I visited Cook Out for the first time. I'm still dreaming about the food and low prices.

I've heard nothing but good things about Cook Out from friends and colleagues, so I knew I had to try the famed North Carolina-based chain when I visited this year.

As a New Yorker, I thought $12 an hour for a cashier seemed a bit low — NYC's minimum wage is $16.50, per January 1 — but in North Carolina, Cook Out's pay is higher than the minimum. Per the state's Department of Labor, its minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

You can get burgers in many different varieties, including Cook Out Style (homemade chili, slaw, mustard, onions), Cheddar Style (cheddar, bacon, grilled onions), Steak Style (A1 sauce, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato), or House Style (quesadilla sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion), to name a few.

You can also get grilled chicken sandwiches, hotdogs, barbecue, chicken fingers, wraps, quesadillas, corn dogs, hushpuppies, wraps, many different types of fries, onion rings, a Walkin' Taco (more on that later) … the list goes on.

Cook Out is also famous for its 45 different milkshake flavors.

It's enough to make a gal's head spin.

The option to dine in is relatively rare for Cook Out. Most locations are just a drive-thru or a walk-up window, so I wasn't that surprised by the lack of customers inside. I had already noted that our location had a line going around the building for its drive-thru.

This location was clean, nicely decorated, and had a lot of seating.

My BBQ Plate came with a generous serving of pulled pork topped with hot sauce, and sides of coleslaw, fries, and hushpuppies.

I couldn't believe I got all that for less than $7. A similar meal from Raising Cane's, for example, would cost $15.49 for four chicken fingers, fries, toast, coleslaw, and a drink.

A McDonald's value meal might be cheaper, at around $5 for a burger, nuggets, fries, and a drink, but I found that Cook Out's food seemed a lot fresher than McDonald's and other fast food I've tried.

I'm a big barbecue fan from my time living in Louisiana during college, but the New York barbecue scene doesn't compare to what's going on in the South.

So it's been a while since I've had some truly delicious Southern barbecue. Even at a fast-food joint like Cook Out, the pulled pork did not disappoint. It was moist, not chewy at all, and well-seasoned.

As a rule, I will always prefer a creamier slaw to a more vinegary one, so I was a fan of Cook Out's slaw, which is homemade and more mayo-forward than the recipe at other places.

An order of hushpuppies on their own is $1.99, and I seriously considered buying another serving after quickly inhaling the ones that came with my meal.

If you don't know what hushpuppies are, they're a staple of Southern cooking with only a few ingredients. They're essentially delicious, deep-fried cornmeal.

Cook Out's hushpuppies were not heavy at all. Instead, they were light and savory. I couldn't get enough.

I tried to get as many sauces as I could to dip my fries into. Seen here are Cook Out's Buffalo sauce, Polynesian sauce, barbecue sauce, honey mustard, and ranch.

This was a huge hit with everyone at my table. It was tangy, slightly sweet, and had the slightest bit of spice. It paired well with my fries and my hushpuppies.

Usually, I'm a sucker for special sauces — if I could drink Cane's sauce or Chick-fil-A sauce, I would. But I wasn't a fan of Cook Out's offering.

Maybe it's because everything else at Cook Out seemed so homemade, but the second I tore the wrapper off the Special Sauce, I got the ick.

In terms of taste, I couldn't really get a handle on what this was supposed to be. I thought it would be similar to Russian dressing (ketchup and mayo mixed together), but it reminded me more of nacho sauce than anything else.

I consider myself to be an Oreo/cookies-and-cream milkshake connoisseur. I've tried it at any fast food establishment that offers it. Until this day, I would've said that Chick-fil-A's cookies-and-cream shake was the gold standard.

But now there's BCO and ACO: Before Cook Out and After Cook Out. This was the creamiest, thickest milkshake I've ever gotten at a fast-food joint. The chunks of Oreo weren't overwhelmingly big, and the vanilla ice cream was perfect.

At $3.99, that's $2.50 cheaper than the comparable cookies and cream shake at Shake Shack.

This reminds me of In-N-Out, another fast-food chain that has Bible verses across its packaging.

The verse on Cook Out's milkshake cups is "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

I'm not religious, but I was certainly rejoicing in my shake.

A Walkin' Taco, which costs $3.69, is a bag of Doritos topped with chili, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream. For 55 cents, you can add fresh jalapeños.

I'm not trying to be dramatic, but the Walkin' Taco — a culinary delight popularized in the Midwest and found across the South — is pure innovation and needs to come to New York City. What a game changer! I would love to walk around Central Park while munching (mess-free, might I add) on a taco in a bag.

Anecdotally, the trays seem to be Cook Out's most popular offerings. You can choose from any manner of main dish (including burgers, chicken, quesadillas, or barbecue), two sides, and a drink (or a shake for an extra $1.60).

The base is $7.99, but adding toppings has small upcharges. My brother got a burger with cheese (an additional 50 cents) and tomatoes (an additional 10 cents), along with an order of chicken nuggets and hushpuppies.

I can't speak to what a plain burger is like, but I quite enjoyed the cheeseburger. It wasn't too thin like some other fast food burgers can be, and I thought it was well-seasoned. It was also quite juicy.

The nuggets, in my opinion, were average. They weren't too bland, but they didn't have any strong flavoring to them, either.

New York may have a lot of things, but we are missing Cook Out, and I desperately wish that would change. The closest thing we have is Mighty Quinn's, which has a more limited menu and is more expensive.

In total, for my family of three, we paid $34 for two burger trays, a barbecue plate, and two shakes. There's nothing in New York that compares, not even McDonald's or Wendy's.

Now that I've tried Cook Out, I'm already hoping to plan another trip to a state with a location nearby — so don't be surprised if you see me popping up in Tennessee or Virginia sooner rather than later.