Carl's Jr - US Burger chain now open at Central Festival

[2lz2p]

I just received the following email from a friend:

I was at Central Festival Mall and found that the Carl's Jr is now open.

I had lunch and would say the meal compares quite favorably to those that I have had at their US locations. One of manager staff, who speaks excellent English, had worked at a California branch before coming here.

The basic Star Burger comes with cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions, tomato, mayonnaise and ketchup. The combo with natural cut fries and a drink is 193 baht.

Besides lots of burgers, the menu includes chicken dishes, fish and chips, salads and onion rings.

I personally have not eaten at a Carl's Jr in USA - but knowing my friend, I will certainly be giving this one a try in the near future.

[DeE]

That is interesting news as I always enjoyed Carl's Jr. burgers and their onion rings.

Not sure about other American branches, but the San Diego and Los Angeles county stores would be char-broiled fresh (as you could actually view the burger on the char-broiler machine).

Please let us know if they are actually char broiled if you get there before I do.

Cheers.....

[Gaybutton]

their onion rings.

Onion rings? Yay! I haven't had any decent onion rings since Crabby left town. I'm guessing Carl's is a west coast operation. I lived in Florida and never heard of them until right now. If you've had the hamburgers and onion rings "Secret Chef" used to make at Corner Bar, how does Carl's compare?

[lvdkeyes]

I had lunch at Carl's yesterday and I found it to be the same as I remember in the US. It's on the third floor opposite the Food Loft.

[DeE]

I enjoyed Crabby’s burgers several times along with the onion rings—which were the best I have had in Thailand. The burgers were good but the buns were never grilled and barely warm.

I like hot buns with my meat.

Hence it isn’t fair to compare Crabby burgers with Carl’s Jr. burgers (in California) because the quality of beef they used at the time was far better than what you can buy here. But I will say Crabby's onion rings were better tasting than Carl's Jr. Maybe because they were made fresh to order?

One of the trademark secrets with Carl’s was their freshly cooked char-broiled hamburger patties that really tasted good to me.
As far as national hamburger fast food chains were concerned, I thought Carl’s Jr. rated number 2.

The number one chain operated fast food burgers in southern California (in my opinion) is a place called “Original Tommy’s” which were Dynamite---nothing came close when comparing fast food joints like McDee’s, Jack In The Box, Wendy’s, Burger King and a half a dozen others that I can’t remember.

http://originaltommys.com/

I am hoping that Carl’s Jr. here in Pattaya still cook their hamburgers using the char-broiled method.

Cheers...

[lvdkeyes]

For me the best chain burger restaurant in the US is In-and-Out Burger. Far superior to the closest second. IMHO

[Gaybutton]

For me, the best chain hamburgers in Florida were . . . hmmmm, come to think of it, there weren't any!

[Trongpai]

I used to be a fan of: http://www.fuddruckers.com/index.php
But,
My favorate is a British chain: http://www.gbk.co.uk/

[thaiworthy]

While the food at Carl's Jr is good, the Founder Carl Karcher is a different story. I actually met him in the early 90s. He gave me a coupon for a free hot dog. The company is headquartered in Anaheim, California, in the heart of conservative Orange County. The man was extremely anti-gay and wide practiced employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. If you weren't married with 3 kids, he wouldn't hire you. My friends and I worked for a competitor, and his reputation was well-known. Throughout the eighties and early nineties, he was frequently on the gay agenda for being known as one of the most anti-gay and bigoted entrepreneurs in the State. Here is what he did in the late seventies, which launched his hate campaign ever since.

In 1978, he contributed $1 million USD to California's anti-gay Proposition 6 initiative, also known as the Briggs Initiative. He was the initiative's biggest financial supporter. The proposition was a ballot measure requiring the termination of all gays and lesbians from employment in public schools. The initiative was defeated by over one million votes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Karcher

California Proposition 6 was an initiative on the California State ballot on November 7, 1978, and was more commonly known as The Briggs Initiative. Sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislator from Orange County, the failed initiative would have banned gays and lesbians, and possibly anyone who supported gay rights, from working in California's public schools. The Briggs Initiative was the first failure in a movement that started with the successful campaign headed by Anita Bryant and her organization Save Our Children in Dade County, Florida to repeal a local gay rights ordinance.

Harvey Milk was instrumental in fighting the measure and opposition from Ronald Reagan helped defeat it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briggs_Initiative

Carl was quite a breeder, with 12 children. One son became a Catholic priest. Karcher was a member of the John Birch Society and finally succumbed to his death on his 90th birthday on January 16, 2008. Good riddance-- as far as I am concerned. You folks can do what you want, and maybe the organization has changed since then, but you won't find me eating this food, no matter what it tastes like. While you are dining on his hamburgers and french fries, do keep in mind of the 1 million dollars he doled out of his own pocket to keep you from earning a living. Bon appetite.

[Gaybutton]

You folks can do what you want, and maybe the organization has changed since then, but you won't find me eating this food, no matter what it tastes like. While you are dining on his hamburgers and french fries, do keep in mind of the 1 million dollars he doled out of his own pocket to keep you from earning a living. Bon appetite.

I've never heard of him or his burger chain until this thread, but unless the company still refuses to employ gays, I fail to see the point of boycotting the place if the man is dead. If it's a question of "Carl is gone, but his policies live on forever" I could understand where you're coming from. But since he's dead, and gays never lost their right to be teachers in California, and if the company now does employ gays, then if I like the hamburger I'll enjoy every guilt-free bite of it.

What did you do with the hotdog coupon?