Places: Burger King, Krystal
Items: Angus Steak Burger, B.A. Burger
Price: $3.29, $1.99
What exactly is “Angus” beef? We Lunch Guys have never known
the answer -- mainly because we’ve never remembered the question after
getting meat drunk on the first bite.
Now primo patties have recently joined the menus of Burger King and Krystal
in the form of the Angus Steak Burger and the B.A. (Black Angus) Burger, respectively.
We worried that Angus may be to lunch what Corinthian leather is to a Chrysler:
an impressive yet hollow label. Turns out that’s sort of true. The main
beef grades are “select,” “choice” and “prime,”
and “Angus” can be applied to all of them if the meat quality
is a step up. Still, taste is in the tongue of the beholder, so how did these
Angus burgers hold up?
Tom: I can tell how good an item is by how many times I “test”
it. As it happens, I can’t stop “testing” the Angus Steak
Burger from BK. My friends marvel at my commitment when I tell them I “have”
to try that new Angus again. In fact, moving forward it’s going to be
tough to test anything else at Burger King because I don’t think I can
get past the drive-through speaker without blurting out “and an Angus
Steak Burger!” But I love the regular Whopper, too, so in one of my
testing sessions I tried them both
have been the marbled tenderness of the Angus or just
the mix of seasonings in the burger or both, but the result was glorious.
The Krystal burger was half as good at, appropriately, a fraction of the price.
This tiny-burger chain deserves props for trying an upscale, full-sized burger
in the first place. The charbroiled flavor did the Angus name proud, enough
to forgive the crumbling patty and the excessive mayo. This was like a jug
of wine from the supermarket.
Tom: The Krystal is better than that!
It just had the unfortunate timing to debut alongside Burger King’s
terrific Angus. That’s like having your first at-bat in the majors go
against Roger Clemens. Both burgers far exceed the taste sensations of a non-Angus
patty.
Chris: True enough, which is why I’m afraid I’m
becoming an Angus snob. After luxuriating in Burger King’s triumph,
I can hardly bear to eat a Whopper with the commoners. Here’s hoping
the other chains get Angus-ized, too.
Ratings: Burger King Angus Steak Burger:
5 sporks (out of 5). Krystal B.A. Burger: 4 sporks.
Food Facts: Burger King Angus: 640 calories (45% from fat),
32g fat, 12g sat. fat, 27g protein, 62g carbs, 1170mg sodium. (Krystal B.A.
Burger data not available.)
E-mail The Lunch Guys:
tomandchris@thelunchguys.com
together. All I can say is the King is dead. Long live the King.
While the regal qualities of BK’s Angus cast a shadow over the Krystal
offering, the Krystal still deserves raves. Krystal is known for its buy-them-by-the-bag
pint-size burgers, but the Black Angus, its lone full-sized hamburger, not
only holds its own against any of the big three’s traditional offerings,
it kicks their butts. With this burger’s sliced cherry tomatoes and
nice Kaiser roll, Krystal isn’t just for late-night post-drinking binges
anymore.
Chris: Speaking of drinking, Tom, if scarfing down a Whopper
is like chugging a good beer, then eating Burger King’s Angus burger
is like sipping a fine wine. With my first bite of this 1/3 pounder -- which
I had dressed up in grilled onions, glaze of steak sauce, bacon and cheese
-- I could only express the sensation in the words of a sommelier. The patty’s
complexity was astonishing, with a deep woodiness, a hint of pine nuts in
its tannins and a smoky aftertaste that had me feeling like a ranch hand in
the 1880s. Now it may
