lot of tweeps twittering away. Just take a look at Ottawa.meme.ca's growing list. Also, take a peek at Ottawa Start. Our fair city of a little over 874 thousand people (1.15 million if you count the entire metropolitan area) has dozens of "notable tweeps" and many more online.

So, yesterday evening (June 10, 2009), I put up a query with a hashtag (#bestpoutineinottawa) to local tweeps:

foodiePrints Jun 10, 11:37 PM
Ottawa tweeps, @pfqrst has put in her 2 cents for best poutine in town: corner of bank & maclaren. What say you? #bestpoutineinottawa

Fast Food Grocery
Pam's (@pfqrst) is the Fast Food Grocery at the corner of Bank and Maclaren. Its OttawaPlus.ca profile has an added comment referring to poutine. It received honorary mentions in Ottawa Xpress' 2006 and 2007 "Best of Ottawa" lists for poutine. It's often referred to as "the poutine place across from Barrymore's."

Speaking of the Ottawa Xpress' "Best of Ottawa" lists, under the poutine category, the Elgin Streeet Diner (374 Elgin) has taken the top prize for the past 4 years (2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008). Other honorable mentions include Sasha's (next to Dominion Tavern, 33 York), The Works (all locations), and The Chip Wagon (corner of Bank and Sunnyside).

Elgin Street Diner
An endorsement for Elgin Street Diner comes from @PaulLomax

PaulLomax Jun 11, 05:07 PM
@foodiePrints Elgin St Diner, even...

A second, from @jessrawk

jessrawk Jun 11, 05:37 PM
@foodiePrints I'll definitely second the Elgin Street Diner!

Glen's
Here's my 2 cents. I feel poutine is amazing street food and some of the best comes from snack trucks. When asked, I am known to refer to the "truckiness" quality of the poutine experience. My fav is Glen's on Richmond.

foodiePrints Jun 10, 11:55 PM
One my fav places for poutine in Ottawa is Glen's on Richmond Road:http://bit.ly/hHsAr #bestpoutineinottawa

Archie's Bunker Restaurant
Jessica's (@wangmo) fav is Archie's in Gloucester (1162 Cyrville):

wangmo Jun 11, 06:03 AM
@foodiePrints @pfqrst It has to be Archie's off of Cyrville? #bestpoutineinottawa

Unnamed at the corner of Cooper and Bank
@ChromeSushi's fav "truck poutine" is a truck at the corner of Cooper and Bank

ChromeSushi Jun 11, 08:51 AM
@foodiePrints If we're playing that game my favourite 'truck poutine' is the yellow truck at Cooper & Bank #bestpoutineinottawa

Jp's/Eric's (aka: Crispy Fries)
One of @momomoto's fav's is Jp's/Eric's

momomoto Jun 11, 09:33 PM
My vote for #bestpoutineinottawa depends on how far out we can go. If Alfred counts as in Ottawa, Kennebec. If it doesn't, then JP's/Eric's.

According to OttawaFoodies and Eric Monmart (presumably THE Eric), there are now two locations run by "JP's crew", one at the corner of Merivale and Hunt Club (Canadian Tire) and another at Clyde and Baseline (Value Village).

Unfortunately, I don't think the township of Alfred, Ontario counts as part of Ottawa. I could be wrong. However, I'll be sure to check out Kennebec Restaurant on 472 St-Philippe Street the next time I swing by that locale.

I will keep adding to this list any and all tweets for however long the hashtag survives.

For inspiration, click on the Hockey Forum Boards, hfboards.com. There, the Ottawa Senators' sub forum has an older thread on the subject of "Best Poutine in Ottawa/Gatineau."

It's always good to know of a decent place for poutine when you're in the neighbourhood. Besides, I want to know of a place I can hit up for poutine when all the trucks have gone home.

It seems that a rather old cartoon "open letter" from "Drew" at Left Handed Toons has lead to some renewed sandwich outrage amongst cheese enthusiast patrons of Subway.

Firstly, here is the cartoon:

Open Letter to Subway
Source: lefthandedtoons.com

Apparently, when a Subway employee posted a printed copy in the establishment he worked at, his "boss" took it seriously, responding with a "cheese" directive and putting up his own notice.

Notice
Source: lefthandedtoons.com

Accordingly, at the particular Subway franchise, the processed cheese triangles are positioned specifically to encourage non-coverage. This way, patrons will be encouraged to purchase "extra cheese" at $0.40 USD.

Nearly 2 years later (today), the image of the notice has re-surfaced on digg.com, garnering new controversy. Since its posting approximately 7 hours and 19 minutes ago, it has been dug 1094 times. Further, over 258 comments have been added. Many represent angry commentary about the state of fast food and poor service.

Me, I've another thought: If doubling the number of triangles to ensure coverage on a sandwich cost an extra $0.40 US in 2007 and two triangles make up a whole cheese slice, this means that that the particular subway franchise was charging $0.80 USD for 4 cheese slices ($0.20 USD/slice).

This week (week of May 25, 2009), Ontario's Food Basics stores are selling 500 g of Black Diamond cheese slices (24/package) for $2.00 CAD (approx. $1.78 USD or $0.07 USD/slice).

Cheese Slices on Sale
Source: Food Basics' Weekly Flyer

Admittedly, the retail price on Food Basics' flier is a sale, but it may signify that certain Subway franchises are making upwards of 100% profit on processed cheese. Arguably, the cheese slices are comparable. Subway's are thicker and smaller. Black Diamond's are thinner and larger.

Anyhow, just my 2 cents...

During the final months of 2008, Burger King ran taste tests of its flagship Whopper against the McDonald's Big Mac in remote areas of Thailand, Romania, and Greenland, areas where no one has ever heard of either. After teaser ads aired on television in the United States, the blogosphere erupted with accusations that Burger King is practicing fast food imperialism. Burger King prefers to refer to its marketing ploy as its "Whopper Virgin Campaign."

On December 17, 2008, Burger King issued a cease and desist order via Twitter to a user on Twitter who took the handle "whoppervirgins." In it, Burger King accused the user of infringing on their copy written trademark.

Twitter Cease and Desist
Source: Twitter.com

On December 18, 2008, Burger King releases a "men's body spray" called "Flame." It described its product as the "the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." Burger King even created a website for the "fragrance", and I'm using the term "fragrance" loosely.

Flame Website
"Flame" is reportedly selling for $4 USD in department stores. For curiosity's sake, here is what a bottle of "Flame" looks like.

Flame
Source: usatoday

In the new year (January 2009), Burger King created and launched a Facebook application that issues a one-per-user coupon to people who sacrifice 10 of their friends on the social-mega-site.

Delete 10 Friends for a Whopper
Source: whoppersacrifice.com

Oh, I should also point out that an American man has launched a lawsuit against Burger King over his suffering pain and suffering from discovering an unwrapped condom in his Whopper.

So let's sum up: Burger King wants men to smell like one of its burgers because it feels that the flame broiled scent attracts women. Burger King has decided that its regular market is saturated and is introducing fast food to remote regions of the world. Burger King feels that its burgers are worth severing ties with your friends or acquaintances.

Hmmm...Friendless, smelling like a burger, located in a remote region region of the world, and munching on a Whopper that may have a condom in it...

I'm going to "sacrifice" Burger King until further notice. If its management can authorize such a random assortment of marketing in the expanse of 2 months, I don't want to know what's going on with its food!