Have you ever been to a Taco John's? If you haven't spent much time in the Midwest, there's a chance that you haven't. 



While traveling through Ohio, I found a Taco John's location. The Mexican-inspired fast food chain offers tacos, burritos, bowls, nachos and more - standard fare.



I ordered Mexican donut bites, which are little fried bits of dough with sugar - you can't really go wrong, right?



I also tried out a breakfast burrito. Pretty standard, run of the mill burrito with scrambled egg, cheese, potatoes, peppers and sausage. Warm, slightly mushy and pretty average. But, it does the job. 

I don't think it's any secret that Dairy Queen is probably my favorite fast food restaurant. Who doesn't love ice cream? Apologies to my lactose-intolerant friends.



But this post isn't about ice cream. After all, that's pretty much the same in every Dairy Queen location. Instead, it's about the "local menu" - the food.

There are quite a few Dairy Queens in West Virginia that opt into the Dairy Queen ice cream line, but the food side is their own creation. For instance, The Hinton Dairy Queen is well-known for having stellar hot dogs. And, I recall going to the Princeton Dairy Queen, which had homemade burgers and other food.



Recently, friends pointed me in the direction of the Eleanor Dairy Queen, singing the praises of those hot dogs. And, they were right. English bun, chili, slaw, mustard, onions - on point. Plus breaded mushrooms? Absolute heaven.

Grade: A

So while driving through North Carolina, I saw "Biscuitville," a local chain specializing in fresh biscuits.


"Biscuitville Fresh Southern® is a family-owned and privately-held chain of quick-casual restaurants known for authentic Southern food made fresh daily from locally sourced ingredients. We currently have 55 locations in North Carolina and Virginia. Originally based in Graham, North Carolina, the corporate headquarters moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, in 2007."


Since I was just passing through, I went through the drive-thru and ordered a spicy chicken and honey biscuit.


As well as strawberry muffin!


Not too shabby.

As I've said before, my heart is in supporting local establishments. But, it's also fun to check out regional chains sometimes, too.


When I saw Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, I had to check it out. Based in Kansas, Freddy's features steakburgers - which are flattened burgers and frozen custard.


I tried their signature Turtle concrete, which comes with "fresh & creamy vanilla custard, hot fudge, hot caramel, toasted pecans, whipped cream & a cherry."

I mean, you can't go wrong with that.

O'Charley's is a chain restaurant with more than 200 locations in the country. But there are very few in West Virginia, so I wanted to go check it out.


I placed an order spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips.


And the Garlic Shrimp Pasta - Tender shrimp sauteed in our crushed tomato and garlic sauce. Tossed with linguini and topped with parmesan cheese and seasoned bread crumbs. Not too shabby.

I've been to Shoney's a few times - in Princeton and in Morgantown.

But I've been wanting to try the Charleston location because it's the city where Shoney's was born.

In 1947, Alex Schoenbaum opened the Parkette Drive-In next to his father’s bowling alley in Charleston, West Virginia. After meeting with Big Boy founder Bob Wian in 1951, Schoenbaum became a Big Boy franchisee on February 7, 1952, now calling his several locations the Parkette Big Boy Shoppes. In May 1954, a public "Name the Parkette Big Boy Contest" was announced, and in June 1954 Schoenbaum's five Parkette Drive-Ins were rebranded as Shoney's.

Shoney's (the Parkette) was originally the Big Boy franchisee for West Virginia; however, Schoenbaum rapidly grew the chain through subfranchising, expanding his Big Boy territory through the southeastern United States, excluding Florida only because the rights already belonged to fellow Big Boy franchisee Frisch's.

Schoenbaum's earliest subfranchisees operated under their own names. In 1955, Leonard Goldstein became a subfranchisee in Roanoke, Virginia. Originally operating as Shoney's, he eventually changed to Lendy's Big Boy after another Shoney's subfranchisee called Yoda's Big Boy opened across town. In 1956 a subfranchise was sold to the Boury brothers in northern West Virginia, who operated as Elby's. Elby's, Lendy's, and Yoda's units were originally listed with Shoney's units on the back of the Shoney's menu. Also in 1956, Schoenbaum sold a subfranchise to Abe Becker in Rochester, New York, for Becker's Big Boy. Two Philadelphia area subfranchises, Tunes and Arnold's, were opened during this period as well. In 1959 Shap's Big Boy was subfranchised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, later assuming the Shoney's name. After this, all subfranchises went by the name Shoney's.

Doubling in size every four years, Shoney's became the largest Big Boy franchisee, operating over one third of the Big Boy restaurants nationwide. As Shoney's dominated Big Boy, a 1959 franchisee named Raymond Danner would dominate Shoney's, acquiring the company in 1971 (WIKIPEDIA).

