Pethouse Pet of the Week
Pet of the week: Rascal congratulates Katy on a major fast-food win
Pethouse Pet of the Week
Name: Rascal, as in the song "You Rascal You," or the country group Rascal Flatts. The name conjures up the Young Rascals rockers ("Good Lovin'" and "People Got to be Free"), and Little Rascals comedy shorts.
Ethnicity: I'm a Rat Terrier fella. Boy, talk about a breed that could use a name change. For example, everybody loves Chilean sea bass now. It didn't do so well on the menu under its former name, Patagonian toothfish. Same with orange roughy — not so much with its old name, slimehead.
Birthdate: March 11, 2015. I just turned three, which means you avoided buying me a birthday present, you sly fox. I'm playful and bouncy, love to go on walks, and just hang out with people. I'm fixed (yeah, like I was broken) and housebroken. In other words...what are you waiting for?
Come and get me: I'm available for adoption at 11 am Friday at Citizens for Animal Protection (17555 Katy Freeway; 281-497-0591). Tell them, “Ken sent me.”
Rascal's rant: Congratulations to Katy, Texas on being the "fast food capital of the U.S." Hooray, according to Datafiniti's database of restaurant statistics, Katy has more fast food joints per capita than any city, big or small, in America.
It figures. Whenever I drive to San Antonio, Katy is the perfect distance from Houston for a McDonald's breakfast pit stop. My favorite Sausage McMuffins are on sale this month — only $2 when you buy two of them.
Katy has 62.5 drive-through eateries per 100,000 residents. Naples, Florida, is a distant second with 43.9 restaurants per 100,000 residents.
Piling on the local pride, Humble is No. 3 in the U.S. with 43.7 rapid dining establishments per 100,000 residents.
The most popular metro areas for fast food are: Orlando, Cincinnati, and Las Vegas. Metro areas with fewest quickie spots per capita: New York City, The Bronx, and Ventura, California.
(This ranking befuddles me because The Bronx is part of New York City. That's where the Yankees play, hence The Bronx Bombers.)
No surprise, the states with the highest concentration of fast food places: Alabama, Nebraska, and West Virginia.
Equally no surprise, states with the lowest density of fast food restaurants: Vermont, New Jersey, and New York. Vermont is so smug...and healthy.
The most startling factoid: one-quarter of Americans eat fast food every day. Even I don't do that.
Fast food FTW
Let's jump in Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine. I remember when I approached the Houston Chronicle about writing fast food reviews. My ninny editor at the time (long gone) thought it was a dumb idea, and said it would never work.
More than 1,000 drive-through reviews, and national syndication later...
Sometimes it takes me longer than usual to be proved right.
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Dog lover? Ken Hoffman introduces you to an adorable pup available for adoption in Houston, every Thursday.