I heard tell of this new burger from Wendy's last week, and had been trying to play it cool like I wasn't in a rush to try it. That is, until I saw the commercial last night. The idea of actual bleu cheese crumbles instead of dressing, along with sauteed onions, meant that I had to try this beast. So, I grabbed one at lunch today and fantasized about it all the way back to work. I ate lunch in my office just so I could have some private time with my food - plus, everyone looks at me funny when I take pictures of everything I eat.

Upon unwrapping it, I wasn't floored. They're using a bigger, bistro-style bun that hides some of the goodness. But, the burger itself hung off all sides of the bun, and that certainly wasn't bumming me out. Like grandma always said, size DOES matter.

I was concerned that all of the accouterments they allude to in the ad weren't actually on there. I'm also pretty neurotic that things on my sandwiches are evenly dispersed, so naturally - I took it apart for further inspection.

I didn't see nearly as many sauteed onions and I would have liked, but they were certainly present. There was also some sort of "steakhouse spread," more than enough cheese crumbles, lettuce, tomato, and some pretty decent-looking bacon.

The spread turned out to be a fancied-up mayo, almost like a peppercorn aioli, maybe even the slightest smidge of horseradish in there, too. It definitely did the burger more justice than regular ol' Hellman's would have. The bacon was on point - a good mixture of crunchy and chewy, and definitely not that flaccid bullshit they use for the Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers.

If the burger patty was thicker and slightly higher quality, and it wasn't slapped together haphazardly by a high-school drop-out, this could easily be mistaken for a bistro burger at a sit-down joint. In fact, the ingredients are basically identical for the Pacchia burger from the restaurant of the same name (now closed) that I used to daydream about - just scaled down to a Wendy's budget. The verdict: the Bacon & Bleu beats the pants off of most fast food burgers.



5 out of 5 sporks!