TC Fleming

As a fan of fast food and a fan of dessert, I have long been distressed by the state of fast food dessert. But I bring good news, brothers and sisters. These dark days are over. Now we have Popeyes beignets. Well, we have them for now. The Popeyes strategy...

There sure are a lot of spicy items these days. At the Observer, we’ve recently noted spicy nuggets from McDonald’s and a spicy chicken sandwich from Shake Shack. Of course, Popeyes included a spicy option when introducing its chicken sandwich. Why the emphasis on spicy? One contributing factor could be...

We’ve had six presidents since 1981, but only one kind of McNuggets. There are certainly readers who have lived in a world without them, but the majority of us probably can’t easily call up memories of a McNuggets-less universe. McDonald’s modified the recipe in 2016 to improve nutrition, but the...

I never really know who reads this stuff. How many of you are the sort of Observer-obsessive who's keeping close enough notes to know a) that I write for the paper about once a month and b) that during those times I have written exclusively about places that have drive-thrus?...

When I was around 6 years old, my mom had a distant acquaintance run some grift selling other moms something called the “Calendar of Virtues.” It was the kind of thing I imagine would have a hard time selling without relying on guilting distant acquaintances into buying it. A couple...