Tag: Wendy’s

Despite thousands of radio stations, playlists, and aging boomer cover bands, most people concede there is no one uniform, authoritative definition of Classic Rock. Some say it has to be from the 60s or 70s; others that it has to feature certain guitar rifts; some claim that in its truest form that Classic Rock can’t include anything but British bands. Classic, it seems, is at least somewhat in the eye (or ear) of the beholder.

Such might also be said of the classic bacon cheeseburger.

Cheddar? Blue Cheese? Applewood smoked or peppered bacon? Lettuce, tomato, and onion? Or just meat, cheese, and bacon? That’s not even saying anything of the condiments or bun choice.

Wendy’s latest burger offering, the Big Bacon Classic, attempts to answer that question by adding Applewood Smoked Bacon to a Dave’s Single. Groundbreaking, I know, except for the fact that it originally debuted in 1992.

Like most premium fast food burgers these days, Wendy’s Big Bacon Classic looks impressive out of the wrapper. With a quarter-pound of beef, bacon, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, mayo, and onions, it has enough heft to inspire confidence without being unwieldy.

I got the burger twice — once during the lunch hour and once in the evening and from two separate Wendy’s.

The first time, I couldn’t get past an off-flavor that was a little bit burnt and a little bit woodsy (having once bitten through a twig roasting a marshmallow, I know these things). Thinking I hit a bad piece of bacon, I took another bite. But I got the same off-flavor result.

Unsure which part of the burger was causing the weirdly unpleasant taste, I tested the components individually, and found nothing wrong with them. Everything was fresh and in its proper portion, although the bacon coverage wasn’t as great as “big” leads you to believe. Still, it had a nice smoky flavor and was rendered perfect by fast food standards, with the right balance of fat, crunch, and smoke.

Since I wasn’t sure if the weird off-flavor of my burger was an inherent flaw or some kind of ingredient or handling issue confined to time and place, I got another one later in the week.

My second was, from a cheeseburger perspective, much better than the first, with a juicy and hot patty dripping with juices and fat, oozing up the cheese. However, its bacon was rather quiet and this time overcooked, although the off and distracting flavor was gone.

Despite being a really good fast food cheeseburger, it didn’t taste better than a well-executed Dave’s Single, which you can get for less than half the price if you’re ordering off the 2 for $5 menu.

All in all, the Wendy’s Big Bacon Classic was good but a bit of a letdown when executed well, and a major disappointment when executed poorly. A good-looking burger with good individual ingredients, to me, it’s classic only in the sense that it’s a classic case of inconsistent execution in fast food.

Purchased Price: $5.59
Size: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 640 calories, 40 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, 1.5 grams trans fat, 115 milligrams of cholesterol, 1260 milligrams of sodium, 38 grams of carbohydrates, 2 gram of fiber, 8 gram of sugar, and 34 grams of protein.

Woo, it’s Sagittarius season y’all!

Happy 50th Birthday to Wendy’s and golden birthday to me! I was delighted I was able to celebrate with the fast food chain’s new Birthday Cake Frosty Cookie Sundae.

Fifty revolutions around the sun is a pretty big deal, but it’s an even bigger deal because this birthday cake flavor is the first new Frosty flavor since the controversial vanilla launch in 2006.

While the cookie sundae concept may seem new, it’s not. There was a collab with Ghirardelli earlier this year featuring chocolate chip cookie chunks and G’s chocolate sauce. But, everything always seems more festive with rainbow sprinkles. So, this b-day version of the cookie sundae features rainbow sprinkles and sugar cookie bits.

I appreciate that Wendy’s is very transparent in describing in the production description that it’s “our creamy vanilla Frosty mixed with the flavor of classic birthday cake” because that’s exactly what it tastes like. I was able to discern it was not quite the vanilla one, but the birthday cake flavoring was relatively subtle.

It just tasted sweeter to me, but maybe sweeter vanilla is all birthday cake is! I liked the texture from the sugar cookies and sprinkles, but that’s about all they added. The cookie itself was a tad eggy for my liking, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.

