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Cook Out

So I've been in NC now a little over two months, and the whole "fast food" difference thing has warn off.  We've eaten at just about all of them, and any novelty has worn off.  There was however one that I had heard whispers about, but had never bothered to get around going to: Cook Out.

The main strike against Cook Out in our eyes was the whole grilling aspect of them.  Tara does not like burgers on a grill, and that's one of the main appeals of Cook Out.  In fact, the little I've seen online about them (they don't have a website at all) raved about the burgers just like you would have made on the backyard barbeque.  Not a strong selling point, especially to a woman who spent the majority of her life across the street from a Burger King, having to smell "flame broiling" every day of her childhood.

However, people still raved over this place, so in a recent drive to scope out possible eating establishments near work, I saw that there was one nearby.  Today, I gave it a shot, since I was by myself and I don't have a personal prejudice against grilled burgers.

I didn't get a burger - I don't know how they are.  However, I ended up getting their combo plate thing, which gives you a sandwich (burger, chicken, or barbeque and possibly some other stuff), two sides, and a drink for $3.99.  I likes me some barbeque, so I went with that, got hush puppies and cole slaw, and dropped the extra 80 cents I think it was to get a shake.  I had heard about the shakes.  Get the shakes, the intranets said.  Being a big "order and move" guy, I was horrified to see a huge list of shakes on the menu.  I caught a glance of "peanut butter & banana", so I went with that.

Damn, that was good stuff.  The barbeque was very good, although I'm learning about the "no slaw/slaw on the side" warning I got from another non-local.  My barbeque sandwich had a decent amount of que, but had a heaping pile of slaw on top of it.  Since the slaw wasn't that good, it kind of downplayed what was otherwise a very good sandwich.

As I mentioned, I wasn't crazy about the slaw - it seemed strong on the mayo and with minimal vinegar.  There was another taste in there too (mustard?), but it just wasn't that great.  The hush puppies were pretty good.  I had gotten some hush puppies from Smithfield's a few weeks back and were disappointed (maybe I'm stuck in my Northern ways, but I remember hush puppies being round and with a lot of seasoning) by what tasted to me like plain fried cornbread.  These had a little more flavor - they seemed to look the same, but the flavor was a little tastier so there might have been some more spices in there, or the oil might have been better.  Who knows?

The shake was very good.  Pieces of real banana in it (along with a little chunk of peanut butter I detected) so the real flavor is there, not just syrup.  There were tons of flavors, and I got the food quick, so they're really on the ball.  Apparently they make an awesome watermelon shake that's just seasonal, so I may have to check out this place again.