About a month ago, my buddy Nick hit me up via email or a Facebook post and asked me if I had tried the new Stuffed Steakhouse burger from Burger King. If you haven't seen this burger yet, the meat is stuffed with jalapeno peppers and cheddar cheese. In my mind a burger has to be much thicker than what they serve at Burger King to be able to stuff it, but that is the adjective they decided to go with. At best the meat is "peppered" (pun intended), with jalapenos and cheddar cheese chunks. It comes with a special hot sauce, lettuce and tomato.
I unwrapped my burger and the first thing I notice is it doesn't look anything like the burger shown above. I couldn't really see any of the peppers or cheese in the burger until I opened it up and saw them on the top of the patty. My guess is that had mainly to do with the fact that my burger was extremely overcooked. To be honest, it was downright burnt around the outside. This surprised me as I thought their burgers are cooked on a conveyor ensuring a consistent cooking method for their burgers. I take my first bite and am totally overpowered by the flavor of overcooked meat. This thing was charred. After a few bites I finally start feeling the heat from the jalapenos and the sauce. However, due to the burger being so overcooked, I never did taste the flavor of the cheddar cheese. It was quite a disappointment to say the least. While the burger does bring the heat, mine just did not have the kind of flavor one would want in a burger.
My guess is these QSR restaurants introduce new product offerings to drive incremental sales. The strategy certainly works as I do not go to Burger King very often. The last time I did eat there was to try their Angry Whopper. The other reason I think they do this is they are all trying to find a go-to promotional sandwich that they can release from time-to-time to spike revenue numbers during particularly slow times. From Burger King's Angry Whopper and Stuffed Steakhouse, to KFC's Double Down, in my opinion they are all chasing McDonald's McRib.
I have written here before about my respect for how McDonald's uses the McRib sandwich in such a strategic manner. In my mind, McDonald's is the 1985 Chicago Bears. I am sure Ditka used to say, "Oh, it's third and goal from the two-yard line? Send in the Fridge!" Same thing with the folks at McDonald's. "Oh, we're down 5% in sales last quarter? Run a McRib promotion!" None of the other competitors in this space have been able to come up with a go-to sandwich that matches the power of McDonald's McRib.
I got a little off-point there, so I'll get back to today's burger. My guess is if you were to get a normally cooked version of the Stuffed Steakhouse and you like spicy foods, you would find this burger enjoyable. I just don't think I will be going back to try one during this promotional period.
For my first and probably last Stuffed Steakhouse burger, I give Burger King one Stiffy. Save your money and wait for the McRib to come back!
Eat, drink and be merry!
Harry
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