I know I sound like a harsh critic, but my gold standard is Christina Tosi’s Milk B’ day Cake. Wendy’s didn’t come close to reaching that level, BUT at a fraction of the price/time without being an actual cake, it’s solid.

Although Wendy’s is technically a Scorpio with a founded date of 11/15/1969, I’m glad it was started and that the Vanilla Frosty came to be about 13 years ago. Without those two things happening, this birthday cake sundae maybe wouldn’t have existed for this limited time!

Purchased Price: $2.19
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 410 Calories, 14 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 240 milligrams of sodium, 64 grams of carbohydrates, 47 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein.

There’s a part of me that begs for an answer to this question: has Wendy’s ever attempted a barbecue-style chicken sandwich?

I know it’s attempted a mighty tasty barbecue burger in the past; I reviewed it right here a couple of months ago. But, as I purchased my Wendy’s Barbecue Chicken Sandwich and carried it to my seat, I definitely felt as if the Mandela Effect had taken hold of my memories; I just wasn’t “for sure” about it anymore.

I remember thinking how much I truly enjoyed the barbecue burger, especially Wendy’s dedication to the perfection of a delicious faux-BBQ sauce. It’s usually the one roadblock many fast food eateries hit when trying to perfect their monthly specials. Well, it was only a matter of time before Wendy’s spread it lovingly across its wealth of chicken — if it hasn’t before.

There are three chicken choices are — homestyle, spicy, or grilled. I chose a grilled fillet, for moderation’s sake, of course. With the added slice of Muenster cheese, crispy fried onions, and three perfect pickles, I feel the sandwich would be a triumph, but with a full dollop of Wendy’s Kansas City-style (their words) barbecue sauce, it becomes more of a testament to taste.

As the lifeblood of this sandwich, the barbecue sauce filled every divergent nook and complacent cranny delectably, taking over the sandwich and reinforcing the flavor, especially, of the chicken and, strangely enough, the typical Wendy’s bread. The sweet and spicy components are wonderful bedfellows, whispering tantalizing nothings into the chicken’s ear.

Meanwhile, the bedeviled fried onions do their jobs as mere pawns in this tasty game of complete control.

But the true surprise is the aforementioned Muenster; who thinks to put a somewhat out-of-the-mainstream cheese on something like this? While the barbecue sauce takes over most of the menu item, this pungent cheese manages to rise above it all. It strengthens the sandwich in such a way that it truly causes the eater to take a bite, then a step back, and then ask those in charge why isn’t this cheese involved in more sandwiches as of late?

While there is a part of me that would love to give it a ten, sadly, the Wendy’s Barbecue Sandwich, with its wholly unique flavor, is a bit too shrunken for me to justify a whole $5.49 for a single serving, especially in a country like America. It very much becomes a taste vs. value fight of personal responsibility that we must all go through at least once in our lives.

So I guess I’ll give it a nine, ese. Cómpralo ya!

Purchased Price: $5.49
Size: N/A
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 650 calories, 26 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 80 milligrams of cholesterol, 1580 milligrams of sodium, 69 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, and 34 grams of protein.

Folks, you may have saw some sauces, but you ain’t NEVER saw a sauce like S’awesome Sauce!

Or perhaps you have, it’s not exactly new. Wendy’s has been hyping the condiment up for a few years now by tossing it on burgers and even adding it to its lineup of dipping sauces.

So, while I’ve tried it with some chicken tenders, I’ve never tried it on a chicken sandwich until now.

The options for the S’awesome Bacon Chicken Sandwich were Grilled, Homestyle or Spicy. Usually, I’m a Spicy Chicken guy, but I didn’t wanna risk that interference with the “S’awesome Sauce experience,” which I’m now considering calling my opposite of “s’awesome” garage band. We play horrendous ska.

I decided to go neutral and ordered Homestyle. Ya know, “Homestyle,” just like Mom never made.

