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As for this comic…
If you’re not North American, you won’t know what A&W is. That’s your loss, man. Best burgers ever. (Actually, I can only vouch for the Canadian A&W having the best burgers ever. The American and Canadian branches of the A&W company are apparently entirely separate and haven’t had anything to do with each other in decades. So the American wing might have good burgers, but they also might suck. Like Arby’s. Arby’s in Canada is a pretty nice place: clean, tasty, affordable. Arby’s in the U.S. is, well… sort of like something from a Mad Max movie.)
Puck 322
Chapter: The Happiest Place in OntarioCharacters: Colin Daphne Miranda Tyler (aka Taylor)Tags: A&W burger Canada's Funderland crime
IT’S PHOEBRUARY! VOTE FOR PUCK ON TWC AND CELEBRATE!
I thought it was time to do a little retrospective, so here we go! I’ve been running constant voting incentives on TWC for years now, so dive into the vault and relive some real gems. Every couple of days this February, a new “classic” Phoebe voting incentive is popping up on TWC! If you never saw these pics the first time or you want to see ‘em again, be sure to vote often and catch ‘em all!
VOTE TO ALLEVIATE MINOR ACHES AND PAINS!
As for this comic…
If you’re not North American, you won’t know what A&W is. That’s your loss, man. Best burgers ever. (Actually, I can only vouch for the Canadian A&W having the best burgers ever. The American and Canadian branches of the A&W company are apparently entirely separate and haven’t had anything to do with each other in decades. So the American wing might have good burgers, but they also might suck. Like Arby’s. Arby’s in Canada is a pretty nice place: clean, tasty, affordable. Arby’s in the U.S. is, well… sort of like something from a Mad Max movie.)
Damn… Now I want an A&W on tap, and there aren’t any stands out here anymore…
Grrr. Worth driving across state lines, though.
We all know you REALLY love A&W just for the Root Beer.
I don’t like Root Beer, but A&W makes Root Beer that even I admire.
It’s all about the frosty mugs.
Oh there’s a few still out there!
Not been one here since 1969
I know of one here in Austin – I go there for for the root beer floats. Don’t know about the burgers. (I’ll let you know…)
Over in Mtl, ’bout half the A&Ws are attached as a side-attraction to PetroCan station. So when I feed my addiction to Teen Burgers, I’m actually walking over to get a gas station sandwich.
And it’s STILL the best fast-food burger around! Firm juicy meat, the fries/rings are both moist AND crispy, and tasty where others are kinda droopy. In a gas station.
Whatever unholy thing they’re doing, I just pray to Cthulu they keep doing it!
There’s one of those gas station A&Ws around here. Pretty good, but not as consistently fresh as the stand-alone places.
A&W in Minnesota is good. Hard to find at times, but so gooooood.
Glad to hear. Up in Canada, A&W has slowly been kind of taking over the fast food landscape. There’s tons of them now, and it’s like the promised land of frosty mugs.
Adopt me. I’ll be like Mr. Belvedere/Charles in Charge.
I miss the good honest drive in/sit down A&W places.
Are they still not in existence in your area? Up here, they went to an ‘all mall’ approach in the 80’s and 90’s, but in the past two decades, they started aggressively opening the good honest drive in/sit down A&W places, and they’re doing awesome. In fact, there’s one place in downtown Hamilton that, back in the 50’s, was a drive-in A&W with a carport and everything (you know, for the roller skating girls to serve you), but then A&W withdrew into their mall phase, and the place was taken over by a family and run as a place called Harvest Burger. It was a burger place with a full bar inside it. It was … unique. Then when the owners of Harvest Burger were old and ready to retire, guess who was waiting in the wings to take back their territory? A&W. I miss Harvest Burger, but A&W is pretty great compensation.
