Place: Sonic
Items: Chili Cheeseburger, Bacon Cheddar Burger Toaster
Price: Chili Cheeseburger, $3; Bacon Cheddar Burger Toaster, $3.20
What did our ancestors do for lunch way back in the 1950s? We Lunch Guys shudder to imagine a world without a Big Mac or Chalupa available on every corner. But the '50s did have its good points, namely the drive-in restaurant and the rollerskating carhop.
Both ancient customs are celebrated in all their kitschy glory at Sonic, where you chow down in your parked car. The '50s gimmick is legit, with the 2,700-location chain getting its start in 1953. Most of the menu is basic Americana, but we ordered up two spotlight items: the Chili Cheeseburger and the Bacon Cheddar Burger Toaster. Was it like being in a time machine -- or like eating cryogenically preserved leftovers?
Tom: Sonic was always flying below my radar screen until the chain started advertising its “chili on anything.” My words to live by are “everything is better with bacon.” I think the same might be true with chili, and Sonic is the only company capitalizing on that. Consequently my mouth was salivating as I yelled into the speaker, “Chili Cheese-burger!” While they aren't too liberal with the chili -- from the speck they put on the burger they could feed all of San Antonio with just a
paper (or actually, picked apart and spread across my tray), this shouldn't work. The burger is bland, the bacon is a burnt Frisbee, the “Texas” toast is smushed in the middle to Delaware size, and the “smoky” cheddar and “hickory” sauce taste like the flavor-creating chemist never lit a fire or got close to real wood. Yet forget the parts and just wrap your mouth around the sum, and the Toaster somehow really cooks.
Tom: You are absolutely right about the Toaster. I don't know why it was good but it sure went down easy. Actually, after looking at the nutritional information, I do know why it's so good; anything with that much fat and salt works for me. Talk about a different era -- this one must have been created before diets.
Chris: Speaking of different eras, what do a Chili Cheeseburger and something called a Toaster have to do with the Eisenhower years, anyway? Ah, who cares? Eating at Sonic is the second best thing you can do in a parked car.
Rating: 4 sporks (out of 5)
Food Facts: Chili Cheeseburger: 699 calories (60% from fat), 46g fat, 45g carbohydrates, 20g protein, 1,162 mg sodium. Toaster: 675 calories (50% from fat), 38g fat, 60g carbohydrates, 26g protein, 1,786mg sodium.
E-mail The Lunch Guys:
tomandchris@thelunchguys.com
bowl -- the essence of chili still came through. I wouldn't call the Chili Cheeseburger decadent, but it is better -- make that zestier -- than your average drive-through burger.
The Toaster was terrifically tasty. Even though the Texas toast was rather untoasted, there's something homey about a burger on toast. Put it on a bun and it's run-of-the-mill fast food ubiquity. Make it on toast and it's unique, almost country-club like.
Chris: Thankfully, the Lunch Guys' Lunchmobile is your easily hosed-down Honda Element, Tom, otherwise I'd never ever eat a Chili Anything in the car. But while I was expecting a sandwich that'd make a Sloppy Joe look like a Tidy Tim, the Chili Cheeseburger seemed to have just a schmear of chili paste. The 50-cent upgrade still spiced up the otherwise basic burger while still being fairly car-friendly. I had more problems with the mayo and pickles plopping onto my lap.
The special Toaster sandwich is a unique concoction, too, but no one ingredient stands out. On
