Place: Hardee's
Lunch: Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Sandwich (no tomato), Natural Cut Fries, Coke
Me: "Charbroiled Cod combo, no tomato..."
Supercute Smiling Counter Girl: "Cod no maters..."
Me: "What?"
Supercute Smiling Counter Girl: "No maters!"
I paused for a second before realizing what she meant and busted out laughing. Then she started giggling.
Hardee's and Carl's Jr are trying something new for the annual Lenten (fast food fish special) season with a non-breaded, non-fried, charbroiled fish sandwich. Well played, boys. It's coated with some sort of seasoning mix and something that holds the thing together through the charbroiler and keeps it moist. The bun is of the honey wheat variety, a Carl's Jr tradition with fish sandwiches that I don't understand and do not approve of, but it totally works here. This is a REALLY good sandwich. FAR exceeded my expectations. Certainly the most creative fish LTO going on this year.
The window by my table had a big poster for Hardee's Jalapeno Turkey Burger, which has a "Santa Fe sauce", jalapenos, and pepperjack cheese. I couldn't help but think how awesome a fish version of that sandwich would be. Get on that, Hardee's.
What else is new in the fast food fish world this season? (I'm just going to stick to the new and limited time stuff, so if your favorite chain is like Burger King and not doing anything beyond their available-all-year fish sandwich, I'm not bothering...)
McDonalds - McDonald's rolled out the curious "Fish McBites". They come in three sizes, including a "Snack size" that's on the dollar menu. Tartar sauce is included, but apparently you can choose from other sauces because when I ordered them, they asked what kind of sauce I wanted. I didn't ask what the options were. They're actually pretty good, though I'd love to see a drop of cheese infused in them. They'd be perfect with that. The venerable Filet-o-Fish is also available, of course. Hopefully on sale.
Popeye's - Popeye's annually rolls out their Butterfly Shrimp Tackle Box. The spice melds perfectly with the shrimp and the cocktail sauce. This and the Culver's Walleye are the promos I seriously look forward to each year.
Culver's - Although they're heavily advertising the North Atlantic Cod (available in a sandwich or two-piece dinner), the real seasonal treat, the Northwoods Walleye Sandwich, is available too. Don't fear a fish you don't understand. Embrace the Walleye.
Del Taco - Beer battered fish tacos and the return of the much loved Crispy Shrimp tacos. I'm telling you...people get upset when the shrimp tacos go away.
Taco Johns - A fish taco "in a crunchy tortilla crust" with a "fajita sour cream" . It's a soft shell with the usual lettuce and cheese. Also "fresh lime". It's pretty good.
White Castle - WC added "shrimp nibblers" (small crispy shrimp) to a menu that already had "fish nibblers". They also added a fish taco and a shrimp taco that use the nibblers along with Cole slaw and some sort of sauce in a flour tortilla. Sauce is weird, more Asian than Mexican.
Wendy's - The Premium Cod Fillet is back. I think it's boring.
Arby's - Their fish sandwich is back, at least in some markets. Even more boring than Wendy's.
That's...really about all I've noticed. Not much going on.
No wonder the Pope resigned.
SIDE NOTE: I discovered last night that my local World Market is starting to carry some of the new Dublin Bottling Works sodas, including Dublin distributed XXX Root Beer. I bought a bunch, but haven't tried them yet. Anyway, check your local World Market out.
Unless your local World Market is MY local World Market and you want XXX Root Beer.
Because I bought it all.
