FastFoodSnob.com

Price: $0.89

Availability: participating Bells

Location: 3511 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, IL 60659 (map); phone: (773) 588-9712

Rating: 3 out of 5 - acceptable

New menu items can obviously be hit-or-miss affairs, but Taco Bell’s additions have been surprisingly more pleasant than they seem to have any right to be. And while the Triple Layer Nachos didn’t stick to their Value Menu pricing as well as their Cheesy Double Beef sibling at my particular location (they’re listed at 79 cents online, though the web site does warn that prices and items may vary), the meatless combination of “nacho chips, covered in simmering red sauce, hearty beans and nacho cheese sauce” remained quite palatable — and under a dollar (even with tax).

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Price: $4.29

Availability: 11 A.M. - 5 P.M., Mon. - Sat.; call to be sure

Location: 1724 S. River Rd., Des Plaines, IL 60018 (map); phone: (847) 699-8590

Rating: 5 out of 5 - great

Status: independent

Judging by the regular restaurant hours listed above, you can see how this decidedly non-chain establishment doesn’t really cater to the dinner crowd. Reports seem to indicate lines out the door on Saturdays, so the 5-10 minutes I might wait on any given weekday to make an order might appear quite reasonable in comparison. If the time (and fuel spent) driving out to this northwest suburb from the city only makes a trip out to River Road that much more doubtful, take heart: the Char Cheddar Burger at Paradise Pup is destination dining for this Snob, and it’s well worth your money.

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Price: $2.49; paid - $1.39

Promotion: free with leap-year drink-purchase deal

Availability: breakfast hours

Location: 6740 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60626 (map); phone: (773) 743-6932

Rating: 4 out of 5 - good

You might have already read about the promo used on this morning menu item (linked up top), but here’s what McDonald’s says goes into its relatively new, more-premium breakfast-wrap option: “savory sausage, scrambled eggs, melted cheese[s], skillet potatoes, bell peppers & onions, authentic fire-roasted salsa, and a warm tortilla.” How authentic any of this is is not my main concern; I just want to know how to rate what you get for the money. It certainly is worth considering in the morning but doesn’t jump out at you with its $2.49 regular price tag. (See below for more of “the inside stuff.”)

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Price: $2.19; paid - $2.19

Promotion: coupon for free orange juice (regularly $1.19) with any breakfast sandwich

Availability: breakfast hours

Location: 6261 N. Lincoln, Chicago, IL 60659 (map); phone: (773) 588-1976

Rating: 5 out of 5 - great

It’s been a long (okay, relatively short) time coming, but here it is: the first 5-out-of-5 rating allotted. I’d been saving this ace in the hole to show what kind of dish deserves the highest marks in the ranks of (in this case, breakfast) fast food. Does that mean there won’t be other “great” ratings to come? Of course not. This just means that the Burger King Sausage Croissan’wich is fast food of the highest taste and value (the bacon and ham varieties — not so much…), hopefully to be joined by other specimens of equal quality in the future.

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