junk food – Page 2 – Michael Eats

Creamy Parmesan & Bacon Quarter Pounder at McDonald’s

Published on June 2, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

Why aren’t these limited-time-only burgers at McDonald’s ever a Big Mac? Why are they always Quarter Pounders? A Big Mac with some kind of different sauce in it? I’d try it!

Alas, here’s another Quarter Pounder, though I quite enjoyed this one, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

The Creamy Parmesan & Bacon Quarter Pounder: “A quarter pound of 100% Canadian beef topped with a creamy parmesan and black pepper sauce, hickory-smoked bacon, crispy onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard and 2 slices of processed cheddar cheese served on a toasted sesame seed bun.”

I’ll admit that I got quite lucky with this one; a burger that’s hot, fresh, and well-assembled at a fast food joint is far from a sure thing, but that’s what I ended up with. A burger at McDonald’s can be juicy, apparently! Who knew?

The main thing that makes this stand out is the creamy parmesan and black pepper sauce, which is actually pretty tasty. It’s quite ranch-esque, but it does have a bit of a parmesan flavour (pepper, on the other hand, I didn’t particularly notice). Put this on a Big Mac, please.

Otherwise, crispy onions and bacon are always welcome on a burger, and everything else is standard Quarter Pounder stuff. It’s a solid fast food hamburger.

French Onion Cheeseburger at Wendy’s

Published on April 1, 2024 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

French onion soup is delicious. That’s just a fact. If you disagree with that statement — sorry to break it to you, but you have bad opinions about soup.

Cramming French onion soup flavours into a hamburger is such a foolproof idea that I’m shocked you don’t see it more often. That’s not to say that you never see it (I actually reviewed a French onion soup burger for my burger blog a few years ago), but I think this is the first time I’ve seen it at a fast food joint.

The burger, as per Wendy’s menu: “A quarter-pound of fresh, never-frozen Canadian beef, two slices of cheese, caramelized onions, crispy onions, and a seasoned mayo sauce. Your favourite fancy soup is now your favourite fancy burger.”

(Is French onion soup fancy? I feel like any dish whose primary appeal is gobs of melty cheese can’t be classified as “fancy,” but maybe I’m wrong.)

The burger doesn’t do a particularly great job of capturing the flavours of a bowl of French onion soup, mostly because the cheese is American rather than the traditional gruyere (or even something vaguely gruyere-like, which does exist in processed cheese form). On the other hand, it’s delicious, so who cares.

It’s a really, really good fast food cheeseburger; one of the best I’ve had in quite a while, in fact. Gooey American cheese and griddled onions are best friends on a burger, the crispy onions add some nice texture, and the seasoned mayo sauce adds a nice dose of creaminess and richness.

And the patty itself was reasonably juicy and had a decent (if very mild) beefy flavour. Of course, that’ll depend on the location you visit, but I feel like Wendy’s is the most consistent fast food chain in that regard. It’s good more often than it’s not.

The McRib is Finally Back

Published on December 11, 2023 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2439 Steeles Avenue East, Brampton
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/

The McRib! It’s back! Sort of — for some bizarre reason, McDonald’s has chosen to only bring it back to five random locations in the GTA, mostly in Brampton. But you know what? This is the first time in like a decade that the McRib has come back to Canada, so I’m certainly not complaining.

I seem to recall that the last time the McRib came back, it wasn’t as good as I remembered. But my McRib nostalgia is strong, so of course I had to try it again.

It’s good! I was wrong, it’s good. It helps that I got a freshly-prepared one — it was quite dry last time, and that definitely wasn’t the case here. It also helps that I ordered it without onions, and with extra pickles instead, and yeah, that’s the way to go. Raw onions are for jerks.

It comes absolutely slathered in a slightly smoky, sweet-but-not-too-sweet BBQ sauce, which is a pretty big part of its appeal.

Maybe I just got lucky and got a very well-prepared one, but I think is probably one of the better things on the McDonald’s menu. Hopefully it’s not another decade before they bring it back again.