Harvest Burger was a cultural landmark on the scale of Tally Ho on Main St W. BTW – I echo what DLKMusic said about a big, frosty, mug of A&W Root Beer…
See, I loved Harvest Burger. The one time I ate at Tally Ho, I wasn’t very impressed with their roast beef. I know it’s a Hamilton landmark, but I have to admit to being an uncultured swine and say that I like Arby’s better.
You probably didn’t go when you were drunk, Tally Ho was the best post-drinking establishment in west Hamilton; but ONLY when you’re drunk… lol
I live a sadly sober life, devoid of alcohol, so Tally Ho will never have that magic for me.
No hooch?
Do you also keep a mohawk and wear a bunch of gold chains? Walk around pittying fools?
How did you know?
Ooooo. I’mma gonna tell Arby’s. Maybe then I can put my lips on the horsey sauce and drink to content. Or acid reflux. Whichever comes first.
Well, not ALL Arby’s places in the States are bad. They just seem to be more … variable than the ones up here.
Arby’s is one of those places I occasionally eat at to remind myself why I don’t eat there. KFC and Taco Bell on the other hand, I get sick just thinking about. Good curly fries at Arby’s, though.
Arby’s and KFC are both like that for me. Taco Bell I haven’t eaten since 1996. For a reason.
The Arby’s here is pretty good. Clean store, hot food, tastes decent. Though I dislike the curly fries. So if I go, I get like ten beef and cheddars and take my feast to share with family. One of the better fast food places in town.
That said, I know what you’re talking about. Outside Arbys are always a crapshoot that I tend to avoid like the plague. Not fond of gambling as it is.
Why spoil ten beef-n-cheddars by inviting the whole family?
There are KFC’s allover the place in China. It isn’t uncommon to see 2 or more KFC’s within easy walking distance of each other. There even a city that has one street that is nothing but KFC’s (each one owned by a different person).
Wow. Talk about choice!
Because my family does the same for me. It’s the circle of cheesed meats.
I had fun giving Arby’s hell with that one slogan .” The good mood food” & Gulp, smile, & grin” my funny which had me giggling a lot was Arby’s the BAD mood food! Gulp, grimace & GAG, the Arby’s in town here in Alaska was real good at serving crapy food always gave us stomach aches or just nasty sandwhiches, the turkey was ok but the roast beef? Guhh-h-h…* shutter*
It seems to be sort of spotty in terms of quality. Always been top notch here, though. Good roast beef too.
Seems to me they’d better go for a round robin with assurance of mutual destruction if anyone blabs. ^_^
That would be good, in theory. Though I doubt Colin has the smarts to get Daphne out. I doubt Colin has the smarts to actually do anything in this scenario.
He can’t say “They’re mine and I’ll pay the fine”, then do so with some of Daphne’s ill-gotten gains? 😉
I think any of Daphne’s ill-gotten gains are hiding out in a numbered Swiss bank account and aren’t readily accessible to Colin, but that’s just a hunch.
That’s why he’ll need to put the figurative thumbscrews on her and make her agree to pony up.
…
This will be a big job.
Fun fact: after reading this comic, I googled ‘A&W Teen Burger’. First hit was A&W (Canada) on Wikipedia. So that’s pretty cool.
I’m not a major burger fan personally (not saying I hate them, I just rarely feel like eating them) but the teen burger (from what Wikipedia said) seems pretty tasty, assuming it’s correct, anyway.
What it said there was that it contained regular beef patty, onion slice, pickles, ketchup, mustard, bacon. Not a fan of onion but oh well.
The Teen Burger is, admittedly, nothing really magical, but it’s a good, solid, REAL burger. I like all burgers, but A&W is probably the best fast food burger in my area.
I like A&W and Wendy’s burgers.
A&W’s buddy burgers are particularly nice. They are smaller, quite inexpensive, and just plain good.
