When The Takeout was first established in 2016 as a spinoff of The A.V. Club, we had a firm idea of what we didn’t want to be: yet another metropolitan outlet of restaurant criticism. We are proudly based in the Midwest, far from any coast that might try to tell us what pizza is supposed to be, and in our loving, obsessive approach to food, we celebrate “high” and “low” foods with equal passion. It is to those latter foods that we tip our cap today. Welcome to Takeout Tested, a curated collection of some of our most obsessive fast food coverage to date.
At The Takeout, we aim to write with endearment, and without pretense, snark, or self- importance. By writing about fast food, we hope to underline the fact that the joy food can bring is not limited to the dishes we pay the highest price for, nor the ones that can only be found at one spot in Manhattan Beach. A meaningful experience can be found anywhere in flyover country, often for $5 or less—and yes, sometimes it comes served up straight from a deep fryer. Perish the thought.
We hope you enjoy this collection of coverage, and that it inspires you to take some thoughtful bites of your next meal. Matters of taste, texture, and intent aren’t just reserved for restaurants you need a reservation for, after all; any one of us can be a critic in our everyday lives, and have a hell of a lot of fun doing it. What are you waiting for? Start reading through our findings and prepare to get angry about something that only matters because we decide that it does. And thank you, by the way, for being here while we hash this out.