I Ate It (So You Don’t Have To!): Arby’s All-American RoastBurger

Survey Says: American’s are bored with burgers.

The quick service industry’s forgotten step-child, Arby’s, commissioned a survey and found that American’s are bored with fast food burgers.  They are too greasy (55% agreed), too dry (40%) and the quality of meat is poor (45%).

Enter “RoastBurgers,” the newest sandwich additions to the Arby’s menu.

via QSR Magazine

“Roastburgers offer a tasty new way for burger lovers to satisfy their cravings while avoiding burger boredom,” says Steve Davis, Arby’s Chief Marketing Officer. “

So basically what Arby’s has done is swapped out ho-hum ground beef for the taste sensation that is their trademark roast beef.

The results…well…ummm, how do I say this…not as bad as I thought it would be.

The All-American Roast Burger I had for lunch, and it’s relatives the Bacon & Bleu Cheese and Bacon & Cheddar RoastBurgers, clearly benefit from some super-secret chemistry straight out of the flavor labs of New Jersey, because darnit…the RoastBurger actually tastes like a fast food hamburger.  Again, I am left completely frustrated by how easily my taste buds can be tricked by science, but I guess that is the point with modern day fast food.  The Oxford University Museum of Natural History bails me out a little here noting that the taste buds are easily tricked (in general, not specifically by this sandwich, but someone should definitely take this back into a lab and experiment).

More from an Arby’s Press Release:

All-American Roastburger – Features Arby’s thinly sliced, oven-roasted roast beef with fresh lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, ketchup, mustard, and a secret sauce served on a specialty roll

Here is the skinny on this “burger.”  Easily 1/4 lb of roast beef which because of its shape/folding meant the sandwich stands pretty tall and seems substantial.  Any hint of that special sauce, which someone on these here Interwebs actually compared to IN-N-OUT’s secret sauce (?), was completely overpowered by the beef flavorings sprinkled on the sandwich (the Arby’s website even features an eerie animation showing the beef fleck coating process).  Ketchup and mustard, the tried and true burger toppings, along with lettuce, tomato (very red – not always the case at fast food joints), raw onion and pickle were all present.   Even the bun was better than your average fast food vessel.  I’d compare it (favorably) to a BK Whopper.

That said, the whole concept just seems wrong to me.  A roast beef sandwich shouldn’t have to aspire to be anything more than a roast beef sandwich and a burger by its nature has no equal in the world of meat-on-bun concoctions.  But of course this is all about marketing and market share and so Arby’s, known as the #2 franchise sandwich chain in the country (behind Subway), has dipped their toes in the ultra-lucrative burger pool in launching this line.  Interestingly, they could potentially steal market share from their sister restaurant, Wendy’s, by offering a burger experience which caters to a more high-end fast food eater.

RoastBurger Pros:

• Close your eyes and it tastes like a pretty darn good fast food burger
• Really red tomato, crispy lettuce and tasty raw onions – all fine toppings which would be well placed on a burger
• Price – Arby’s is offering a free RoastBurger (with the purchase of a drink) via a coupon on their website (exp. 2/9/09)

Cons:

• Mouth-feel: The meat just disappears in your mouth, like cotton candy or those weird Japanese shrimp chips.
• The whole “better living through chemistry” vibe you get when seeing the flavor flecks and tasting the overpowering beefiness of this sandwich.

Stats:

420 calories

170 calories from fat

18g of fat

6g of saturated fat

1g of trans fat (oddly present here…Arby’s was the first chain to introduce trans-fat free fries)

40mg of cholesterol

1390mg sodium

46g carbs

2g fiber

15% of your recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C (!)

Bonus feature:  Recipe to make your own Jamocha Shakes…previously the only reason anyone went to Arby’s.

Filed under: Big Burgers, Burger, Burger Geek, Burgers In The Burbs, Cheeseburger, Fast Food Chains, Hamburger, I Ate It So You Don't Have To, Marc Sanders, Mmmmm Chemicals!, Weird Burgers

I Ate It (So You Don’t Have To): 7-11’s 1/4 lb. Cheeseburger Big Bite

They’ve done it again! The crazy food scientists (probably in Eric Schlosser’s New Jersey) have created a foodstuff that tastes the way we “expect” a burger to taste, even though everything about this thing is 100% WRONG!

