9 Underdog Fast Food Chains With Cult Followings You've Never Heard Of

One of America's greatest culinary achievements is the modest yet mighty cult fast food chain. These are the places scattered around the country like greasy diamonds in the rough. They're the kind of places that are just the stuff of legends until you spot a glowing sign off the highway when you're hundreds of miles from home. Oftentimes, they're regional fast food chains that embody the spirit of a city, blowing the neighboring town's overhyped grease traps out of the water (if you ask the locals, anyway). And you'd better have kind words ready when visiting these beloved institutions, because dissing the hometown chain is basically the same as trash-talking someone's mother. These are the real tastemakers of America's fast food scene — the golden arches have nothing on them.

In this list, we'll uncover some cult-classic drive-thru darlings that likely aren't on your radar. These fan favorites are either hyper-regional, new on the scene, or dot the country in minimal numbers compared to the big names in quick eats. These are the restaurants that spark contentious internet forum (and sometimes real-life) fights, because we're not just fighting about a burger, chicken sandwich, or taco; these snacks represent the pride we have in our region's contribution to American food history. So, whether they define a city or act as an unassuming hidden gem off the interstate, let's explore some chains that deserve a chance in the fast-food limelight.

The Tri-Cities region of Tennessee is defined by one fast food king known as Pal's Sudden Service. This old-school spot was first opened back in the 1950s by Fred "Pal" Barger and has since become an icon in Tennessee while largely unknown throughout the rest of the nation.

Pal's is as all-American as a fast food restaurant can get, despite only being available in one small part of the country. The exterior of the building is decorated with comically large burger, hot dog, and French fry effigies, so it's hard to miss as you're cruising down the road in Johnson City, Bristol, or Kingsport. Burgers with a side of fries are the main event here, but you can also snag some classic Southern biscuit-based breakfasts and cold-cut sandwiches.

Although it may sound like waiters and waitresses materialize out of thin air to take your order here, Pal's Sudden Service lives up to its name in a much less otherworldly manner. The chain is drive-thru only, and it's known for its incredibly speedy service — "Great food in a flash!" The drive-thru line moves at lightning speed, yet Pal's never sacrifices quality for efficiency. The chain famously won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a prestigious honor typically reserved for hospitals and hotels. In fact, Pal's was the first fast food joint to earn the award in the organization's history.

A hot dog from Portillo's is about as classically Chicago as it gets, right up there with the Cubs and polar vortexes. The chain started off in the 1960s as a humble hot dog stand dubbed The Dog House, opened by Dick Portillo in Villa Park, Illinois. A few years later, the chain changed its name, and it wasn't until the '90s that a Portillo's opened its doors in Chicago proper. Since then, it's become a mainstay in the city, serving up all the Chicago classics in their quintessential form, making it a must-try fast food restaurant for anyone visiting the U.S. for the first time.

Portillo's is known for many things, but you can't bring up the chain without talking about its classic Chicago-style hot dog. Portillo's is partly to thank for popularizing Chicago's iconic dog, so don't hold back when you try one for the first time. Get yours made with the works — mustard (never ketchup), onion, tomatoes, relish, sport peppers, and pickles — otherwise known as "dragged through the garden."

Portillo's is also famous for its Italian beef sandwich made with slow-roasted, thin-sliced meat and decked out with pickled veggies and homemade gravy. The restaurant may not have deep Chicago-specific roots, but chopped salads, pasta dishes, and burgers are also favorites here. Whatever you choose for your fast and delicious Chicago-style meal, don't forget to tack on a slice of Portillo's famous chocolate cake — or better yet, a chocolate cake shake — to your order.

After determining whether or not the state can fit all the New Yorkers and Californians moving in, the next biggest debate in Texas is, "Which is better: Chipotle or Freebirds?" Chipotle is a powerhouse nationwide, but few Tex-Mex lovers outside the cuisine's native land are aware of the existence of Freebirds World Burrito.

