Slummin' It: Burger King

I found myself in North Carson this morning and in great need of a breakfast sandwich, as I usually am. Oddly enough for a breakfast enthusiast who purports to be the authority on Carson breakfasts, I didn't know where to go for this breakfast sandwich. There was a 7-11 nearby, and a Burger King. The 7-11 I had been in before (The 395 N. and College Parkway location) and wasn't thrilled with it. Their coffee refills are 99¢ plus tax, whereas the 50 E. and College Parkway 7-11 charges only 75¢, tax included.

Hmm - I never realized until I just wrote the last sentence that these 7-11's are in fact on opposite ends of the same street. The more I know...



I realize coffee prices have little or nothing to do with breakfast sandwiches, but I don't think they have breakfast sandwiches at that 7-11. And if they do, their coffee price has turned me off to them. So there you have it.

Which left me with the Burger King across the street. Now, I'm not usually one for fast food places. This doesn't entirely make sense, as many of them adhere to the divine trinity of breakfast foods: Fat, Salt and Starch. I've had good breakfasts at Sonic (piping-hot tater tots with enough grease to maintain a locomotive), and Jack in the Box fries their own eggs, so it even looks like real food! If it doesn't make you sick, it's a great breakfast.

Oh, while we're on the topic of fast food: Subway is a quasi-fast-food place and I admonish you to avoid their breakfast at all costs. Go hungry before you eat their breakfast sandwiches. I shudder at the mere memory of the experience, and will devote an entire post to it soon.

But back to Burger King. I got a small number 2 - sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit, with a coffee and hash browns. I went to the drive through (drive-thru?) as I was on my way to work. The BK employee was pleasant enough and warned me that the hash browns were "very hot."

I'm not above fast food, but I am above eating in the car, so I waited the five minutes between BK and work to eat. I don't know if the BK employee was kidding or if they just cool quickly, but my hash browns were warm at best by the time I started eating. They weren't bad, but they weren't that good. Potatoes are a very serious consideration for the breakfast eater, so BK might need to step up its game in this area. Or at least change the grease in the fryer.

The sandwich left a little to be desired. The muffin was smaller than the sausage disc (it sounds cooler than patty) and broke apart into crumbs when I tried to eat it. It felt authentic in a way, like I was eating a real biscuit left over from the days of the Comstock in the 1800's. With the crumbling, dry, inadequate muffin, my sandwich looked almost but not entirely unlike this picture from BK's website:

Another fun fact is the nutrition information on the sandwich, reposted here because you're too lazy to click the link to BK's website.

570	calories	19g	sat. fat	210mg	cholesterol	4g	sugar	34g	carbs
37g	fat	1g	trans fat	20g	protein	1510mg	sodium

Aww yeah, trans fats: a "cholesterol double whammy". Jesus, that's just the breakfast sandwich. There were hash browns involved, too.

Finally, high marks for the coffee. According to the cup I just dug out of my trash can, it's Seattle's Best brand. Seattle's Best is far better than Starbucks, but that's not saying much. In any case, it's good coffee. Hot, but after a five minute drive, not scalding.

Overall, BK gets low marks for the sandwich and the hash browns were so-so. But it was a breakfast sandwich in my time of need, so I won't criticize too harshly. At least the coffee ended things on a high note.

In closing,