Two birds, one stone. Day-drinking at Red Brick Brewing, Georgia's oldest brewery wouldn't be complete without some old-fashioned fast food. Cook-Out is the oldest fast-food my body knows, and it's pure gastric nostalgia. Cook-Out is confined to the south, and I haven't seen it in years! It takes me all the way back to my collegiate glory-days when my practically-adolescent body could burn off an entire Cook-Out tray in under an hour.
The best tray is one that combines all the classics. The Spicy Chicken is hot-breaded and delightfully fried, but it doesn't burn like it used to. It's best when combined with corny Hush Puppies and their Chicken Nuggets. Both come with a signature coat of grease. There is not a single thing that's not fried, and that's how it should be.
What do you call cheese that belongs to someone else? Na-cho cheese! Call that burger Cheddar Style all you want, but it's really just covered with a volcano's worth of melted artificial orange. They drizzle it generously like a lava-burst over expertly-caramelized onions that are surprisingly very well-made.
Wash it all down with a Peanut Butter Milkshake or my favorite Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshake, because there's not enough dairy in that burger. The ice cream is so thick you have to use a spoon until it starts to melt. Don't like either flavor? No problem. Choose something else from the board - you have at least another 30 other flavors to peruse.
Strangely enough, my stomach doesn't even put up a fight. It almost hungers for this kind of food after so many years of organic and gourmet. It embraces this American pastime, the drive-thru, never mind that this one has indoor seating. The face of fast food has changed so much since the first time I raced through Cook-Out with a brand new license and three friends in tow. With all the stink over grilled salads and McCafe, places like Cook-Out are facing extinction. But I hope they survive, and I really hope they thrive!
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