Im wondering how you happen to know that cat food tastes awful. If you actually tried the tinned wet stuff you are a very brave/sick dude EG. The dry stuff probably is more palatable. No way near as palatable as a teen burger though. There is one right around the corner from my house and all of a sudden Im really POed I read Puck at 6:00am. Hours to wait for them to start serving. Damn
I am that type of guy who will try to eat anything … once. (The thing that ruins cat food is the ash. It’s not for the weak-willed.)
I get the kind of thing where I take a bite of something and suddenly can’t eat anymore. Happened twice recently…once with pancakes with real maple syrup on them…then again with a restaurant meat loaf. I think it has something to do with being an unfamiliar taste…
I cannot eat the fake maple syrup stuff. I buy the real deal, always. Even when it costs a bazillion dollars. So I cannot relate. But I do have the same problem when eating pancakes with fake maple syrup.
That is why i eat my pancakes with apricot jam!
Ugh. That’s a waste of good pancake.
Matter of being used to it, I guess. I thought the real maple syrup would be better—it probably is, but I just couldn’t. (My father finished the bottle, and it was shaped interestingly enough to get a place on my knickknack shelf…)
Oh, perhaps you are a fan of genuine MAPLE CANDY ?
I am…..
I am. Can’t eat much of it, but I am.
Is CAT FOOD made from CATS ?
You know, like BABY FOOD is made from BABIES ?
I’m thinking it’s more likely that cat food is made from dogs. Cats are pretty discerning.
I ate milk bone dog biscuits. Not the whole box mind you. Their dog was giving me the stink eye.
They’ve closed all the Arby’s where I live. 🙁
But the real question is whether they opened an A&W. (To be honest, they’ve closed almost all the Arby’s where I live too. I have to make a long pilgrimage to get to one.)
The same is happening here. They used to be reasonably common, but now I have to drive 30 minutes on the freeway to get to an Arby’s.
Perhaps the whole chain is on the wane. Sad. I do so like their beef-n-cheddar.
There’s plenty of Arby’s in Alberta, and A&W has a decent presence too. In fact there’s a mall near me with one of each right by each other (if not side-by side) and a store Arby’s outside.
A friend of mine prefers small town A&W’s, especially for breakfast. I wouldn’t know the diff, but their breakfast does rock.
I’m a sucker for any kind of breakfast, really. And small town breakfasts are inherently the best kind of breakfast.
They, THEY !!
Is there any crime THEY are not responsible for ?
GRRRRRRRR
Our family used to stop at the A & W somewhere around Albany, New York. The hamburgers were okay, but I liked the root beer. The canned stuff isn’t the same—I prefer IBC bottles now.
The root beer is worth it. Root beer + decent burgers + onion rings = sold.
whats with the hallows of yellow and green
Just kind of a color effect to make things look snazzy. It’s all throughout the comic.
Love Daff’s expressions, EG. +4
I was trying to show a little bit of the cool wearing off here. Not sure I achieved it, but thanks for the vote of confidence.
Another round of kudos for Daphne’s expressions here (yes you achieved it), as well as how you always use the angle of her ears to good effect. Her hands on the bars in panel 2 are well done too, they look very natural. Hands are tricky.
Hands are awful. Even more awful when you’re stupid like me and never actually use refs for anything.
Life would be a lot so much easier if all women came with ears that showed the rest of us what they were feeling.
Heck, I’d settle for the just “lying flat means burning rage” indicator.
I never have a problem with that. I generally can sense the intense radiant anger that women can emit.
There’s an A&W here, not the best burgers in town, but that’s because kitty corner from it is the place with the best burgers. Though it still does reasonably well because it still has damn good burgers, it’s cheaper, and has the frosty mugs. Plus, as a sit down drive thru, it has that nice classy feeling.
Now that place kitty corner, Angies, they do damn good burgers. A double triple decker (6 patties!) and they get a lot of good ink due to serving free thanksgiving feasts every year. Too bad they’re just local.
Well, I must clarify my statement: as a large corporate fast food chain, I think A&W rocks above all other large corporate fast food burger chains. Local places put the love in, though, and that usually means that the BEST best burger in town is a local mom-and-pop shop. As it should be.
