Alton Brown’s Favorite Fast Food Order

It’s no secret that Alton Brown likes food. Like, he really likes it. But fast food? Not so much. The TV personality and Good Eats host is known for his technique-based approach to cooking, through which he creates delicious, speedy meals—and maybe he just knows a little too much about the science of fast food to really get behind it.

However, even this famously precise cookbook author knows that some fast food dishes have an uncanny appeal. For Brown, that’s the Arby’s roast beef sandwich. We know, we weren’t necessarily expecting that one either, but to each his own, huh?

For Brown, Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwiches Have a Nostalgic Pull

Brown’s love of Arby’s roast beef sandwiches was discussed at length in an interview with Chowhound, during which he was asked which fast food might cause him to break his fast food abstinence. “It won’t be an exception, but I think that if I was going to feel the pull, the magnet pull, it’d probably be Arby’s,” he stated in the interview. “Those Arby’s roast beef sandwiches are freaking magical … It’s funny because the last time that I had one, and I mean it’s been a while, it tasted exactly like I remembered it tasting from childhood.”

Brown went on to point out that some other fast food chains (we’re looking at you, Mickey D’s) feel as though they’ve changed their food beyond repair, which we’re sure is a big factor in his keeping away from fast food. “I cannot have McDonald’s in my mouth because … Everything tastes like it’s made out of sugar. Everything’s sweet to me,” Brown said in the interview. It’s a shame, as the media mogul has fond memories of McDonald’s from childhood, and of other chains like Chick-fil-A. Now, though, nothing feels like it used to, and Chick-fil-A removing slaw from its menu was apparently a dealbreaker for Brown. Which we get. Coleslaw (and its dressing) is delicious.

Brown Has Also Previously Praised Shake Shack

So, Arby’s is the fast food to beat for Brown—but he’s also voiced his admiration for other joints previously, too. In a 2019 AMA on Reddit, Brown stated that he loved Shake Shack. He’s far from the only TV cooking personality to say the same: Guy Fieri has also said that he’s a big fan of the chain, although it’s not his favorite one.

That being said, in the same answer in the Reddit thread, Brown also noted that he doesn’t have a go-to when it comes to fast food and that he generally keeps away from it. We’re also not sure how his opinion on Shake Shack has changed in the last seven years. Maybe it’s Arby’s or nothing, now—although no word yet on whether he’s tried the chain’s new Italian beef sandwich. We’ll keep our ear to the ground, Alton!