"Reality Check" Photos: Wendy's Bacon & Blue Burger...does it look as good as it does in the ads?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Reality Check: Wendy's Bacon & Blue

Posted by Damon Gambuto, March 22, 2010 at 11:00 AM

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/03/reality-check-wendys-bacon-and-blue.html



Wendy's recently added a new burger to their line up. The Bacon & Blue is billed as North American beef, real blue cheese crumble, applewood smoked bacon, sautéed onions, and steakhouse sauce. It also comes with a slice of tomato and some lettuce, but that's not part of the sales pitch.

Wendy's, with around 6,700 outlets, is the world's third largest burger chain—but it's a distant third after McDonald's 31,000+ locations and Burger King's 12,000+ locations. To build their audience, they are continually trying new menu items and recently they seem to have hit on a winning ingredient: bacon. Robyn already Reality Checked the Baconator and the Bacon Deluxe with some mixed results.

I headed over to my local Wendy's to put there newest burger under the lens.





The Bacon & Blue in real life was, unsurprisingly, not much a match for its beauty shots. The bun looked pretty good, but the rest of the ingredients looked as though they'd been mashed on top to secure them in place.

What was a bit of a surprise was the passable flavor of the burger. The blue cheese wasn't overwhelming and the heavy fattiness of the bacon and steakhouse sauce wasn't bad. I know a bunch of folks who told me that Wendy's is their favorite fast food. I can't say that I'll be headed back for my lunch anytime soon, but this introduction to their premium burgers made me understand why the place has a following.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Inedible at any speed?

Careful, Mr. Nader ;)

[Deep13]

2. The asymmetry contributes to the nasty appearance. nt

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. Although a hardcore carnivore...

.
...I have to say that one of the best things they serve is their
value menu side salad. Plain (though not as plain as most -- with
several veggies to complement the iceberg lettuce) and VERY fresh
(at least fresh-tasting).
.
And their Asian Chicken Salad was phenomenal -- although I think
they've changed it in the intervening years since I've had one
(used to have mandarin oranges and not-too-chemically-tenderized
chunks of chicken). The sesame dressing was incredible.
.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Wendy's improved their bacon, and thus made their sandwiches worse.

They've now got thick apple-smoked (god, what a stupid fad. Right up there with chipotle and ciabatta and mini burgers) bacon to replace their older thinner bacon.

The thing is the flavor hasn't improved but the textures all screwed up. They've gotten rid of their "big bacon classic" (and the equivalent sandwich isn't good) and that was the best thing they had on the menu.

As for the real product not looking like the commercial- welcome to earth.

[ironflange]

5. I tried one, it was very good

Not surprisingly, it looked like it had been sat on, but what else is new? The blue flavor was very mild, almost non-existent, but it still added a nice appealing creaminess to the whole mess. I'll order it again.

[seabeyond]

6. i had one. i liked it. nt

[peacefreak]

7. My new favorite guilty pleasure.

Oh, I should hang my head in shame.

[quakerboy]

8. Wendy's has the best of the dollar burgers

And ranges at least 3rd for fast food overall.

[HopeHoops]

9. All THREE pictures look like somebody puked in a stale bun.

:puke:

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Someone's see "Falling Down" one too many times.

;) ;) ;)

[Brickbat]

11. I always liked their bacon chicken ranch sandwich, or whatever it was. Until I became allergic to

eggs and stopped eating it.

[One_Life_To_Give]

12. Wendy's hasn't been that good in 25 years

Once upon a time they were very good. But that was many years ago. Don't even need napkins these days.

[rcrush]

13. Their spicy chicken nuggets are THE MOTHERFUCKING SHIT MAN!