1) White Castle!!!!!!!!
Damn straight.
I could go for a sack full right now, with extra onions.
I remember when they were 12 cents each. My lunch money generally went to stuff like a sack of six White Castles, or a Hebrew National frank with mustard and sauerkraut with a knish (fifty cents total, a quarter each, REAL beef hotdog, with REAL gut casing, Mmmmmmm.....), or, a slice of pizza -- 15 cents, HUGE slice (the whole pie must have been close to the size of a wagon wheel), served up by a guy who could barely speak any English, thick AUTHENTIC Italian accent, who made the BEST pizza in the entire world.)
Back then, "toppings" were little chocolate crumbs you'd sprinkle on an ice cream cone. Pizza was enjoyed PURE -- crust, sauce, cheese... with a wee bit of oregano sprinkled on it, and every now and then some crushed red pepper.
You'd eat it carefully -- it was scalding hot, and handed to you with a proper fold to the slice, on a stack of wax paper and napkin -- you'd take it carefully, and hold it carefully, and take the tiniest nibbles off the end until it cooled down a bit. If you were NOT careful, it'd peel the skin off your leg right through your pants after the molten bubbling cheese and sauce slid off the crust (thin, crisp on the bottom soft on the top, with BIG crust-edge filled with huge air bubbles).
You really had to be there back then to know what GOOD fast food was like. ("There" being da Bronx in the early 1960s.)
Now, I'm in the OTHER "early sixties" (I still don't feel like a grownup, go figure), and I have to endure store-bought frozen White Castles (better than nothing, but not even close to the real deal, but when you live far, far away from the closest White Castle...)
As to pizza, I gave up completely, when I learned that they're using amino acids derived from human hair harvested from hospitals and prisons in China, to give the crust the "right" texture. You can't make this stuff up, ugh.
Pizza!!!....Now we’re Talking!!!
I worked for 10 years (and now own) a restaurant/bar/pub.
Once I learned to make my OWN dough, toss it(NOT ROLL IT- EVER) and apply my own toppings( personal favorite- virgin olive oil,provolone,garlic,basil) you would not catch me buying store bought, Pizza Hut or ANY take out pizza brand EVER!!!!
However, if I’m home in Syracuse, I will grab a slice from some of my favorite local joints.
White Castle—I would road trip up to 400 miles one way just for a sack!!!
And if I have read their web page correctly, one will soon open in Dallas about 190 miles from me.....I’m counting the days!!!
You'd eat it carefully -- it was scalding hot, and handed to you with a proper fold to the slice, on a stack of wax paper and napkin -- you'd take it carefully, and hold it carefully, and take the tiniest nibbles off the end until it cooled down a bit. If you were NOT careful, it'd peel the skin off your leg right through your pants after the molten bubbling cheese and sauce slid off the crust (thin, crisp on the bottom soft on the top, with BIG crust-edge filled with huge air bubbles).
You've just described Arinell's Pizza in Berkeley, California. Look it up next time you're in town.