Episode 1.7 Fast Food Places Ranked - The Middle School Mind

On this podcast episode, Son ranks his favorite fast food restaurants that kids can relate to.

Many kids love fast food. It’s relatively inexpensive, readily available and tastes oh so good. If you’re a kid and especially if you live in the United States like us, you already know what fast food is. In case you need a refresher, QSR Magazine ranked the top 50 fast food restaurants in America in this article.

On this episode, Son ranks his top 13 fast food restaurants from least favorite to his favorite in the list below:

#13 Chipotle

Image of Chipotle's tortilla chips with guacamole — Chips with lime. Who wants to eat sour chips? Image courtesy of USA Today.

#12 Papa John’s

Image of Papa John's pizza offerings featuring sausage, peppers, pepperoni and cheese — Tastes great for fast food pizza, but does not sit well with Son’s tummy. He may be lactose intolerant. We should probably get that checked out. Image courtesy of Papa Johns.

#11 McDonald’s

Coming in at #11, this may be pretty controversial for Mickey D’s. Son prefers the chicken nuggets and Dad loves breakfast all day. Dad falls for the McRib marketing every year.

#10 Subway

Image of Subway's club sandwich with ham, turkey and fresh veggies on fresh baked bread — The Subway Club sandwich. Wish it tasted as good as this looks. Image courtesy of Subway.

The good: customizable to your tastes. The bad: their sandwiches.

#9 Domino’s

Close up image of Domino's garlic bread twists side — Domino’s garlic bread twists. Image courtesy of Business Insider article comparing Pizza Hut and Domino’s.

Decent pizza option and the breadsticks are a favorite. Garlic knots are tasty and they have come out with dessert type knots with cinnamon dipping sauce.

#8 Jimmy John’s

Image of Jimmy John's Ultimate Porker sandwich with ham, bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise — Son’s go-to is the #17, the Ultimate Porker ham, bacon, lettuce tomato and mayo. Minus the lettuce and tomato. Image courtesy of Jimmy Johns.

Better ingredients and better tasting than Subway. Son gets the Ultimate Porker and Dad gets the Beach Club.

#7 Panera Bread

Image of Panera Bread's famous mac and cheese now available in single serve cups at your grocer's freezer — Did you know that Panera’s amazing mac and cheese is now sold in your grocer’s freezer in single servings? We get ours at Costco when we don’t want to make the trip out to Panera. Image courtesy of Costco.

Son loves the mac and cheese and the bread. He can’t have a lot of other items at Panera because of his food allergies. Take a listen to our previous episode on why Food Allergies Bite!

#6 Culver’s

Image of Culver's famous offering of butter burgers, cheese curds and delicious custard desserts — If we had a say in the five major food groups, this Culver’s menu offering has it covered: Butterburgers, french fries, cheese curds, onion rings and amazing frozen custard. Image courtesy of Winston-Salem journalnow.com.

This is our go-to spot since we have one so close to home. Burgers are great and son loves the real chicken in their chicken tenders. We all agree that the cheese curds and frozen custard make this a family favorite.

Culver’s gets an A+ since both kids can get their custard if you ask for a “fresh scoop” as they are great at accommodating their food allergies.

#5 Wendy’s

Image of Wendy's breakfast offering of breakfast sandwiches and breakfast potatoes — Wendy’s breakfast offering has been a hit since it was launched in 2020. Image courtesy of CNN.com.

More flavorful nuggets than McDonald’s. Son also likes their new breakfast offering Wendy’s launched in the last few years. Fresh never frozen beef is amazing.

#4 Taco Bell

Image of Taco Bell's famouse Doritos Locos Tacos — Image courtesy of LA Times.

Nachos and soft beef tacos are Son’s go-to. The Doritos Locos tacos sound interesting and something Son wants to try in the future. The Bell’s Freeze frozen drink selection is also a favorite in the summertime.

#3 Popeye’s

Image of a proper three piece bone-in chicken meal at Popeye's complete with buttermilk biscuit and French fries — Image courtesy of Popeye’s.

Son hasn’t been here frequently, but his one-time experience with the fried chicken was memorable.

We talk about the Popeye’s Chicken Sandwich and the craziness it created when it was first introduced.

#2 Boston Market

Image of rotisserie chicken meal at Boston Market with mac and cheese, roasted vegetables and corn bread — According to Son, the good stuff is Boston Market chicken, corn bread and mac and cheese. Image courtesy of Boston Market.