The great thing about Shoney's is that it's close to my work, and they have a buffet. So, it's an easy lunch trip. I met my friend Dawn and we happened to be visiting on a "comfort food" buffet day.

So there was meatloaf, lasagna, fried chicken, fish, etc.

I piled a plate full of some of my favorites - including mac & cheese, pulled pork and garlic bread - and was stuffed to the gills for my lunch. Have you been?

Listen, I know Cook Out is a chain. But I had never been to one before - and there's only two in the state: in Huntington and Beckley.

The interesting thing about Cook Out is how they structure their menu - you can get a main, and then the sides are unique - like a corn dog or quesadilla. I went with a pulled pork sandwich and sides of a corndog and hushpuppies.

Roy Rogers is a regional chain, which has one location in West Virginia (Ranson), and I was driving through Maryland one early morning when I saw another location.



The breakfast menu isn't huge, but I saw the egg & cheese sourdough sandwich, which is different. So I tried it. Meh.



Their brekfast fries are kind of like thick chips. Not bad.

Have you been here? What's your favorite regional chain?

I've been curious about Giovanni's since I've seen a number of them in southern West Virginia.

This pizza chain has locations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. And, there's one right in Charleston.

It's located on Spring Street. So, I called in an order and went to pick it up.

Morgantown is now home to a Smoothie King, a smoothie chain focused on health. Located in the retail area of University Park, Smoothie King has a drive-thru as well as a sit-down area in the space next to the gym.

From the beginning, founder Steve Kuhnau started blending for a purpose – solving his chronic food allergies. Handcrafted by our blendologists, every one of our Smoothies is still blended with a purpose – yours. Power a workout, lose weight or make food choices you feel good about with the right nutritious Smoothie for your goals and Healthy Rewards tailored just for you.

I've never been to this chain before, so I was actually excited to see what it's about. Their smoothies are split into four categories: slim blends, wellness blends, fitness blends and take a break blends. There are a number of "enhancers" you can add ... much of which I glossed over in favor of something that just tastes good.

So I tried the "Berry Punch," which has "Strawberries, Raspberry Sorbet, Blueberry Juice Blend, Electrolyte Mix." I tried to pick the smoothie with the most natural ingredients that I was familiar with. No extra protein powders or other stuff here. And, this was actually really good. Cool, sweet, delicious. Not sure it's something I'd do on the regular, but maybe once in a while as a nice cool treat that doesn't make me feel tooo guilty.
It's a larger chain, but I believe it's the only location in West Virginia. Has anyone else been? What's your favorite smoothie?

Did you know there are only a handful of Firehouse Subs in West Virginia? So few that I had never even been to one until the recent opening of the location at University Town Center. Two are in Charleston, one in Bridgeport, one in Fairmont, one in Huntington, one in Vienna and one in White Hall. And, Morgantown is the newest.

My thoughts? Not bad for a chain.

No, I'm not turning in Marilyn Hagerty. Promise (though she is kind of a badass, tbh). I never thought I'd ever write about a McDonald's ...

BUT THE ONE IN SPENCER, WEST VIRGINIA, HAS PIZZA.

PIZZA.

It's just one of two locations left in the United States that still serves pizza. This was kind of a BFD a few months back when this discovery went viral on the web. The Daily Mail even made the trip to try it for themselves. Two McDonald's left in the United States that still serve pizza, and one is right in Spencer, West Virginia.

My friends were shocked when I suggested McDonald's. I'm a fierce advocate of NOT chain restaurants, but c'mon.

The McPizza was launched in the late '80s and was gone from menus by the late '90s due to its long cooking time - 11 minutes. However, Greg Mills, who owns a McDonald's store in Pomeroy, Ohio, and Spencer, West Virginia, continues to keep pizzas on the menu.



When I went into the McDonald's, I thought maybe I flubbed and went to the wrong location. I just saw the menu plastered with Big Macs and Quarter Pounders. BUT, off to the side was the pizza menu.

They come in both personal and family sizes. You can get cheese, pepperoni, sausage or deluxe. Or you can add on a second family pizza for a deal. Additional toppings include pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, sausage, green peppers and cheese. I squealed with excitement. The woman behind the counter said something like "y'all ain't from around here, huh?" I realized I was acting like a fangirl. I had to calm down. I ordered a personal cheese pizza with mushrooms.

Apparently the pizzas are popular sellers. The woman warned us it would take a little while. That was A-OK with me. We took our drinks and sat down.

Side note: Maggie had never had a Big Mac before (wtf?), so she ordered one. Isn't she adorable?

So, the verdict: You know, the pizza is alright. The sauce is indeed sweet, the crust was lightly crispy and a bit greasy. They don't skimp on the cheese, which I totally dig. It wasn't bad. It's about where I'd expect a McDonald's pizza to be.