McDonald’s just announced a new burger in Japan which is being referred to as the “Great Moon Burger.” After reading about it, I was surprised to learn it is a variation on an existing burger that has been served since 1990, called the Tsukimi Burger. Tsukimi literally means moon-viewing, and refers to Japanese festivals honoring the autumn moon. Hence, “Moon Burger” for short. The burger is only served before and during Tsukimi season and the egg is supposed to represent the moon.
So what is the Moon Burger? It’s a hamburger patty topped with a poached egg, bacon and “original Aurora creamy tomato mayonnaise” (translation: ketchup mixed with mayo). Um, yum? It’s like breakfast and lunch got together for some love making and 9 months later out popped a burger. A brunch burger if you will. So to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Moon Burger, McDonald’s is releasing the “Great Moon Burger.” It’s the same as the Moon Burger, except with a slice of cheese above and below the burger patty, and most importantly, the burger patty is 2 1/2 times bigger. Fun. 760 calories fun to be exact.
Bloggers have already been attempting to combine McDonald’s breakfast and lunch with creations like the Mc-10:35. C’mon McDonald’s, why don’t you spare us the difficulty of merging breakfast and lunch ourselves and just get this Moon Burger over to the United States pronto. Millions of late-waking, hungover Americans will thank you.
Was in Ann Arbor this summer and had a chance to try the renowned Zingerman’s deli. If you have any friends who went to the University of Michigan, ask them about this place, I’m sure they’ll rave. Zingerman’s is located on a non-descript corner in a somewhat residential area of Ann Arbor. Upon entering I saw a massive horseshoe shaped deli counter, a line of about 25 people, and a window selling fresh baked bread to my right. While waiting in line to get a sandwich I got a loaf of chocolate-chip sourdough bread, which I figured I could take back for some people in my office to try.
I was a little taken aback by the price at first – pretty much every sandwich comes in at over $10 for a regular and as much as $15.50 for the large version of some sandwiches, which uses the same bread but just loads it up with more meat. But hey, if you make really good sandwiches and become a destination for students, families and tourists alike you’re going to be able to get away with your average sandwich being $12.50. The extensive sandwich menu approaches nearly a hundred sandwiches and being that I enjoy pretty much everything I was having a difficult time deciding what to go with. Ultimately I settled on #15 “Bill’s 2 Over Prime” which consisted of Hot brisket, turkey, Vermont cheddar, lettuce, tomato and yellow mustard on challah.
This bad boy was pretty big in size and very tasty. Half the sandwich, a bag of chips and a pickle and I was all good for lunch, with half a sandwich leftover for my plane ride home.
Eick here. What up people. Just wanted to let you know I started traveling in early August and will be traveling either in the U.S. or Central/South America through October 6th. So far I’ve been to Long Beach, Los Angeles, Napa, Berkley, San Francisco, NYC and Saratoga Springs, NY. Tomorrow I head up to Vermont for 10 days and then I head to Costa Rica, Columbia, Jamaica, San Francisco and Austin, TX.
While I’m on the road, Cary and JT will be weighing in with the occasional post but I’m going to make every effort to blog regularly from the road. It will be a bit different than what I normally blog about as I’ll be sharing photos/details/stories about places I’ve eaten or things I’ve tried during my travels. Sometimes I’ll just post a photo, other times I’ll have a story or some details to share, but either way I’ll try and keep blogging and keep everyone in the loop. I’m not gonna be live blogging every meal I eat or anything because I’m not one of these people that serially takes photos of every meal they eat, but if I’m eating something interesting and remember to snap a photo I will.
First up, a couple pictures from a meal at Fuego, a restaurant located at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach, site of a good friends wedding. Interestingly, when I was on my JetBlue flight from DC to Long Beach, I was watching that AWFUL new Ocho Cinco dating show and on the episode I saw he took one of the women to this restaurant and I thought, “cool! I’m about to be there in a couple hours.”
Although I ate some guacamole there, for lunch one afternoon I went with the Green Chile Kobe Beef Burger:
One of my friends with me opted for the White Corn Sopes with Black Beans and Squash:
Now this is just terrible, terrible blogging and reading skills. I won’t even go so far as to say terrible fact checking, because we all know bloggers don’t always fact check, but the fact that Geekologie posted about the alleged “Skinwich” from KFC as if it was real displays a startling lack of basic skepticism and reading skills. Here’s how it unfolded:
Brain Residue “reported” on the creation of a new sandwich being tested in several markets by KFC called the “Skinwich”, which they allege consists of:
5 layers of fried chicken skin, lumped on a bun and topped with white american cheese and bacon
Brain Reside claimed it was being tested at a KFC near their office, so they went out and bought one to try, even providing the masses with photos of this shocking creation:
Looks disgusting right? Yet strangely intriguing at the same time? Given that KFC is the chain that actually released the Double Down, it’s not unreasonable for people to think this might be an actual creation in the test marketing phase. There’s just one problem, look at the cities Brain Residue claims it is being tested in:
Ekaf, Maine – Colbert Blvd.
Tihsllub, Oklahoma – Corner of 3rd & Twain.
Eritas, California – Dense St.