Unlike most Mexican-American chains, Freebirds makes a name for itself by putting the focus more on the Tex than on the Mex, so much so that the chain dubs itself "Texas' No. 1 burrito." Here, menu items are focused on traditional Texas recipes and, of course, the ability to make your burrito or bowl Texas-sized, as is custom at any fast food place in the Lone Star State. Sizes range from Halfbird, Freebird, Monster, and Super Monster for burritos, which — along with bowls and salads — feature a choice of hearty proteins like steak, fajita chicken, carnitas, or veggie-centric options.

Freebirds is also well-known for its combo meals, including a Halfbird burrito, chips, dip, and a drink for $9.99 and a $9.99 Taco Tuesday meal deal. Every Sunday, kids eat free at Freebirds, so bring the whole family for a fast, hearty Texas-style meal.

Picture an American fast food restaurant — I bet you're thinking of burgers and fries, not jerk chicken and plantains. But in and around New York City, Golden Krust combines the convenience and speed of fast food with the iconically bold, sweet-and-spicy recipes found in Caribbean cuisine. It's the ideal cheap lunch when burgers and hot dogs are starting to get boring, and your taste buds are craving something with a little more of a kick.

Golden Krust started as a humble Jamaica bakery known as Hawthorne and Sons back in 1949 before it journeyed its way stateside. Fast forward to 1989, and the first Golden Krust restaurant opens up in the Bronx, New York. By 2005, Golden Krust had opened up its 100th store as an established household name in the city, after making history as the first Caribbean-owned business to be granted a franchise license in the U.S.

Menu options here are far from traditional fast food; they're all classic Jamaican recipes made as meat-and-three plates with rice, steamed veggies, and plantains. You'll find staples like jerk chicken, braised oxtail, and curried chicken, shrimp, and goat seasoned with traditional ingredients like Scotch Bonnet peppers, ginger, and pimento. But Golden Krust is probably most well known for its Jamaican patties, typically filled with chicken, beef, or veggies. If you're lucky enough, you don't need to be in New York to try Golden Krust; you might find some of the brand's patties in the freezer section of your local supermarket.

If you're from, or even just visited, Arizona, then you're undoubtedly familiar with the chain Mexican food king that seems to line every Arizona city block from Flagstaff to Tucson: Filiberto's. It seems like everyone in Arizona has a strong opinion about the chain, likely because the restaurant is so ubiquitous, generally never closes, and is much more authentically Mexican than Taco Bell. Whether you're looking for an inexpensive post-hike lunch or something greasy at 3 a.m. to soak up the booze in your system, the Filiberto's sign glowing across the desert is like a homing beacon for your stomach.

Filiberto's made its U.S. debut in Mesa, Arizona, back in 1993. Since then, restaurants have popped up all over the Southwest, including a variety of unrelated "-berto" Mexican chains, but Filiberto's is the original success story — the rest are sketchy copycats. The 24-hour drive-thru isn't its only claim to fame; the chain is known for weekday deals that are hard to resist, like Taco Tuesday specials, discounted bean burritos on Wednesday, and cheap quesadillas on Friday. Combo platters always hit the spot (especially at the end of a long night) with enough classic Mexican food to keep you full and content until your next Filiberto's run.

Forget the ballpark. Buffalo, New York, is the place to get one of the best hot dogs of your life — according to fans of Ted's Hot Dogs, that is. The small chain — with seven locations in the Buffalo area and one location all the way out in Tempe, Arizona — has been going strong for nearly 100 years. The chain's story began when Theodore Spiro Liaros (better known as Ted) came to West New York from Greece in 1913. Before he started his mini hot dog empire in 1927, his culinary career consisted of selling dogs from a horse-drawn carriage — basically, a food truck before they were cool. Now, Ted's is a Buffalo institution serving much more than a standard hot dog.

What separates Ted's from any old hot dog chain is its use of genuine lump charcoal to grill Sahlen's dogs (another local brand) right before your eyes. They have a subtle smoky flavor and a light, crispy char that pairs beautifully with their salty savoriness, making the humble fast food hot dog more of an artisanal creation here. Try a hot dog with a pickle slice and onions, or grilled peppers and onions, and don't forget a side of the chain's locally-famous onion rings. Spice lovers shouldn't sleep on some original recipe Ted's Hot Chili Sauce:  A uniquely chunky, fiery sauce that was born to grace a charcoal-grilled dog.

