Filet-O-Fish

The menu’s strangest survivor and one of its most loyal followings. A square of breaded white fish, tartar sauce and half a slice of cheese in a soft steamed bun, so soft it leaves finger marks. Everything about it is gentle, which is the point. The half slice is not stinginess: a full one would flatten the fish. Two copycats below take different routes to that steamed bun.

Lou Groen ran a McDonald’s in a heavily Catholic part of Cincinnati, and every Friday during Lent his sales collapsed as customers went to a rival that sold a fish sandwich. In 1962 he created his own. Ray Kroc hated the idea and pushed his own meatless option, a grilled pineapple slice with cheese called the Hula Burger. They tested both on the same Friday. The fish sold, the Hula Burger did not, and the Filet-O-Fish went national.