According to Son, Boston Market is everything you want. The good stuff. Rotisserie chicken, corn bread and mac and cheese are his favorites.

#1 Portillo’s

Tops on this list, Midwest chain, Portillo's, serves char-broiled burgers, Italian beef sandwiches, and an amazing chocolate cake and shakes — Char-Broiled burgers make this place a winner for Son. Image courtesy of Portillo’s.

This is a big chain in the Chicago area and is expanding outside the region to California, Phoenix, Florida, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Detroit.

For people who aren’t near those locations, there’s also one in Orlando, Florida that opened in 2021 if you happen to be visiting Disney World, Universal Orlando and other parks in the Orlando area. Many families with kids visit the Orlando area and Portillo’s would be a great kid-friendly, fast food option if you are in the are!

Son loves the char-broiled burgers, cheese fries and the chocolate eclair cake. Portillo’s has amazing chocolate cake and the chocolate cake shake. During the summer months, Portillos’s brings back their lemon cake which is so refreshing.

Portillo's amazing dessert and shake offerings on display — Finish off your Portillo’s experience with any of their amazing desserts. Son loves the chocolate eclair cake while the chocolate cake is a fan favorite. Image courtesy of Portillo’s.

Do you agree or disagree with Son’s list? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please visit our Contact Us page, our Facebook page or leave a review where ever you listen to your favorite podcasts!

Thanks to all of our listeners. We appreciate your support!

The Middle School Mind podcast is getting noticed! Feedspot.com listed our podcast #4 in their list of 35 Best Tween podcasts. It’s a great feeling to get recognized.

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If you want to listen to more episodes talking about life in school, take a listen to our episode on The School Resource Officer and all the information they have to keep kids safe on-line and in real life!

Special Thanks

MyInstants.com “sad trombone” and “applause” sound effects used during our Restaurant Slogan Quiz segment
“One Day Soon” by Smith the Mister is the opening and ending song for The Middle School Mind podcast

For more episodes of The Middle School Mind podcast, check out our latest podcasts below

2.12 The Goodbye Episode – The Middle School Mind

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. After months of deliberation and soul-searching Father and Son publish their last and final episode of The Middle School Mind podcast. After nearly 18 months and over 35+ episodes, on this episode: We say goodbye to our listeners We talk about what's next for Son We hear from some of our past guests Of course we get a little silly And we play one last game So sit back, relax, grab the Kleenex and stick around for our very special goodbye episode. We think kid's voices are under represented in the podcast space. Even though we are leaving, we encourage you to visit Kids Listen. This organization is a grassroots organization of advocates for high-quality audio content for children. The Middle School Mind is a proud member of Kids Listen and, with our show ending, we encourage kids and families to find other interesting and engaging podcasts for kids. Through this adventure, we connected with the creator of Sound Carrot. This website was founded by a father/daughter team with the goal to help younger listeners find amazing children's podcasts. We hope this resource helps parents and kids find other kid's voices that you want to listen to and hear more from. We also believe that kids can create their own podcasts! Last summer we launched a three-part series encouraging kids to make their own kids' podcasts. You can find the episodes here: 1.20 Make Your Own Kid Podcast 1 1.21 Make Your Own Kid Podcast 2 1.22 Make Your Own Kid Podcast 3 Thank you to The Middle School Mind listeners and even our future listeners. We enjoyed making these episodes together and sharing them with you. This time was special for us and we will look back at this show as an amazing point in time where we talked about what was on Son's mind or relevant pop culture during this time. If you loved listening to the show and want to connect with us, e-mail us at: middleschoolmind.podcast@gmail.com. We are happy to connect if you want to talk about creating your own podcast for your child or, potentially, if you are interested in having your middle schooler take over The Middle School Mind, let's chat. We always knew that The Middle School Mind was going to last at most, 3 years, with Son and I. But amazing shows like Star Trek had Star Trek: The Next Generation and Saved By The Bell had Saved By The Bell: The New Class introduced a new cast of characters while providing new stories and fresh perspectives. It would be amazing to have a Mother/Daughter voice leading the show or a parent/child from a different part of the country or even a completely different country! It's the unique perspectives that help us all learn and appreciate each other. Enjoy The Goodbye Episode and thank you for being part of our show. Sincerely, Father & Son — Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themiddleschoolmind/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themiddleschoolmind/support