We ate seven days of fast food. Here's what we loved

Good morning, North Jersey! I have a confession.

As I went into this week, I knew I was going to have trouble writing my "Best Things I Ate" column. Due to Easter, I spent the past seven days in Florida visiting family — so, as for this round of top eats? Nothing I digested would be from New Jersey.

But, then I got an idea:

Since most of the food in Florida isn't great anyways, what if I spent a meal a day in a local fast food restaurant? That way — Garden State or not — the dishes on my highlights list were at least kind of relatable? Or accessible?

I ran with it.

Now, some of the chains I visited have outposts in New Jersey, while others were exclusive to the South (and others still were a crap shoot, with locations randomly placed throughout the country). At some point in your lives, however, I'm sure your travels will have you passing most of them — so take notes.

This, my friends, is The Best Things I Ate This Week: Fast Food Edition.

Char-Grilled Maxwell Street Polish Sausage, Portillo's Hot Dogs

New Jersey may be the wiener capital of the country, but man does Portillo's — a Chicago-based hot dog chain — give our local frankfurters a run for their money.

I'm not talking about their pickle-topped Chicago dogs, though, because I find those watery things to be an abomination. Instead, I'm referencing the restaurant's Polish street sausages, which come topped with caramelized onions and yellow mustard on a poppyseed bun.

A complete sleeper hit on the menu (even to regulars), the thick links are crisp-skinned on the outside, juicy on the inside and almost snap when you bite into them. The grilled onions soak the bread with their sweet drippings, and the salt of the mustard balances that flavor.

After tasting seven different items, I can confidently say this is the dish to beat at the retro, 50s-themed franchise.

Go: Midwest, Deep South, California and Arizona; portillos.com.

Original Chicken Sandwich, Jollibee

Chicken sandwiches have been all the rage since 1967 when the first Chick-fil-A opened its doors, but it wasn't until recently that they became... well... good. The dish was dry for decades — especially Chick-fil-A's version — because it didn't have sauce.

Filipino fast food chain Jollibee, which entered New Jersey in 2013 (and Florida, where I tried it, in 2017), fixed that egregious problem by adding a generous dousing of "chicken mayo" to its Original Chicken Sandwich.

Moist and sloppy, the sandwich had not one but two layers of rich sauce, as the mayo was spread both above and below the crunchy patty (Filipinos use fat like nobody's business). When I bit into the golden brown creation, I noticed the sauce had sunk deep into all the crevices of the breading — and that the meat between the smears was cooked perfectly.

Go: This one has Jersey locations (!), including East Rutherford and Jersey City; jollibeefoods.com.

North Atlantic Cod Sandwich, Culver's

When I walked up to this Wisconsin-founded fast food joint on a Friday during Lent (in, mind you, a very Christian state), I wondered how a restaurant known for serving *ButterBurgers* was possibly going to make any revenue that day.

But then I saw it — a huge, neon-lit ad for two massive fish sandwiches; a cod, and a walleye. Noticing that the walleye was limited edition, I assumed the cod was the standard, so that's the one I chose.

Now, I'm not a devout Catholic, so of course I tried the ButterBurgers (and the patty melts, and the cheese curds). The fish sandwich, however, totally crushed them.

With a cheddar-topped filet as crispy as beer-battered fish comes — think a huge strip you might find in England — smothered in a secret recipe tartar sauce full of chopped olives, capers and sweet relish, the decadent handheld sang with flavor, and dripped with greasy indulgence.

Go: Primarily Midwest and Central West, nearest locations in Ohio and North Carolina. Some stores in the Southeast and Texas; culvers.com.

The Caniac Combo, Raising Cane's

Raising Cane's juicy, seasoned chicken tenders might just be the best chicken tenders on the planet (trust me, I've lived in Oklahoma and Florida).

Why settle for just chicken tenders, though, when you can have them accompanied by soda, fries, coleslaw, Texas toast and — most importantly — a double portion of creamy, tangy and subtly spicy Cane's Sauce?

That, foodies, is the Caniac Combo.

And yes; you can now get this in Jersey.

Go: FOUR LOCATIONS (and counting) have opened in New Jersey this year, primarily South Central; raisingcanes.com.

Cookie Doughn't You Want Some, Cold Stone

Creamy French vanilla ice cream, sticky caramel sauce, drippy fudge, cool globs of raw cookie dough — Cookie Doughn't You Want Some is the king of Cold Stone's menu, and the king of everything I ate this week.

It is, and always has been, the most irresistible fast food dessert on the planet.

Go: Various North Jersey locations; coldstonecreamery.com.

Hungry for more?

Want more on this week's latest food news? Check out some of my best articles at NorthJersey.com/food.

And as for next week? Don't worry — I'll be back on the ground in Jersey, bringing you the crème de la crème of Garden State eats.

AKA, prepare for Italian, sandwiches and Italian sandwiches.

Kara VanDooijeweert is a food writer for NorthJersey.com and The Record. If you can't find her in Jersey's best restaurants, she's probably off running a race course in the mountains. Catch her on Instagram: @karanicolev & @northjerseyeats, and sign up for her North Jersey Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: We ate seven days of fast food. Here's what we loved