Cavalcade of Awesome

Fast food menus are constantly in flux. They will add and remove things as times and tastes change. However, since everything uses the same basic ingredients, it’s usually still within a fast food restaurant’s power to make these discontinued items if they are so inclined. This is how a “secret menu” is created. Items that have been discontinued but can still be ordered because they still have the stuff there to make it, they just don’t advertise it. Many of our favorite fast food places have these “hidden” menu items, and if you Google hard enough, you’ll find them.

Or, you can just have me do it for you.  Here are some of the “hidden menu” items you can still find at some of our favorite fast food places.

In ‘n Out Burger has the most well known of the “secret menus”. It’s most well known because they actually posted it on their website (thereby negating the “secret” part). You can get a grilled cheese, “Animal Style” burgers (mustard grilled burgers, cheese, grilled onions) as well as “Animal Style” fries (same toppings as the burgers) and burgers labeled like they were lumber; 3×3 (3 patties and 3 cheese slices) and 4×4 (4 patties and 4 slices of cheese).  They even go all the way up to a 100 x 100 burger which you need two friends to help you carry out of the restaurant.  And in a great reference to a Blues Brothers song (Rubber Biscuit) In-n-Out has a secret sandwich called a “Wish Burger”.  As the song says, a “Wish Burger [sandwich]” is the kind of a sandwich, “where you have two slices of bread and you, hehehehehe, WISH you had some meat!  Bow, Bow, Bow!”  The buns are piled high with lettuce, onions, double tomatoes and sauce.

If you go to Starbucks there are a plethora of options for you to choose from that aren’t specifically on the menu. Tired of feeling hemmed in by the size choices and paying $5 for a small? Order the original small size (before Starbucks supersized their choices) — it’s called Short (currently the kid’s size).  How about a Cap’n Crunch Berry Frappuccino which involves a Strawberries & Cream Frappucino with a pump of hazelnut flavoring?  It supposedly tastes just like the cereal. For you caffeine cowboys out there order up The Red Eye which is a normal drip coffee with an extra shot of espresso. Want two shots of espresso? It’s a Black Eye. Don’t feel like sleeping the next two days? Try a Green Eye (3 shots of espresso).  FYI, if you want an extra shot of espresso at Dunkin’ Donuts it’s called a Turbo Hot Coffee.

According to the McDonald’s employee group at Live Journal, there are tons of creations you can order “off the menu”. How about a Neopolitan milkshake? It’s a mixture of the strawberry, vanilla and chocolate shakes.  Or the awesomely named McGangbang, which is a McChicken sandwich in the middle of a double cheeseburger.  If you think your arteries are getting a bit loose, try the Monster Mac which is a Big Mac with 8 burger patties.  That’ll harden up those loose arteries in no time.  Also try the Chicken & Waffles; it’s a McGriddle sandwich with chicken instead of sausage.  Or, if you want a sampling of everything, try the Land, Sea & Air Burger which consists of a hamburger patty, a Filet-O-Fish and a chicken patty stacked on top of each other, separated with cheese and between two buns.  See all the fun you can get into at Mickey D’s?

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