I think it’s less love and more autonomy. Take McDonalds, except for a regional dish here and there, the experience is the same whether you’re in Toronto Canada, Denver Colorado, or Manchester England. These places by and large serve their burgers the same way because they’ve been focus tested, this works, why change things now? Well besides how they’re been forced to change now. Hate a McDonald’s burger, but love their Sausage Egg McMuffins.
Meanwhile, Angie’s, or any other mom and pop’s place can do whatever they want without some soulless corporate cretin saying no, you can’t put an egg on that sandwich, that is not our way. It allows for experimentation. I like to cook burgers with bacon, crispy onion straws, and mozzarella cheese sticks. I can’t find that in a big chain, but maybe a smaller chain that doesn’t care about the risk of heart attacks might. That Autonomy gives so many options that the cooks can show passion, the love people mention. Loving to cook is great, but Autonomy is needed for that love to show.
And I am done with this rant.
Mozzarella cheese sticks? On burgers? You, sir, are a dark burger wizard, carrying out dangerous but wonderful experiments.
If you ever get a chance to try it, In and Out makes an awesome burger. It’s a fairly large chain out west, and I’ve never had a bad (or even mediocre) experience with it.
What they don’t have is ROOT BEER ON TAP IN A FROSTY MUG!!!! *whimpers at the loss of all the root beer floats I never got to have*
The A&W here has root beer ice cream. You have no idea how wonderful it is until you try it.
E Ghads! Now I don’t know if I want a root beer with vanilla ice cream or a cream soda with root beer ice cream.
This is just so not fair…
You must try it alone, and then with cream soda Music. Besides, we are adults or adult like creatures. We don’t need to choose!
No In and Out out here. I’ve heard good things. I’ve also heard good (gross but good) things about White Castle, but there aren’t any White Castles in my area (maybe none in Canada whatsoever), and I’ve never even seen one in my trips State-side. If I do, I’ma gonna stop. Get me some sliders.
Oh dear, the one time I had freezer-bought (heresy, I know) White Castle…they call them “gut grenades” for a reason. Where I am in here the Deep South, Krystal is the only “little burger” chain…which I have not eaten at in at least a decade, and have no desire to.
Well, for every endorsement of White Castle I’ve heard, I’ve also heard a terrifying cautionary tale. Still, I feel the need to try.
I can empathize with Collin, I hate letting food go to waste. I totally would have helped eat those burgers. But what’s a “teen burger”? I assume it’s a Canadian thing, cause if you’re going to steal burgers here in America it’s going to be a Monster Burger.
Never been to A&W? It’s an American chain. The Teen Burger is their cheese and bacon burger. They’ve got Mama Burgers, Papa Burgers, Baby Burgers and Teen Burgers. The Uncle Burger is my favorite, though. It’s just a mega-sized teen burger.
A&W went on the decline down here before I was born. I think there might still be a few franchises in the northeast, but otherwise the only A&W you’ll see down here is their brand of Root Beer.
It’s ascendant up here. Strange how regional this sort of thing is sometimes.
I decided to look it up on Mapquest. Seems there’s a cluster in California and Utah, a cluster in the Virginias, and then several clusters across Canada (mostly along the border) that spill over into the New York/New Jersey area.
All of (populated) Canada is clustered along the border. So yeah. That’s Canada.
We used to have a few A&W’s here in the Atlanta-Athens axis, usually in the food court of malls with an occasional stand-alone, but they were all closed years ago; closest one to me is near the Georgia-Alabama border, two hours away. These conversations almost make me regret never having tried them.
I love how this comment thread is closing in on one hundred comments, entirely based upon people’s desire to discuss fast food.
Well at this rate, why don’t we start plugging our favorite regional burger places? Case in point: Grindhouse Burgers: A small chain in the Atlanta-Athens area-good burgers, great onion rings, and milkshakes with alcohol…pity I have a bad relationship with booze.
