Place: Burger King
Items: Low-Carb Whopper, Low-Carb Chicken Whopper
Prices: $2.19, $3.89
We Lunch Guys admit to our pro-bun bias. The bun gave birth to fast food itself, making lunch portable and easy to hold. It should be celebrated, yet it's being eradicated.
The latest example is Burger King with its Low-Carb Whopper and Chicken Whopper, holding the bun, ketchup and mayo. For the same price as the original version, you get the sandwich innards in a plastic case with fork and knife. Could these be a whopping good lunch?
Tom: Burger King's low-carb menu is not only the worst of the Atkins-friendly items we've tried this year, it may be the worst idea ever to come out of a drive-through window. Years from now we'll laugh when we think of this concept -- that is, if we can stop laughing now.
To Burger King, “low carb” means no bun. So picture the Low-Carb Whopper—a burger patty, lettuce, pickles, tomato and onions…in a bowl! Not only do you need a fork to eat it, which means it's a fast-food pariah, but a knife, too?! When they said it takes two hands to handle a Whopper, they weren't kidding. Imagine a pizza with no crust or a doughnut with no dough. That's the level of thought
calling it a Whopper is a disgrace to that great name. It's just a cute little overpriced chicken lunch with a meager side salad of lettuce and tomato. But the chicken itself is so splendidly succulent I'd eat it any way, anywhere, in the rain, on a train, with a goat or on a boat.
Tom: But not in a car, Chris. I figure that Mr. Atkins didn't drive because you certainly can't think about operating your vehicle while eating a one of these bunless sandwiches. I couldn't even figure out how to eat it in my car when pulled over in the parking lot. Forgo the fries and Coke, not the buns.
Chris: If only Burger King hadn't been so lazy about the low-carb thing. Don't just delete the bun, reinvent the burger. Carve up the Whopper into fun burger nuggets or create a satisfying burger salad -- something that gives you more for your lunch money, not less.
Rating: Low-Carb Whopper:
1 spork (out of 5);
Low-Carb Chicken Whopper:
3 sporks.
Food Facts : Whopper no bun (and with bun): 450 calories (710), 74 percent calories from fat (54 percent), 38g fat (43g), 12g saturated fat (13g), 7g carbohydrates (52g), 22g protein (31g), 590mg sodium (980mg).
E-mail The Lunch Guys:
tomandchris@thelunchguys.com
that went into the low-carb line at BK. Don't get me wrong, the flame-grilled burger didn't taste bad. Nor was the lettuce wilted or anything like that. It's just that a burger without a bun isn't worth eating. If you followed the song's advice --“hold the pickle, hold the lettuce” -- you'd have a meat patty, tomato and onions with packets of ketchup and mayo. Sound good?
Chris: I'm with you on this one, Tom. The Low-Carb Whopper is the “jump the shark” moment of the Atkins revolution. Trying to retrofit a decades-old burger for an of-the-moment diet fad is a bad idea with even worse execution. The result isn't a sandwich, it isn't a salad -- it isn't lunch. It is, however, depressing. The big ol' patty is lonely and lukewarm, the condiments sit there without the ketchup and mayo to bind them, and my plasticware is doing what my teeth should be.
Eating a burger patty on its own isn't the way nature intended, but eating a juicy, tender chicken breast that way is. That's why I actually didn't curse at the Chicken Whopper -- though
Burger King goes mindlessly bunless
