Once possibly the best deal in fast food, a Double-Double is not as cheap as it once was - it’s now more than $5 at the location near me - but it’s still a bargain. The meat has never been the strong suit in In-N-Out burgers, but the tangy ketchup-mustard-mayo-pickle combo of the special sauce has always rendered that point fairly moot. Recommended burger: Double Meat Whataburger with cheese An uncustomized Whataburger comes dressed with vegetables and mustard only - a refreshing change in a ketchup-happy society. They’re good but not particularly cheap - the specialty Bacon Blue Cheese Burger costs $8.99. They’re flat and wide, making them difficult to handle with just one hand. I’ll resist the urge to make a joke about the vastness of Texas, but the burgers at Whataburger, a favorite in the southern United States, really are big. What else do you want me to say? It’s a buttery burger. It should come as no surprise, then, that the Midwest has also given us Culver’s and butter burgers, burgers cooked in butter or with butter put on them (Culver’s serves its ButterBurgers on a buttered bun). My dad once told me that when he was a kid growing up in rural Illinois, he and his family used to order pizza and slather butter on the slices.
Would you rather have five double cheeseburgers from McDonald’s, give or take? I could see both arguments. A bacon cheeseburger (double patty) set me back $12.99. My one, picky complaint is that when ordered “all the way” - their version of “everything on it” - the burger becomes unwieldy with grilled onions and mushrooms.
It worked - there are now Five Guys in every state except Alaska.įive Guys has solid burgers, like you’d imagine having at a backyard barbecue. Is it nitpicky to complain that the meat patties didn’t really have those fine, sharp edges characteristic of a smashed burger? Tasty enough but not great value here, with a single-patty specialty burger costing $10.99.įive Guys, the Virginia-based chain founded in 1986, really pioneered the whole move from fast food into fast casual - the simple strategy being to charge more money for a better product. Owned by Jollibee, Smashburger offers a premium burger - certainly better than the ones served at Jollibee itself. With a thick, pillowy bun, cheese melted to a practically liquid state and plenty of pickles, it’s a solid prototype for the category. The burgers are good - there’s a solid bacon cheeseburger (A&W claims to have invented it in 1963) - but I recommend just the simple cheeseburger. (Fun fact: Marriott International started as an A&W stand in Washington, D.C.) Bacon CheeseburgerĪ&W may not be the brand it used to be, but put some respect on the name: Founded in 1919 in Lodi, right between Stockton and Sacramento, it became a thriving international chain based entirely on root beer, the drink that is palatable only when you put ice cream in it. I don’t know - it feels a little like cheating. Wendy’s is pretty dependent on bacon in its menu: The one nearest me currently has 20 different burgers, 13 of which include bacon. Evaluate the brand on its burger quality, which is, for the most part, decent but not much more. Wendy’s, the brand known for its square patties and beloved “Where‘s the beef?” commercials from the 1980s, is probably best known these days for its celebrated, sassy Twitter persona, which posts memes and roasts brands with awesome put-downs. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on a diet of weak tea and steamed vegetables for the next six months. The 23 chains below are ranked from worst to best, but all the chains in the top 10 are pretty good. I’ve tried to factor that in and have included an extremely subjective value/affordability metric on the y-axis of the matrix to go along with taste rating. But there are more and more upscale fast-food burgers these days eschewing convenience in favor of higher prices and a premium product. Is it fast-food or fast-casual? You could argue that in order to qualify as fast food, a place should have a drive-through window.
It should be compatible with eating inside a moving car, ideally with one hand only. It can have toppings - lots of toppings - but it shouldn’t be overly busy.
(To get a better idea of what I mean, please refer to this piece I wrote last year about chicken nuggets versus chicken tenders.)Ī great fast-food burger should taste good, of course, but it should also be convenient. I’m picking the best fast-food burger, which is an important distinction. I’ve tried to put these burgers into context: I’m not picking the best burger in general. I’ve evaluated burgers from large, national chains in this ranking, making a couple of notable exceptions for California-based chains. Let’s just launch right into the exhaustive and extremely correct Fast-Food Burger Power Rankings.
0 kommentar(er)
