This week Daily Cardinal Food brings you an overview of the best and the worst fast-food items to recently hit the market.
To honor and celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Whopper, this year Burger King is releasing 14 new products. The King Supreme, introduced at the beginning of this year, is surprisingly similar to the format of the Big Mac: \Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.""
The King Supreme boasts two beef patties, smothered in a special sauce that apparently enhances the flavor of the flame-broiling process. The sauce, bearing a remarkable resemblance to a coveted Big Mac condiment, is virtually impossible to wade through and oozes profusely from the sandwich. Scrape off the insane amount of special sauce and you've got yourself an extremely meaty Whopper minus the mayonnaise. For $3.79, hungry visitors can enjoy this new burger in a value meal with fries and a medium drink. Keep an eye on Burger King, as they intend to introduce several new taste treats in the upcoming months.
Hardee's latest offering is a bold gamble from the fast-food seller. Lagging behind traditional fast-food giant McDonald's and losing business to upscale ""fast casual"" restaurants like TGI Friday's and Chili's that offer take-out service, Hardee's is looking to set itself apart from the competition.
The Six-Dollar Burger, priced at $3.95, is Hardee's attempt at distinction. The burger certainly looks more imposing than most fast-food offerings. A hefty half-pound patty, two slices of American cheese, red onions, bread and butter pickles, tomatoes and lettuce, plus ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise are all piled upon a toasted sesame-seed bun, all made fresh to order.
The most noticeable element of the burger's taste is its inherent sloppiness. The undersized bun fights a losing battle to contain the heap of ingredients. It is difficult not to finish the sandwich without a few traces of mustard or pickle making their way to your lap.
Once you are able to get over the Six-Dollar's messiness, you'll notice it measures favorably against other fast-food burgers. The large patty is well-seasoned with pepper and has a texture much more favorable than the usual. And the fresh veggies, most notably the red onions, blend well with the ketchup, mayo and meat for a refreshingly complex flavor.
The Six-Dollar is nothing if not filling, as it weighs in at 950 calories with 62 grams of fat.
Overall, the Six-Dollar Burger is a worthy, distinctive new entry to the fast-food burger arena, though not without its flaws. If Hardee's were to improve upon the weak bun, it would have a genuine winner on its hands.
Now that March has arrived, McDonald's has added three new items to their New Tastes Menu to tempt your palate and provide an alternative to the traditional St. Patty's Day meal.
Ah, the Shamrock Shake: cold, green, minty and, this year, a little unsatisfying. For $1.99, expect to receive a triple-thin vanilla shake with a few drops of green mint flavoring stirred in. This runny, bland shake won't be evoking the Irish spirit in anyone.
This month McDonald's also delivers a new sandwich: the Mushroom Onion Swiss Quarter Pounder. Served fresh off the griddle on a poppy-seed bun, the supple meat patty is covered in Swiss cheese and a heap of grilled mushrooms and onions. Two problems: The Swiss cheese has no holes and tastes like mozzarella, and the onions and mushrooms are so soggy that their taste is unrecognizable. The Mushroom Onion Swiss Quarter Pounder costs $2.19, but it tastes like a $1 burger. Kissing the Blarney stone leaves you with better breath than this burger does.
The only enjoyable item on the New Tastes Menu is the cherry pie. The crust is a little thin and firm, but the taste of the cinnamon sprinkled on top mixed with sweet filling and wholesome cherries inside is excellent. Best of all, it's only $0.89, allowing you to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with plenty of pals and pints.
With its delicious recipes, it is no wonder that the new P'zone from Pizza Hut is perfection. You can choose from three styles 'the Meaty, the Classic and the Pepperoni'all with their own distinct flavor and savory toppings. Each P'Zone comes with sliced cheese sealed inside a folded pizza crust, which is then baked calzone-style. The new P'Zone is, as Pizza Hut says in its ads, ""so big, we dare you to eat it alone."" Its mouth-watering appearance and originality in the fast-food market make the P'Zone a must-try.
At $5.99 apiece, and topped with garlic and filled with cheese, each P'Zone looks great and tastes even better. The Meaty P'Zone comes with a variety of meats including Italian sausage, pepperoni, ham, beef and pork topping. The Pepperoni P'Zone is stuffed full of that ultimate pizza topping, which only seems to taste better folded between two layers of calzone pizza crust. Lastly, the Classic P'Zone also comes with Italian sausage, but includes green peppers and red onions as well. You will find yourself satisfied from the first bite to the last.
The P'Zone's entry into the pizza industry just may bring Pizza Hut to the top, because the restaurant's newest item certainly leaves you begging for more.
A new taste for the month, the Mediterranean sub is offered at a special price of $3.29. This sandwich may appear trapped in an exotic name, but variations are abundant. First, a bread type must be selected from any of the Subway classic grains. After this, warm grilled chicken and crumbly feta cheese are added. A hungry consumer may then intensify their experience with additional toppings chosen from the traditional extras (lettuce, tomato, onion, etc). A special Mediterranean sauce is sprinkled over the sandwich and the finished masterpiece, wrapped in Subway paper, is finally ready to be devoured by an unsuspecting individual.
Unwrapped, the Mediterranean sub exposes a sandwich not as messy as the meatball, but without the dry quality of a mayo-less turkey. This innovative creation, dripless in nature, is moist enough to not require an open beverage. The sauce and warm, juicy chicken lift the spirits of a taste bud surviving on a college diet, at the same expense.
