Place: Hardee's
Lunch: Big Roast Beef, 1/3 lb Original Thickburger (no lettuce, no tomato), orange Hi-C
Years ago, Hardee's was sold to CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Carl's Jr. CKE's plan was to use the highly damaged chain to springboard the Carl's Jr brand from regional to national. To convert Hardee's to Carl's Jr, not unlike how Hardee's did the same to Sandy's and Burger Chef. They were going to keep the Hardee's breakfast line, because that was actually working, but adopt the Carl's Jr lunch/dinner menu. Seemed like a good idea at the time, because Hardee's had little going on past 10:30am. Credit the employees and customers of Peoria, one of the initial two test markets, for sabotaging this.
Plan B was what was known as "Star Hardee's", which was basically the same plan but with the Hardee's brand name and curly fries and the Hot Ham & Cheese returning to the menu. The Carl's Jr burgers stuck around.
Not returning to the menu was the Big Roast Beef. The popular option featured pressed roast beef much like Arby's, but piled higher on a buttery sesame seed bun. It's one of the few menu items anyone can remember of pre-CKE Hardee's, and easily the most missed.
Fast forward two decades and change later, and Hardee's has rolled out the Big Roast Beef once again systemwide, and it's return has been...polarizing. The comments in social media ads have been anywhere from joy to the idea that it's back to anger that it's allegedly not the same as it was to debates about what it used to be in the first place. A lot of people claimed it was taken from the Roy Rogers menu after Hardee's parent company acquired that chain (it wasn't...Hardee's offered it years before the acquisition and the sandwich bore no resemblance at all to Roy's roast beef). One guy insisted the original came dressed with mayo, lettuce, and tomato, and no amount of replies telling him that was never true (and it wasn't) will change his mind. Others complained that the original was shaved from a roast on site (debatable) and was piled way higher (true) and tasted different (also true).
Something else that's true? It never really completely disappeared. Some rural market stores have been selling it all along or at least in recent years. But even that version wasn't comparable to the 80's Hardee's. It was still delicious. The bun...more recently the Fresh Baked Bun used on the Thickburgers...was saturated in a buttery sauce that made the whole thing magical. If I was near a Hardee's that had it, I was getting it. So I assumed this wuld be what they were rolling out systemwide when I saw the ads.
So is it? Or is it a true throwback to the original?
It's neither.
The "new" roast beef is soaked in an au jus prior to serving that you can taste in the beef. And the buttery sauce doesn't exist. And the combination makes for a vastly different and altogether inferior sandwich.
Highly disappointing.
So I need to go back to one of those rural Hardee's to see if they're now making the sandwich this new way.
If they are, everything is ruined here.
Wednesday, May 01, 2019
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Truffley
Place: Carl’s Jr
Lunch: Bacon Truffle Angus burger, onion rings, Coke
Me: “Bacon truffle Angus burger combo with onion rings...”
Smiling Counter Girl: “One third pound, one half pound, two thirds pound, single, or double?”
Me: “Uh...one third pound.”
Smiling Counter Girl: “Large or medium combo?”
Me: Medium.”
The register monitor indicates I’ve ordered TWO such burgers and an order of fries. No drink. Smiling Counter Girl anticipates my confusion. “I’ll fix it. MANAGER!”
Some Guy shows up. “He only wants one,” she says. He swipes his override card. The extra sandwich disappears. Now there’s one burger and fries.
Smiling Counter Girl: “Does that complete your order?”
Me: “I asked for a combo with onion rings.”
Smiling Counter Girl: *looks at menu board* - “It comes with onion rings on it.”
Me: “A side of onion rings instead of fries.”
Smiling Counter Girl becomes Confused Counter Girl. She scans the menu board. Looks at the register. Shouts “MANAGER!” Two Guys show up.
“He wants...onion rings...instead of fries?”