The Land of Enchantment is home to one of the country's best burger chains — and I bet you've never heard of it (unless you watched "Breaking Bad" with a keen eye for food-related Easter eggs). Blake's Lotaburger spans New Mexico by the dozens, as iconic in the state as its picturesque desert vistas. The chain, which was founded by Blake Chanslor in 1952, claims to be the original home of New Mexico's most famous dish, the green chile cheeseburger. But according to burger scholars, that title is usually reserved for the Owl Bar and Café in San Antonio, New Mexico. Nevertheless, Blake's is credited with being the first chain to popularize the green chile cheeseburger.

The LOTA Burger New Mexico Style is Blake's claim to fame. It's made with two thin, perfectly greasy burger patties, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and green chiles from New Mexico's Hatch Valley. Blake's also offers tasty chicken sandwiches and other Southern staples, like chile con carne and a particularly affordable and delicious Frito pie served inside the Frito bag, the way the junk food gods intended.

Today, diving into a pile of crispy falafel balls is like a rite of passage in New York City, and we have one small chain with a decades-old cult following to thank for that. Mamoun's Falafel was born in Greenwich Village in 1971, back when Middle Eastern food in New York was only found tucked away in the kitchens of immigrants. The chain opened the doors to an entirely new world of flavors and ingredients for many New York City residents. Mamoun's did such a good job of getting people of all backgrounds to break bread together that, as shown on its website, the Village Voice wrote in 1976, "[then-Secretary of State Henry] Kissinger could take a lesson in diplomacy here — he's got Arabs and Jews eating at the same table ..."

The pita sandwich stuffed with Mamoun's namesake fried chickpea balls is easily the most iconic offering here. But it isn't just falafel that has New Yorkers flocking to Mamoun's on nearly every lunch break; lamb shawarma, grilled chicken, hummus, baba ganouj, and tabbouleh also make their way into the restaurant's trademark tiny pita pockets. The falafel or meat platters rival the famous halal carts that dot NYC streets, and everything is served up just as fast as street food, but with a cozy, casual spot to sit and enjoy your lunch.

Unlike most of the chains on this list, Dave's Hot Chicken isn't sequestered to one tiny region of the country. In fact, it has locations spanning the entire contiguous U.S., yet there's a good chance you're unaware of it. But don't worry — you'll soon be subjected to its spicy dominion. Dave's is expanding at a rapid rate, bringing Nashville's famous hot chicken served up in a funky, street art-themed atmosphere to various corners of the country.

Dave's Hot Chicken started as a tiny pop-up in an East Hollywood parking lot, serving chicken from the back of a truck the old-fashioned way. When Eater L.A. caught wind of the little pop-up with the cult following, the rest was history. Eater's piece launched Dave's into a world of spicy chicken stardom, leading to its rapid expansion.

At Dave's Hot Chicken, sandwiches and tenders come in a wide variety of spice levels, so don't be afraid to give it a try even if you don't like spicy food. The milkshakes and unseasoned chicken are menu items that are better left skipped at Dave's, but middle-level spicy sandwiches give juicy, brined chicken a wallop of flavor. Those with taste buds of steel love Dave's for its hottest hot chicken option, ominously dubbed "Reaper." Trust us — it isn't for the faint of heart. But if you're a fervent, fiery food fanatic, it's worth a try. Just be aware that you have to sign a waiver before Dave's will give you one (yes, it's that hot).

To round up some of the best underdog cult fast food chains around the country, we focused on spots that fly a bit under the radar — either tiny regional staples with a fiercely loyal following, or newcomers that are quickly making a name for themselves but haven't fully hit the mainstream yet. We used a combination of personal experience, along with online forum discussion threads and articles, to pick out the spots with diehard fans out of America's greasy sea of fast-food options.

Most restaurants on this list have a longstanding history and menu items tied to the traditions of the regions they serve. These spots are sources of pride for locals and are some of the first recommendations folks make when they find out someone is visiting their city for the first time. This list is in no way exhaustive; America is home to countless cult fast food chains — that's kind of its thing. But these chains have some of the biggest local followings, achieving legendary status around the country and topping the burger bucket lists of those who love to travel and eat around the U.S.