Wendy's breaks fast-food architectural mold

The Wendy's in Bergenfield is open 7 days from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

I'm no fan of fast food and don't eat meat, but I was startled and pleased from a design point of view when I saw the new Wendy's in Bergenfield.

What Wendy's calls a "bold restaurant design" is being rolled out at locations across the country, sporting an impressive amount of glass facing the street.

Some of the new buildings carry the company's motto, "Quality is Our Recipe," but that hasn't been added to the store at 150 N. Washington Ave.

Coffee and salad

Still, sleek design won't persuade me to go into Wendy's for anything more than to find out whether seniors get a break on coffee, as they do at McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts.

I might also check out the salads, which were rated highly by Zagat, according to the Wendy's Web site.

I certainly have no interest in the company's "Mediterranean-inspired Premium Cheeseburger" or its "Bacon Portabella Melt." 

No spaces in lot

On Sunday afternoon, I couldn't find a parking space in the lot and had to take photos of the Bergenfield Wendy's from across the street. 

And driving into the lot legally is possible from only one direction.

I still remember my first -- and last -- fast-food hamburger or should I say what happened the next day.

A new Wendy's opened in Paterson in the 1980s, when I was a newspaper reporter assigned to cover state Superior Court in the Silk City.

I went in one afternoon, ordered and ate a hamburger, and threw up the next morning.