One of them swipes his override card. Fries disappear. She figits with the register. Onion rings appear, as does my drink. Transaction complete. She gives me the table number, but not a drink cup. I ask for one.
“What did you want to drink?”
Why is she asking me this? You just give me an empty cup and I fill it with whatever I want.
Despite not asking this out loud, she anticipates my question. “It’s broken,” she says, pointing to the dining room fountain. “We have to get it from that one,” pointing to the drive-thru fountain.
Coke eventually achieved.
To quote the press release, “the new Bacon Truffle Angus Burger features a decadent truffle-infused white cheddar sauce, which has a deep, rich and savory flavor including notes of garlic, toasted onion and aged parmesan. The burger includes a charbroiled 100 percent Black Angus beef patty topped with the premium white cheddar truffle sauce, two slices of Applewood smoked bacon, crispy onion strings, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and mayonnaise on a premium bun.” The fine print claims “natural and artificial truffle flavor”. There aint no real truffles in here, baby. Not at this price point.
Looks great on paper. And...wow. TASTES great in mouth. The press release description absolutely nails what I’m tasting here. Smoky, maybe jut a bit mushroomy, and a bit garlicy. A perfect mix in any case. This may be one of the best burgers Carl’s Jr has ever come up with. There wasn’t a single bite of this burger I did not enjoy.
Not available at Hardee’s, tragically.
It’s kind of rare that an advertised LTO burger hits an expectation home run.
This one did.
Lunch: Bacon Truffle Angus burger, onion rings, Coke
Me: “Bacon truffle Angus burger combo with onion rings...”
Smiling Counter Girl: “One third pound, one half pound, two thirds pound, single, or double?”
Me: “Uh...one third pound.”
Smiling Counter Girl: “Large or medium combo?”
Me: Medium.”
The register monitor indicates I’ve ordered TWO such burgers and an order of fries. No drink. Smiling Counter Girl anticipates my confusion. “I’ll fix it. MANAGER!”
Some Guy shows up. “He only wants one,” she says. He swipes his override card. The extra sandwich disappears. Now there’s one burger and fries.
Smiling Counter Girl: “Does that complete your order?”
Me: “I asked for a combo with onion rings.”
Smiling Counter Girl: *looks at menu board* - “It comes with onion rings on it.”
Me: “A side of onion rings instead of fries.”
Smiling Counter Girl becomes Confused Counter Girl. She scans the menu board. Looks at the register. Shouts “MANAGER!” Two Guys show up.
“He wants...onion rings...instead of fries?”
One of them swipes his override card. Fries disappear. She figits with the register. Onion rings appear, as does my drink. Transaction complete. She gives me the table number, but not a drink cup. I ask for one.
“What did you want to drink?”
Why is she asking me this? You just give me an empty cup and I fill it with whatever I want.
Despite not asking this out loud, she anticipates my question. “It’s broken,” she says, pointing to the dining room fountain. “We have to get it from that one,” pointing to the drive-thru fountain.
Coke eventually achieved.
To quote the press release, “the new Bacon Truffle Angus Burger features a decadent truffle-infused white cheddar sauce, which has a deep, rich and savory flavor including notes of garlic, toasted onion and aged parmesan. The burger includes a charbroiled 100 percent Black Angus beef patty topped with the premium white cheddar truffle sauce, two slices of Applewood smoked bacon, crispy onion strings, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and mayonnaise on a premium bun.” The fine print claims “natural and artificial truffle flavor”. There aint no real truffles in here, baby. Not at this price point.
Looks great on paper. And...wow. TASTES great in mouth. The press release description absolutely nails what I’m tasting here. Smoky, maybe jut a bit mushroomy, and a bit garlicy. A perfect mix in any case. This may be one of the best burgers Carl’s Jr has ever come up with. There wasn’t a single bite of this burger I did not enjoy.
Not available at Hardee’s, tragically.
It’s kind of rare that an advertised LTO burger hits an expectation home run.
This one did.
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