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I have found that a little tallow goes a long, wonderful way to adding excellent flavor to french fries. (Think McDonald's fries in the early days...) I personally use either vegetable oil or peanut oil and about a quarter cup of melted tallow. That seems to work for me.

By the way, when they make commercial fries, the first process after peeling and cutting is washing, then steaming, frying, freezing, and finally packaging, so the par-boil makes lots of sense. Thanks!

They probably can't do it in NYC, but down here they do a triple burger and fries for 4.99. Very filling if payday is a few days away. And @redfish, are you really against hot KKs? I do know lots of people don't care for sweets, however. The one here closed, saving me at least 50 lbs...

I like the place; sorry, my friends and I call it the 'crack house' so if you are offended by that, I do apologize. Too many Buick GS Club road trips to Bowling Green, I guess. Anyway, I do like the food, but find it both over priced by a larger margin than it should be and the portions seem to be shrinking. My chef friends tell me that breakfast is a HUGE money maker for any restaurant as the raw ingredients are very inexpensive and the cooking is pretty easy. Anyway, we will continue to go for breakfast on roadtrips, but like many on here, I assume YOUR town has a very good breakfast place or two that locals enjoy. On the road, the "C.H." is always a good choice. We have never done anything but breakfast there, so no way to comment on their burgers.

Lots of comments. I go with the one that says, "It depends." I have been "testing" these sandwiches, etc., for about 20 years now in at least 10 different states and many cities, and have definite 'opinions' having tried most of them many, many times each.

First, the "it depends" pretty much applies to the specific location, time of day, etc. If you correct for that, I still find that the Bo has slipped in quality over time, regardless of location, sorry to say. It used to be one of the best, and you can still find SOME locations that are good, but in general it has slipped.

Wendy's had the first really good "big 3" chicken sandwich. Many years ago they had a full boneless chicken breast half that could be purchased with lettuce, pickle, and a LITTLE BIT of mayo; that was the standard if you happened to get a really fresh one. McD came out with one that was almost as good, and the local BK here does not do a real chicken breast sandwich that I have eaten, although I do not get to BK much anymore, so I must pass on any opinion on them. Clearly the "original" sandwich there was the manufactured kind, thus not a fair comparison unless you are doing "patties" across the board. They should be two entirely different categories, IMHO.

Regarding Popeye's, the local one is quite good, but I have not had a basic chicken breast sandwich there, so I cannot comment. I have had the chicken strips wrap, or po' boy, or whatever they call it, and it is awesome. In my book, second only to CFA, which, as many here have stated, is by far the best of the lot. Now, just like with the other places, you have to get a hot, fresh sandwich from them, same ingredients on all--lettuce, pickles, LITTLE BIT of mayo.

If I were testing, I would not be able to do so accurately as I would want a fresh, hot example of each item spaced about 3-5 minutes apart to give me time to do the tasting, photos, and notes regarding the various components and how they meld together to provide the end product. Since this is not practical, I would rate them as CFA, Wendy's (assuming they have the same product I remember) tied with Popeye's Po'boy, and the rest pulling up the rear.

Regarding KFC, I eat dinner there every Wed night because it is close and the only semi-healthy place around that I can get to in the few minutes I have off. I get the grilled breast/wing combo with unsweetened tea and sometimes mashed potatoes. According to the KFC chart, the calories are about 300 for the chicken, with 115 from fat--not too good. No trans-fat, way too much sodium, but about the same sat fat as one grilled drumstick. As for their "snacker" sandwiches, I tried one once when they first came out. Not too good, as I remember, but I will have to give it another try. Sonic? The local one is pretty bad, so I don't go there anymore.

Thanks very much for this review; why not try it again and separate the real from the manufactured? Also, compare several more brands--Arby's was mentioned, as were several others I did not recognize. I would even volunteer to go along and help test, as I am sure all other posters would--HAH!

@Prof.Muncher, You unfortunately must live in the wrong section of the US as the Dulce cookies are sold in droves down here (SO FL) and I have at least one box chilling away in the fridge right now. Thins are in the freezer, of course, and the ones that are chocolate covered peanut butter (red box) are there, too. For an odd one, slather unsalted butter on the shortbread and make an "oreo" with it and another shortbread. Really, really bad for you. But, my lunch two days a week in college used to be two hot, fresh, glazed donuts and a 1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream (when it was all cream) from the Dairy Bar, which is no longer there, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. It was enough to last me through chem lab, which ran from 2-5pm. Those were the days when I could not gain weight no matter what I ate (or drank), but let's not go there, please.

A JITB burger that I tried in CA years ago is, sadly, the only FF burger I remember taking one bite of and then throwing the rest in the trash. I LOVE burgers of pretty much any kind, even FF ones every now and then, but this one was not edible. Once is enough; I live in the SE and we don't have any JITB places as far as I know. This is good, from my perspective.

I bought the Ghirardelli mix once. Once.

It was pretty bad, even compared to what I make myself.

Sorry if I offended anyone who loves them.

I can has cheeseburger and fries--TAXED!! Say it ain't so, Joe!

Sorry, it is cliche day around here...

@Robyn,

Thanks for the pics. I see what you mean about the bun. I guess I simply have to get up there and give it a try as I have never been there for lunch. As for the sundae, it looks amazing! A friend's brother was one of the chefs at Minetta Tavern for a while and he does recommend the black label burger there.

I gotta get up there and start trying some of these great burgers...

Cheers!

Richard

Well, its not for me, but I would never deprive anyone of their burger format.

So, who is making the sliders? Not to be too harsh, but an opinion would be that the only "real" sliders are from White Castle up there or Krystal down here, plus a few others I can not remember that AHT has reviewed from time to time.

"Trendy restaurant" sliders, from the pics I have seen on AHT, are basically mini-burgers, thus are not "true" sliders. Am I over-thinking this, Robyn?

While I would enjoy going to Utah to try some of these burgers, and I know that everyone has their own tastes, I will never be able to get next to this one. Maybe because I am old now and don't get to eat deli sandwiches very often--the supposed "best" pastrami in my area is about 15 minutes away and I have been trying to get out there for about 2 years without success--I am one who worships both the "best" burger (down here it is found at Charm City) and the "best" pastrami--I will eventually get there and report. I could never see putting them together on one sandwich. However, I respect the reviews of these compilations and would be interested in the reviewer's words. I just could never actually order one!