I am not averse to fast food but any more I'd just as soon skip it than yell into a box to someone that doesn't want to be there to give me something I don't really like. I tend to gravitate to hole in the wall/mom & pop places for unique or traditional/old school stuff. When travelling, whether by car or RV we'll usually cruise surface streets along the way in search of such places and as long as it's not a chain, it gets the nod. It's rare we're disappointed and it becomes a memory rather than just a gut bomb.
There's a place just north of Milwaukee by the Koss headphone plant off I-43 called Solly's. Been there since before WWII, my mom went there when she was a kid in the 40's and it's still the same. Their schtick is a butter burger but even more so than the ones you get at Culver's. The bricks of butter are stacked up next to the grill and it's copiously dished out to fry the burger, onions and toast the bun. Then in a final act of cholesterol mockery, a spatula is used to put a giant blob on the burger as the bun is applied, and it's deposited in front of you in all it's oozing glory. Have napkins handy. That, a small order of fries and a locally brewed Sprecher root beer rounds out the raw carb, protein and starch cardiac assault. From there we go to Sprecher Brewery a couple blocks away and stock up on a few cases of beer and gourmet soda that's world class.
Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM