Arby's

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Having worked for McDonald's, we figured that Dasha had a handle on American fast food - but we wanted to make sure. "Have you ever had Arby's?"

"What's that?"

Those of you who don't know what Arby's is are apparently not in North America. It's a fast food chain specializing in roast beef sandwiches. The roast beef is very thinly-sliced. Their big claim to fame is their sauce, though. Arby's Sauce is weirdly delicious - and it's not really a barbecue sauce. In fact, they DO have a barbecue sauce that you can get for chicken dishes.

But who goes to Arby's for the chicken? Seriously.

They also have the best curly fries in the fast food industry.

Since it was her first taste, I selected a regular Roast Beef combo meal with the seasoned curly fries for Dasha.  I also ordered a side of cheddar cheese sauce for her to dip her fries into. Dasha likes cheese.  For her drink, I chose Dr. Pepper - I know she likes it, and it goes well with the Arby's menu.

When I set the food in front of her, the first thing she asked was, "What kind of meat is this?"

It's not an unreasonable question - the texture is unlike anything I've seen elsewhere.

Her next question was about the sauce: "What's this? Does it go on the sandwich or the fries?"  Personally, I put it on both. And by "Both," I mean "Every single non-dessert item on the menu which is set in front of me."

She opened one of the packets and squeezed a little onto her finger.  "It's good," she said - and then squeezed the rest of the packet onto her sandwich.

After a bite, she said, "This is good!"

Upon trying the fries, she said to me, "This is better than Jack in the Box fries!"

Note to self: She knows Jack in the Box. Scratch that off the list.

After she finished eating, she pointed at the logo.  "If you change the last letter to a 3, it almost looks like the Russian word for ... " and she trailed off.  A quick Google search later, and there was a picture of a watermelon on screen.

"Watermelon?"

"Yes. In Russian, it's Арбуз"

It was odd to me, because the Greek word for Watermelon is καρπούζι - if you check with Google Translate, you can hear similarities between the Russian and Greek words.

But that's beside the point.

Verdict for Arby's: Success. She found something new that she liked.