Ode to Bojangles

I seldom eat fast food. Like many people, I've been scared away.

The big chains must have noticed, since most have made their menus a little more healthful. At McDonald's you can get salad and something called "low-fat caramel dip." At Wendy's you can sub mandarin oranges for your fries. Even Taco Bell has a Drive-thru Diet menu and a lady Jared.

This is a mistake.

Because when I do eat fast food, it's at the behest of a sudden, uncontrollable craving. It might come late on a weekend night, or a Sunday afternoon, when the only hangover medicine is drool-and-coma-inducing comfort food. At times like this, I grab my wallet and head to a place that does its fast food dirty and right.

Which brings me to Bojangles, a chain that never strays from its chicken-and- biscuits, home-fried roots and serves breakfast all the time — something especially handy when it's nearing daybreak, or you've slept the morning away.

Take the Cajun Filet Biscuit — a slab of fried chicken surrounded by white bread and trans fat. Or the Boberry Biscuit, a breakfast dessert of blueberry scone-things glistening with glaze. And, of course, the yellow boxes of chicken, soaked in grease. The menu has nary a parfait in sight.

Do it right and it'll be months before you work up the courage to come back. —M. G.