“It’s
absolutely unfair for women to say that guys only want one thing: sex. We also
want food.”
---Jarod
Kintz
“This
seems to be the general idea behind the Carl’s Jr commercials.”
---Howard
CARL’S
JR “MEMPHIS BBQ BURGER”
Various
locations nationwide
We’ve seen TV advertising for a “Memphis BBQ” burger with
pulled pork from Carl’s Jr. It featured
two attractive, scantily clad young women allegedly barbequing a pork butt over
an open grill at what looks like a barbecue contest in a park-like
setting. They pull tender, roasted pork
off the grill and pile it on a burger. They
add breaded fried onion rings, cheese to the mix and voila, you have the “Memphis
BBQ” burger. Then they feed their burgers
to each other in a highly suggestive manner meant to make one want to run right
out, secure one and have a decadent feast too.
We thought: could it be? When
we’re jonesing for barbeque, could it be that easy? Just drive through and get our fix to tide us
over? In a word: no. Just don’t do it, it was a waste of a
perfectly good burger patty. It reminds
one of the “Mac Rib” sandwich that McDonald’s insists on periodically resurrecting
like a zombie rising from the grave.
We usually do our grocery shopping on Thursday nights
shopping at two stores. Sometimes we are
peckish enough to want dinner or a snack between stores. This
is not a problem since there is a good selection of fast food establishments
between the stores. As we left our first
stop Sharon suggested that since there was a Carl’s Jr on the way we try the
Memphis BBQ Burger. I said, “Really?! You really want to write a review of that?”
She said we should be daring. We flipped a coin. I lost, and bravely stepped up to the counter
to place my order. I ordered the subject
burger and Sharon ordered a conventional hamburger. The girl at the register repeated the order
and mentioned barbecued chicken whereupon I asked, “There’s chicken on that
too?”
“I’m sorry”, she replied, “This burger is new and I’m
used to people ordering the barbecued chicken sandwiches. This is scary enough. With chicken it would be really scary!”
When it arrived at the table it was wrapped in a paper
that was labeled, “Special Promo”. This, hopefully, indicates that they do not
intend to make it a regular menu item.
Now I have had many legitimate pulled pork sandwiches. Some come with coleslaw on top of the pork,
some with crisp onions or onion rings on top and some with both. They can all be good. This is another story. I can definitely say that it does not look
like its pictures. On the bottom layer
of the bun is a thin layer of pulled pork that is like the
pulled-pork-in-a-pouch that you get in the refrigerated section of a Kroger
store. This is drenched in a generic
barbecue sauce. Next is the burger,
Carl’s usual decent hamburger patty. On top
of that is melted cheddar cheese and some unbelievably soggy onion rings. All this is topped by the top half of the bun.
How does all this taste?
The best description is muddled.
The flavors are all so indistinct that nothing comes through. The pulled pork is obviously pre-processed
and there is not enough of it there to really taste. I did pull some out and it did not taste all
that good anyway. The patty would have
been quite good treated as a conventional hamburger, but here it is wasted. What was above the patty could only be
described as cheesy onion mush. I’ll
give it credit for one thing. As with
all Carl’s Jr products, even if you don’t finish it, if you are hungry, it is
filling.
Whatever it is it is not barbecue. The words “Memphis BBQ” should not be in the
name. As barbecue this rates a zero.
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