Look, if you like Wendy’s standard fare, this sandwich is for you.

S’awesome Sauce is a legit tasty condiment. It’s a tangy concoction that lands somewhere between ketchup and BBQ on the sauce spectrum, and it has a nice little bit of kick. I don’t get much “smoke” as it’s advertised, but the bacon may have stepped on that element.

Wendy’s has always done chicken right, and it’s one of the few fast food joints that usually gives you a nice crisp strip of bacon (at least in my experiences), so you can bank on the proteins being on point. As a bonus, they use the Applewood Smoked Bacon, so that always gives a sandwich a bit more flavor and prestige.

The Muenster Cheese was surprisingly my favorite part as I don’t think any other cheese would have complemented this as well. American, Cheddar, or something like Pepper jack would have clashed. The right cheese choice goes a long way.

They call the bun, “premium,” but it’s just glossy? That bugged me a bit. If you’re gonna promote a new, pretty expensive sandwich that is basically a bunch of standard menu items cobbled together, at least offer it on a specialty bun.

Which brings me to my ultimate unfair disappointment with this sandwich; it reminds me juuuust enough of the Pretzel Pub Chicken Sandwich from a few years ago despite the different sauce. That’s on the Wendy’s Mount Rushmore, and I miss it dearly. I wish the chain still had the pretzel buns because it would have been great on the S’awesome Bacon Chicken.

I gotta reiterate – this is a pretty expensive fast food meal, but when something is on the “Made to Crave” menu, I guess that’s expected. What was I gonna do, NOT get fries and a drink? I didn’t do the math, but I feel like ordering a Homestyle chicken sandwich with bacon and asking for some S’awesome sauce may cut your bill by a dollar or two. Don’t quote me on that probably made-up “menu hack.”

I’d say this is definitely worth a buy, but I can’t help thinking the previously released S’awesome Bacon Cheeseburger may have been better overall.

Purchased Price: $9.91 for a small meal
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 670 calories, 39 grams of fat, 34 grams of saturated fat, 110 milligrams of cholesterol, 1520 milligrams of sodium, 54 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 8 grams of sugar, and 38 grams of protein.

What is Wendy’s Frosty Cookie Sundae?

Back in the day (Read: The first two or three years of the decade) Wendy’s toyed with numerous Frosty variations, including waffle cones, shakes, and parfaits.

But, after the past few years of relegating the Frosty to a value menu afterthought and French fry delivery system, the chain is giving it a decadent dessert spin by adding chocolate chunk cookie bites and Ghirardelli Chocolate Sauce. It’s available in vanilla and chocolate for a cool two bucks.

How is it?

It’s amazing, which is saying something given that it’s “just” a Frosty with the addition of cookie pieces and chocolate sauce. The thing is, this is a chocolate chip cookie lover’s kind of sundae, complete with thick, chewy, chocolate-chunk loaded cookies pieces that taste like they’ve been broken off a fresh cookie (even though they’re not).

Slathered in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Sauce, each bite has both richness and sophistication, giving the familiar sweet cocoa taste of the Frosty an indulgent appeal. As far as deconstructed cookie sandwiches go, this is at the top of the list (oh, and there most definitely is a list).

Is there anything else you need to know?

Plan your bites carefully, making sure to dig below individual cookie pieces to envelop a healthy dose of Frosty with each spoonful. Make no mistake: The moist, buttery, cookie pieces and rich chocolate syrup are the main attractions here and eating them too quickly or on their own will leave you slightly disappointed as you slurp the remaining Frosty.

Also, slight bummer that the sundae can’t be ordered with the double chocolate chunk cookie.

Conclusion:

For a chain that’s put much of its recent effort into revamping its premium sandwiches, Wendy’s has created a surprisingly good dessert item that can definitely stand on its own.

Purchased Price: $1.99
Size: N/A
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 410 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 200 milligrams of sodium, 63 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of dietary fiber, 49 grams of total sugars, and 8 grams of protein.