Let's talk about the deluge of fast food places in Morgantown recently.

Chipotle
This is the, possibly, the most anticipated restaurant opening of the year. And, I think possibly my most retweeted tweet ever when I broke the news. Despite the E. coli, Salmonella and norovirus outbreaks at Chipotle locations, Morgantown was undeterred. This place has been packed pretty much since it opened. My thoughts? It's decent. Am I crazy over it? Not at all. Is it an OK option in the area? Sure.

Starbucks
Connected to the new Chipotle up near the University Town Centre, a new Starbucks is in town. We have a standalone one in the Suncrest area, and there's one at Target and the B&N Bookstores. So, I'm sure people are happy to see this. I'll be making a few visits, if only because I got some Starbucks giftcards for Christmas.



IHOP
A new IHOP opened up at University Park. I actually think it's a good idea to have a 24-hour place for students (and community members). Our other IHOP is only open 24 hours on the weekends, and I would've loved a place like this for all-nighters.


Sheetz

I finally made it to New York City - the place I dreamed of since I was a little girl. I thought one day I could be the editor of the New York Times. Lofty goals, I know. But I had never had the chance to visit New York City ... until this fall. I meticulously planned places to go, things to see and, of course, food to eat.

My incredible friends Kaitlynn and Josh drove into the city from Boston on a Friday night. As soon as we got to the city, we immediately went to Grand Central Terminal - a beautiful, beautiful site.

Not only did I want to see Grand Central Terminal, but I could also get a burger at Shake Shack. It was pretty busy, so we got in line and waited our turn. I paid. Then, we got a buzzer for when our order would be ready. When mine went off, I went to the front of the line. The woman behind the counter grabbed the bag with my name on it, looked up and said "it's empty." I gave her a puzzled look back. "That means somebody probably took it." Oh. So, my order went back in queue, and I waited some more.

When my buzzer went off this time, my burger was there - as well as a complementary order of fries for having to wait. I took my single Shackburger (cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce) and order of fries back to an open table.

These burgers are good! For a fast food burger, it's damn good. It's a good patty, the toppings were fresh, and I dig the sauce.

And even though I didn't order the fries, they were still good. Free fries taste even better.

Grade: A

Five Guys Burgers and Fries has finally opened, after months of anticipation. I hadn't had much experience with the restaurant, so I was hesitant to get too excited. But people were really going crazy over it. A few updates in the student newspaper, numerous questions to their Twitter handle, and people driving by the location to see when it opened.


Today was the day. And I was there. But since I try to focus my blog on local food, I won't go too in-depth on my opinion of the restaurant. The menu was pretty basic, as they just specialize in a few things. You get to see them make your burger. Basically, I thought it was an average burger joint. They give you a ton of fries. I'd prefer a local place like Tailpipes.


But one thing is very interesting about this place: It has a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. What is this? Well, it's a machine that can make just about any pop that you want. You press a button for which type of pop you want, and then it pops up with variations of that pop. There are 100+ combinations. For example, if you press "Coke," you get options of "Coke Vanilla" "Coke Raspberry" "Cherry Coke", etc. The only other place to have a Freestyle machine in West Virginia was Weston's Wendys. So Morgantown has West Virginia's second machine.

I've mentioned that when I get a fountain drink, I usually mix a variety of options, including (but not limited to) Coke, Pibb, and a lemon-lime soda. It's quite tasty, and it reminds me of my younger days, going to the softball park and ordering at the concession stand. They had a drink called "graveyard," which mixed all of their pops together.

This machine is kind of revolutionary, in my opinion. It is stocked with so many different options, there has to be something there for everyone. Has anyone used this machine before? Any combinations that are rocking your world?