They’ve got all-beef.
With the cost of fast food soaring and competition for the shrinking consumer dollar heating up, drive-thru titans McDonald’s and Burger King are battling it out for the affections of the grab-and-go grub-loving American public.
From the Golden Arches, the newest tasty tease is the Big Arch Burger, available nationwide as of Mar. 3 and featuring two quarter-pound patties, three slices of white cheddar cheese, crispy and slivered onions, lettuce, pickles and “Big Arch” sauce (a blend of mustard, pickle and sweet tomato flavors) — ringing in at 1,170 calories, containing 53 grams of protein and reportedly costing from $7.59 to $9.29, depending on location.
Meanwhile, at the home of “Have it Your Way,” the Whopper ($7.99 for a single, $9.49 for a double in Midtown Manhattan, cheaper in most places) is getting its first upgrade in a decade.
While the 660-670 calorie burger (depending on if it’s ordered with cheese or not) is still made with a quarter-pound of 100 percent flame-grilled beef and the usual fresh vegetables, it is now served on a “more premium, better-tasting bun” slathered in “better-tasting mayo,” BK promises.
The handheld meal also now comes in a box instead of wrapped in paper, so guests will receive it the exact way it left the kitchen.
The competition has even wafted to the heads of each chain, starting when McDonald’s CEO and Chairman Chris Kempczinski became widely roasted online after an Instagram video of him testing the Big Arch went viral for his extremely small, unnatural-looking bites.
“Why does he look like he’s scared to bite it?” posted one commenter.
“Man’s aura screams kale salad,” someone else quipped.
To add to the heat, BK followed up with their own viral vid — a TikTok featuring BK President Tom Curtis taking a big ole’ chomp out of the new and improved Whopper.
“Yeah that’s a big bite,” one commenter quipped. “McDonald’s CEO would never.”
“That’s because Burger King actually has better burgers,” added another.
To see which new launch best lived up to the hype for ourselves, The Post put the new Whopper and the Big Arch to the test — buying 8 of each for 8 of our staffers and sticking to Double Whoppers for a closer comparison.
Our tasters were then brought to a table with both burgers still encased in their shell cartons, where they were asked to assess multiple attributes of the fast food staple — including the box itself, the moistness of the bun, the juiciness and flavor of the meat, the structural integrity of the burgers and the prevalence of the sauce.
The Big Arch verdict
Lifestyle reporter Ben Cost said he has the occasional fast-food burger on a night out, but when he got his hands on the new selection from McDonald’s, he wasn’t at all impressed with The Arch.
“There’s not a lot of pronounced beef flavor,” Cost said. “It’s kind of muddled, like a Wish.com Big Mac. The texture is kind of like reheated Hamburger Helper.
Although The Post’s wellness editor, Carly Stern, favors Wendy’s over the two fast food giants in question, she was surprised at each burger’s heftiness.
“This isn’t very ladylike,” Stern joked as she handled the Big Arch. “It feels like I’m not going to be able to eat this whole thing without it falling apart in my hands.”
However, she ultimately declared the burger her personal winner over the new Whopper — though she wasn’t particularly impressed by either specimen.
“The McDonald’s burger is a bit more moist,” said Stern. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say juicier — I don’t think it gets that label. There’s nothing about either to me that screams, this one is better. I would eat these both for the same reason — I’m desperate and tired.”
Page Six video editor, Dan Jacobsen, who fancies himself a “fast food connoisseur,” went into the taste test with a chip on his shoulder, describing himself as more of a McDonald’s guy due to their wealth of locations and better app deals. When he stops there for a meal, he’ll typically go for a box of McNuggets or a classic Big Mac and fries.
However, while he initially had high hopes for the Big Arch, when he bit into the burger, he was disappointed to discover that it “wasn’t knocking (my) socks off.”
“It’s kind of dry, if I’m being honest,” Jacobsen said. “I mean, it’s chewy, it’s cooked through, but it’s kind of missing the flavor. I feel like there’s not much variety. The sauce also isn’t memorable.”
He also quipped that McDonald’s might want to “stay in their lane” in terms of burgers, pledging his undying loyalty to the Big Mac.
“The Big Mac’s sauce packs several magnitudes more flavor than what I was getting out of the Big Arch,” he continued. “The Big Mac’s layers of bun, patty, cheese, sauce and lettuce are also better proportioned than what I feel like the Big Arch was.”
