Having kids must be tough. You raise them, do the best you can and at some point you let them go and hope for the best. Such was the feeling I had when leaving LA, knowing that I had played a vital role in the emergence of a pretty amazing food culture in just under five years of food blogging. But when I left, I have to admit I feared at least a small amount of anarchy to foment. Upon my return, however, I learned there was nothing to fear and I had clearly done a good job of setting the city up for the future. Case in point: Top Round.

Just up the street from the now-defunct original Umami Burger location in a strange part of town either known as Mid-Wilshire or the Miracle Mile resides Top Round. Seemingly inspired by Arby’s, Top Round is all about roast beef sandwiches and curly fries. Except this ain’t no fast food (well it is fast, but you know what I mean). As the name implies, the beef is tops, and the fries are fried up in beef fat as opposed to something silly like vegetable oil.

I ordered the Beef & Cheese, which was topped with homemade “wizz” and Round Sauce in an onion bun. Like onion rings, somehow onion buns also get a pass in my book. In addition I got a side of curly fries. The result was damn delicious. The meat was all at once moist, flavorful and bountiful, while the cheese wizz and Round Sauce intermingled like old friends. Even the bun seemed to have been perfectly chosen, handling the contents while deftly handing the sandwich a bit of its own flavor. A bit of the Beef on Weck (atomic horseradish on a caraway and sea salt bun) sandwich taught me that Top Round wasn’t just a one sandwich pony. Then, there were the fries, which played a great companion role to the sandwich.

Perhaps the only downside of the journey was that there was no room left for one of their custard shakes. I had my eye on the pistachio, but the stomach can only contain so much. The LA food scene is still alive and kicking, but perhaps more importantly, I will never be able to look at an Arby’s sandwich the same again.

Arby’s has always been kind of a fringe fast food chain. You can find it all over the country, but it isn’t exactly on every corner. Perhaps this is the reason it has taken me so long to review them. Or perhaps the reason is because I once heard their meat begins its life as a liquid. Whatever the case, a golden opportunity to chow down on some potentially formerly liquid meat presented itself at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

Being an airport restaurant, this Arby’s wasn’t sporting the crazy cheap sandwiches they are typically known for, but the prices weren’t terribly bad. I opted for their Classic Beef ‘n Cheddar Sandwich. This thing started with a roll and was filled with slices of roast beef, a cheddar sauce and some sort of strange red sauce. With Mexican food, you don’t question the red sauce, but with Arby’s I was a bit confused. Yet, it didn’t scream “veggie” and neither did anything else on the sandwich, so I accepted it. I then upgraded to a combo for some curly fries and a drink.

Before I even filled my drink cup, my sandwich was ready for eating. Chowing down, I found exactly what I expected: salty, mostly texture-less beef. Coupled with a cheese sauce that’s a slight upgrade from nacho cheese, this was fast food personified. The roll was pretty good and actually would have worked well on a burger, too. It wasn’t anything crazy, but it did its job. Finally, there was the strange red sauce. This stuff definitely wasn’t ketchup, but it did have a slight tomato-vinegar flavor. Hell, the ladies behind the counter didn’t even know what it was. They also had never heard the name Zachary before, so I don’t know what I was expecting when asking the about the sauce.

Oh, by the way, the fries are awesome. Definitely the best fast food curly fries since A & W gave up on good food.

It’s hard to give Arby’s a bad rating or a good rating. It knows it isn’t pumping out high quality sandwiches, but it does make them fast and free of veggies. I hear their Market Fresh Sandwiches are pretty good, but who goes to a place like Arby’s for something fresh?