Horatio Alger, with a Side of Fries

It's that most wonderful time of year once again--Monopoly is back at McDonald's! Though McDonald's is promoting this year as the 20th Monopoly sweepstakes, the restaurant has been collaborating with Hasbro since 1987 all over the world. We all know about the elusive Boardwalk piece and the 1,000,000 McDoubles it would buy. Besides that top prize, the rest have shuffled over the years. Yet, the allure of the money has never been my main excitement over Monopoly at McDonalds. I decided to analyze the aspects of the promotion that make it so appealing.

More... Monopoly has always been about the American Dream. With some luck and saavy investing, you can become rich and powerful in your own little world. This concept is what drives American ideas of economy and power--we don't mind inequality, as long as everyone has a chance to make it big. We're inundated with individual success stories, despite the fact that real life odds are heavily stacked in favor of certain individuals. We celebrate that poor, come from nothing individual. This had special resonance during the Great Depression, when the game experienced its greatest growth. While there are plenty of iconic American board games, this is what makes Monopoly the most "American."

Pairing Monopoly with McDonald's was a stroke of marketing genius. If Monopoly is most representative of this country within the game sphere, then McDonald's dominates the food. These two powerful brands form a successful synergy, despite the fact that Monopoly at McDonald's is completely a game of luck, disregarding any semblance of strategy (unless you make tactical menu choices to optimize your game pieces, like me). If anything, Monopoly at McDonald's involves teamwork, pooling your pieces and splitting the winnings.

What Monopoly at McDonald's gives you is not just the sliver of hope of winning one of the prize. While that lottery mechanic's effect on behavior is well-documented and intuitive, the best aspect of the game is that it gives you a justification for eating at McDonald's. We have the chance to eat our way to fortune. How cool is that? If Monopoly is an analogy for life, Monopoly at McDonald's is the gloss of the American obsession with unhealthy food. We're all dreamers, now we can channel our dreams through fast food. ^

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Destination Austin: Torchy's Tacos

We've all heard the familiar story. A tremendously successful food truck upgrades to brick and mortar. Occasionally, as in the case of Torchy's Tacos in Austin, the little food truck that could expands around town and commands an eternally loyal following. I recall reading a list of top restaurants in Austin. The entry for Torchy's says that it is almost a cliché at this point to recommend Torchy's to visitors, but nonetheless, the praise is well-deserved.

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There were two types of cuisine I wanted to try on my brief visit to this capital city with a small town feel--Texas-style barbecue and Tex Mex. The barbecue requested would be satisfied many times over, but Torchy's was the only pseudo-Mexican food I had.



Yes, it is a chain. Yes, it looks like it was designed by a former store manager of a Hot Topic. Yes, it is fast casual dining. None of these factors took away from the fact that you'd be hard pressed to find a juicier carnitas taco. The tacos are large, one is equivalent in size to two taco truck street tacos in California. There are also offerings of breakfast taco fillings and migas, but the main draw comes in between the corn or flour tortillas.



Although I heard pleasant accolades of the odder tacos, the Jamaican jerk chicken or Baja shrimp for examples, I opted for the more traditional. The Democrat, with shredded beef barbacoa, onion, queso fresco, avocado, cilantro, and salsa verde was decadently flavorful. Although I prefer a goat or sheep barbacoa, the beef here surely put Chipotle's own barbacoa offering to shame. The Green Chili Pork Taco, with roasted carnitas, green chilis, queso fresco, cilantro, onion, lime, and salsa verde was essentially the same taco as The Democrat but with pork. Authenticity aside, I've yet to find better carnitas tacos.

Torchy's is an Austin chain with eight locations in that city alone. They recently expanded to Dallas and Houston as well. If you're in any of these cities, just look for that devilish red baby signage. Grab some tacos and wash them down with some Dublin Dr. Pepper.

Torcy's Tacos
torchystacos.com
2801 Guadalupe St. (multiple locations, this one is by UT Austin)
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 494-8226
~$3-4/taco

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Destination Hong Kong #2: Cafe de Coral

It looks like there may only be two Destination Hong Kong posts for now. I realized that my time spent in Hong Kong was spent eating at few memorable places, but the chains we frequented were worth mentioning. My dad had been telling me about HK style Chinese fast food for years, and I made sure I got my fill during my trip. Sure, we went to a Fairwood, but the crown of HK fast food is still Cafe de Coral.

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Badly translated as "everybody happy," Cafe de Coral has been a mainstay of Hong Kong for the last forty years. What started as a single restaurant has ballooned to over a hundred franchises within Hong Kong, 24 locations in Mainland China, and eleven other brands totaling more than 500 restaurants. While it might be near impossible to stay in Hong Kong and not see a Cafe de Coral, you might also encounter one of its subsidiaries such as Spaghetti House or Oliver's Super Sandwiches.


Although Hong Kong is now somewhat part of China once again, the local cuisine is much more an amalgam of global influence than purely Cantonese. In part, Victoria Harbor's influx of trade brought influences from Portuguese, Indian, Southeast Asian, and we can't forget the fast food component from America. Therefore, characterize the Cafe de Coral as Western-Chinese, rather than just Cantonese. For the same cost of a regrettable croissanwich and hashbrown at the airport Burger King, I could get a pork chop rice, black bean spare ribs, barbecue plate, or simply a delicious fried rice.



Despite the convenience, price, and general cleanliness of most of the modern stores, Cafe de Coral is still fast food. There is much better Chinese food around town at most local restaurants, but be on the lookout for this famous chain.

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