And above all, (relatively) affordable.
I love that type of place: local, quirky and weird. And delicious.
A&W is big in Utah. Really big, they even got those double restaurant restaurants you might see on the road.
So it sounds like A&W is disappearing from some states, taking over other states, and generally is unpredictable. Hmm.
Like a schitzophrenic Napoleon
Hmmm, the awesomeness of an A&W Burger chain burger is about the only thing that can keep me away from a Harvey’s Burger. as they are about the only two decent burger chains we had going. Just dying for another A&W Cream Soda if you remember those things…
Why do I think that Daphne has the audacity to steal burgers from the one directly across the street from the prison?
Harvey’s is good, classic Canadiana. And would be my runner-up vote for best fast food chain burger. And Daphne probably stole burgers from the one across the street from the prison because that’s close to where she lives. It’s either that or the downtown location. (The logistics of the crime baffle me, but that’s why I found it funny, I guess.)
I am thoroughly enjoying all the A&W talk in this thread. Living in Hamilton as well, I m totally familiar with the every A&W from here to Port Credit and beyond. My first was the drive in A&W in Port Credit, where the roller girls would hang the tray of goodies off your half open window while the family chowed down. The Teen burger is my choice usually and it really is the best around…and that frosty mug of root beer…heaven!
Have you tried the Uncle burger? It’s like the teen burger, only the right size. My life is complete now, thanks to the Uncle burger at A&W. (A&W really should be paying me by now.)
Are you saying that I can now get a discount at (at least a Hamilton A&W) just by saying Gecko sent me ?!?!?!) Because I am thinking of moving up from my usual Double Teen to an Uncle, thanks to you…
BTW, growing up I used to hear weird stories (which I considered urban legends) about passengers on the Barton Street Bus, but if Daphne ever had to take it, I am afraid some of the tales where true after all…
I’m not sure an uncle is a step up from a double teen. Maybe? But alas, no discounts apply. You can try, though. If it works, let me know. I’ll try it too.
Haha…no I haven’t tried it yet, but next time I’m in, I’ll give it a try. Maybe if I tell them you sent me, I’ll get a discount 😀
Always worth a try.
LOCAL A+W OWNER: “What’s that? A webcomic mentioned our teen burgers? I suppose that’s worth a few freebies. What did they say about them?”
“They reminisced about stealing a case of them.”
* SLAM! *
“I guess you didn’t get the humor.”
Yeah, maybe not the most effective. I’m actually going to A&W for lunch today. Gotta try it!
Ok, that right there is funny.
Maybe its me but, in my head, reading Colin’s “criminal lifestyle” line in Tim Bagley’s voice just caused me to crack up even more.
It just sounds like a line that he’d deliver 😀
I’ll have to take your word for it, because though IMDB assures me that I’ve seen a few movies that he’s been in, I still really don’t know who he is.
I *wish* Arby’s around here was as interesting as Mad Max.
It’s not? The one I went to in Scranton was about the scariest experience in my life.
Nah. The one in Wichita that I’ve gone to is pretty boring. And they stopped making the chocolate turnovers.
Winsteads is the place to go here in Kansas City. Steak burgers. They come in three varieties; single, double, triple. That’s how many meat patties you get. Every burger is customized to your specs, you tell em what toppings and condiments you want. They also have honest to goodness cherry-limeaides, and the classic “Skyscraper” milkshake thingy. It’s basically a milkshake topped with whipped cream and cherries only intended for 4 people. And they are all old, OLD school 50’s burger-hop joints. The whole place looks like 1955. Awesome onion rings. My grandmother took my dad and uncles to the same Winsteads that she took my little sister and I to. My dad took us there. Memories man. The pictures on the walls that were bright when I was little, are faded now when I occasionally go there with my sister. F&¢@ me I’m old.
That sounds awesome. I would totally be a big fan of That place.