If you weren’t already skeptical of the words “Colbert” and “Dense” in the street names, just spell those town names backwards real quick and you get: fake, bullshit and satire.
It could not have been more obvious this was a fake unless they titled the blog post “FAKE.” Buzzfeed also picked up on the Skinwich as if it was real, although at least had the common sense to note it “may” be fake. MAY be fake? C’mon guys, learn to read things a little closer. Geekologie, Buzzfeed, what the heck are you guys doing? You fell for the most obvious fake EVER. Hook, line and sinker.
About two weeks ago Burger King opened its Whopper Bar in Times Square. Today they unveiled some new burgers that will be served at the Whopper Bar, including a Pizza Burger, Black & Bleu burger and a “Meat Beast” burger. Adam of Serious Eats had the good fortune to try the Pizza Burger today and reports in his review:
I was surprised that it actually managed to convey both burgerness and pizzaness in a single bite. Of course, when you’ve got the assertiveness of that liquid smoke BK flavor mixed with plenty of pizza shaky spices, it’s not too hard to light up the “burger” and “pizza” areas of the brain at once.
The New York Pizza Burger retails for $12.99. It’s 9-and-a-half-inches wide and made with four Whopper patties topped with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, and Tuscan pesto sauce. It’s not available till September, exclusively at the NYC Whopper Bar. Oh, and obviously this thing is meant to be shared.
Also on the menu” the “Meat Beast” Whopper, which has bacon, pepperoni, mayo, lettuce, tomato, onions, American cheese, and ketchup.
Anyone been to the Whopper Bar in NYC yet? How was it?
Update: Sethonious has won the grand prize for his mouthwatering description of WeinerWorks.
The two second prizes go to Gregg for really being the only one to offer up a “worst” experience with a hot dog (and an amusing one at that), and to rossitron for most interesting use of condiments. I just e-mailed you guys to get your addresses to send out the prizes.
As readers of So Good know, Sonic seems to come up more frequently than your average chain here. Whether it is me lamenting its infuriating decision to run national ads while not building stores in my area, noting it is one of the top ten QSR’s by sales revenue or Sonic making the final three of our Fast Food Bracket – it always seems to enter the discussion more than other chains of its size. Well now Sonic wants to remind So Good readers that they are running out of time to try the new(ish) Sonic footlong quarter pound Chili Cheese Coney. That’s right, this bad boy is only available till August 29th:
While dudes on Coney Island websites argue with themselves and Wikipedia over the “real” definition of a Coney Island dog, other people who love fast food a little too much have taken to YouTube, like this dude who crushes a Coney Dog in his car for a video review, or this lady who proclaims “that’s the one.” Now I have no review of the Coney Dog myself, because Sonic still refuses to build a store in the DC area, but that’s probably for the best, because while I can enjoy a good chili-cheese half-smoke at a ballgame, I generally don’t care much for hot dogs overall. What I am a fan of (usually) is Sonic’s commercials, and the latest ad for the Coney Dog does a great job poking fun at a competitor, Subway:
So if you want to try a Sonic footlong chili-cheese Coney Dog, get your butt to a Sonic soon, because they are available for $2.99 only until August 29th. But before you do that, I must ask, are you a fattie? Do you eat too much fast food already? Because if so, you might want to check yourself before you wreck yourself: this bad boy clocks in at 810 calories with 53 g of fat and 22 g of saturated fat – more than 100% of your recommended saturated fat allowance for a full day.
And what’s that about baseball tickets and Sonic gift cards you say? That’s right, the folks at Sonic want to hook it up, so here’s what we have to offer:
One Grand Prize: four (4) tickets to a local MLB/AAA baseball game
(transportation not included) and a $25 MySONIC Gift Card
Two Second Prizes: A $25 MySONIC Gift Card for two readers to visit their
local SONIC Drive-In
Sweet! In the comments share a fun/horrifying memory about the best/worst/weirdest hot dog you’ve ever had. The best comments/memories, as determined by me, will win the prizes. And don’t write a novel. Believe it or not I have things to do with my life besides read 9 paragraph comments to my food blog. You have till Saturday at 9 am EST to leave a comment to enter to win. Have at it peeps.
Anyone who knows anything about advertising knows that the goal is to get the right message to the right audience. Enter the Transportation Security Administration — the people tasked with keeping us safe at the airports, and making sure that your 95 year-old grandmother is not carrying any dangerous liquids onto a flight. Apparently the TSA is hiring, and thought that the best way to reach the best and brightest candidates would be to place ads on the top of pizzas boxes.
[thoughtful pause...]
Really??? Is their ideal employee someone who is too lazy to leave the house to get food? Are they trying to attract fat, pale slobs that do nothing but sit on their bean bags and play video games all day – in other words, me? Something about this strategy seems to be lacking. There is probably a reason the FBI, CIA, etc. do not put job postings in dumpsters or strip clubs — it might attract the wrong crowd. But not your TSA — they are always one step ahead. And the next time you are waiting in an airport security line, asking yourself — where do they find these people? — you will now know the answer.
"So Good has the lowdown on anything that’s happening in the world of food media. He’s the guy who broke the LeBron James/Papa Johns scandal." - Endless Simmer