This “natural” extension of the 7-11 Big Bite Hot Dog line-up is roller cooked until perfection (or until they pluck yours off) and delivered on a squishy hot dog bun. Step over to the condiment island and load it up as you please, I put on sweet peppers, ketchup and mustard, and there you have it – a concoction you would have had to dare your grade school friends to eat…but you are older now, on a tight budget and hungry, so let’s call this – lunch.

The rolled meat is infused with cheese and onion-y bits and has the texture of a kafta kebab, which it might have been called if (and I am only imagining this) focus groups would have signed off on eating anything labeled as mildly Arabic. In fact, if you ever find yourself in an Afghani or Lebanese restaurant and are craving a good burger, you’d do well to choose a Kafta Kebab. They are usually one of the mildest food choices on the menu and are a great gateway meal into further explorations.

But again, this isn’t a Kafta Kebab! It is an All-American Cheeseburger, rolled up to allow for even cooking on the already installed 7-11 hot dog roller system you know and love. It is $1.99 and even though I have it listed in the I Ate It (So You Don’t Have To) section, you could do worse.

File it under “If I have to have a burger and there aren’t any (and I mean any) other options…

Filed under: Burgers In The Burbs, Cheeseburger, Convenience Store Food, Fast Food Chains, I Ate It So You Don't Have To, Marc Sanders, Weird Burgers

They Eat It (So We Don’t Have To): MRE Hamburger

An on-again, off-again feature of this blog is “I Ate It (So You Don’t Have To),” wherein I subject myself to various shady burger experiences in hopes of stopping you, the innocent reader, from making a major culinary mistake. This post, however, is a little different.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet I was able to procure perhaps the rarest burger of all – a MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) Burger. The “They” of course are our troops who are fearlessly in harms way, and for whom a trip to the latest burger joint featured on this or other sites is frankly impossible. So in a nod to patriotism, here is a quick post on the making and eating of a MRE Hamburger.

First of all, I had no idea how big an MRE packet would be. This set was fairly sizeable and featured a complete meal + snacks and drink mixes as well as a cooking pouch that is scary efficient and a couple of chicklet style pieces of gum to freshen up with after the meal. I’m not sure how many packs a soldier could conceivably carry at one time, but it can’t be too many (they don’t weigh much, but they are bulky…about the size of a shoe box) and so the stories of supply convoys cruising the desert become even more realistic when you think about how often the troops would need to be resupplied.

Filed under: All About The Sauce, Burger Science, I Ate It So You Don't Have To, Military, Weird Burgers

I Ate It (So You Don’t Have To!): Lunchables Mini Burgers

I love grocery shopping, but here is the reason why I am rarely allowed to go by myself…I tend to pick up stuff that is:

1. Not on the list
2. Not in any way healthy
3. Not appropriate to eat in front of our daughter.

That said, I present to you this cautionary tale of a food item I picked up on a recent trip Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables Mini Burgers meal.

Filed under: I Ate It So You Don't Have To, Sliders

I Ate It (So You Don’t Have To!): The BK Steakhouse Burger

This is a first in a series of first-hand accounts of visits to the dark, underworld of the “bad burger,” wherein I present cautionary tales on what can go wrong with our beloved food in hopes that you don’t make the same mistakes I did.

First off, a bit of disclosure – I am not a Burger King guy. I never understood the mystique of flame broiling, never accepted the second-rate product naming standards (Whopper? Whaler?) and until his recent image refreshing, never accepted “The King” as the viable head of a multi-national fast food empire. I grew up on McDonald’s (when on the rare occasion we did eat fast-food) and therefore a grilled burger just tastes better (and if the recent hamburger resurgence over the past few years is any indication – is the preferred method of most burger pundits).

I was curious about the new BK Steakhouse Burger. Quite frankly, it looks delicious. And, aside from the burger, it was. If I were a vegetarian, I could live on these (sans the burger)…in fact, it might even be worth trying it with the Boca Vegetarian Burger option that BK offers because the toppings (crispy onions, american cheese, lettuce, tomatoes – really nice red ones!, mayo and A1) and composition of this sandwich are great – it is just the meat that is a let down.

Filed under: Big Burgers, Fast Food Chains, I Ate It So You Don't Have To