Travel: Fast food with a conscience

Hungry travelers who are “short on time but long on principle” no longer have to wait until they’re home to get sustenance, said Emily Saladino in BonAppetit.com. Scattered fast-food joints around the country are proving it’s possible to serve quality food at a low price without making employees live on poverty wages. Below, three regional beacons worth making a detour for:

Moo Cluck Moo Dearborn Heights, Mich. “Goofy name aside,” this fledgling chain is “serious about its food”—and starts its employees at a healthy $15 an hour. MCM’s burgers and fried-chicken sandwiches are made with antibiotic- and hormone-free meats, and a local dairy provides the ice cream for its milkshakes. 8606 N. Telegraph Rd., plus two more locations planned

Ben’s Chili Bowl Washington, D.C. “A progressive pioneer” since its 1958 opening, this D.C. landmark has dished out “half-smokes”—a well-dressed hot dog—to “everyone from Miles Davis to Martin Luther King Jr.” When 1960s anti-rioting curfews shuttered the city, Ben’s kept its doors open to help heal wounds, and it remains a family place: Most staffers have been on the books at least 16 years. 1213 U St. NW, (202) 667-0909

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Burgerville Oregon and beyond This is Portlandia-style fast food: Burgers made from grass-fed beef, breakfast eggs from cage-free hens, and all cooking oil is converted to biofuel. For employees, the best deal might be the chain’s $30-a-month health, dental, and life insurance plan. Multiple locations, burgerville.com