Associate lifestyle editor Fabiana Buontempo had a different bias coming into the taste test. While she doesn’t typically eat fast food (except for the occasional post-late-night out meal), when she does feel in the mood, she’ll typically gravitate towards BK over the Golden Arches.
But when she opened the colorful burger carton for the Big Arch, her subpar expectations were quickly surpassed.
“I went into this with low expectations, because it is a fast food burger — I know I’m not going to a New York City restaurant ordering a $20 burger,” Buontempo said. “But the sauce tastes similar to Big Mac sauce, and I like the crispy onions. I had to peel some of the bun off since it was a bit too much bread for me, but it was good.”
Associate lifestyle editor Andrew Court was initially skeptical of both burgers. When opening the McDonald’s Big Arch, he shared that it “looked a little messy — like it was going to be hard to eat.”
“This is a lot of meat, which to me is kind of repulsive,” Court said. “Look at this — you can’t even hold it properly…It’s like a heart attack in a meal. All I can taste is two dry-ish patties of meat and a little bit of sauce. It’s very carnivorous.”
The ‘new’ Whopper verdict
While Cost did appreciate the Big Arch’s sesame and poppy seed bun, he ultimately preferred the elevated Whopper.
“The beef flavor in this is way more brawny and pronounced — it hits you right up front, which seems like a credit to the flame-broiled nature of it,” Cost shared. “You can also taste the tomatoes and onions, it’s not like a diluted, murky taste.”
Cost went on to note that he appreciated how “real” this burger tasted, compared to the McDonald’s selection.
“Unlike its McDonald’s counterpart, it actually tasted like a real amalgam of beef and veggies rather than corporate byproduct,” Cost continued. “It’s no Minetta Tavern, but if I was stuck on some deep-space salvage ship in the year 2279, I’d definitely go with the King over the Arches.”
When it came to trying out BK’s new Whopper, Jacobsen was a bit sheepish — though he’d eaten at the chain plenty of times, he’d never picked up a Whopper before. However, after chowing down on the freshly elevated version, he shared that this would soon change.
“It’s no contest — this has so much more flavor than the Big Arch,” said Jacobsen. “I’m sorry McDonald’s, I go to you guys all the time, but I feel like I’ve been missing out. What am I doing with my life?”
When Buontempo opened up her Whopper and chowed down, she was bummed when the bun and meat tasted “dry.”
“This is heavy — she’s thick, she’s big,” Buontempo shared. “This is definitely more dry…I feel like since they’re claiming to have this new, creamy mayo, it could have had more of that.”
She also noted that the taste of meat was overwhelming.
“It’s like meat, meat, maybe a bit of the raw onion and the tangy pickle,” Buontempo continued. “I also prefer the crispy onions in the Big Arch, versus these big slices of raw onion. Nobody talk to me after eating onions like this!”
While Court noted that the BK Whopper looked thick, he appreciated that the paper on the outside of the burger made it look like it’d be “easier” to eat.
And when he gave it a bite, his skepticism was completely cured.
“This is so much better — it’s just delicious,” said Court. “The tomatoes, the onions, a lot more lettuce. It feels like you’re actually having a classic burger.”
Lifestyle deputy editor, Eric Hegedus, hadn’t eaten BK in years before this taste test. However, right away, he was impressed by the “vintage, old-school box” and the enticing smell of the flame-broiled meat — even if the burger itself was a bit “unwieldy.”
“This reminds me of growing up and going to a fast food restaurant, where you get a sloppy burger that has decent flavor and you feel satisfied after eating it. I’m getting that with the Whopper,” said Hegedus.
“I definitely prefer the new Whopper over the Big Arch — no offense, McDonald’s,” he continued. “I’m getting much more flavor out of the Whopper, and it also gives me a feeling of nostalgia. The burger just has a flavor that I absolutely love. Can’t go wrong with flame-broiled, in my opinion.”
And the winner is …
It turns out, Burger King is, well, the king of our newsroom.
As seen, our staffers clearly preferred BK’s new and improved Whopper, which proves that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — maybe just add a little pizazz to zhuzh it up.
It’s fair to say, we truly had it our way.
Read the full article here
