Wendy’s just discontinued the Wendy Melt! What the fuck is up with that? They were damn tasty, even more so when made with pepper jack cheese… How did this happen? While we’re at it, let’s discuss how this injustice was perpetrated at the same time their shitty new Vanilla Frosty appears to have permanent status! WTF?
They used to have a Mushroom Swiss burger which was very good, and suddenly dropped it.
I’m still mourning the loss of their BBQ Bacon Swiss burger that they had back in '88, and McDonald’s Onion McNuggets from the 70s.
I loved their Smokey Chedderburger and was quite disappointed when I went in one time over the summer and it was nowhere to be found.
Sonic used to have a kick-ass chicken fried steak sandwich that I would crave about once a week, and they dropped it a year or two ago and I think I’ve eaten at a Sonic twice since then.
I never knew that I didn’t like anything else on their menu.
Jack in the Box used to have pizza pockets when I was a kid. Sniff.
Before I began to avoid sugar, I used to pray nightly to the gods that Wendys would come up with a vanilla Frosty. Nice job - 2 years too late, guys. 
VCNJ~
Don’t these things go in and out as ingredients become cheap?
Seems like one week, there’s a sale on megapurchases of pepperjack cheese, and we’ll get pepperjack Wendy Melts, pepperjack Gorditas, pepperjack Big Macs, pepperjack wraps…then it’s all gone and the fad goes all at once. But never fear, because this week, there’s a sale on Bacon! Bacon melts, bacon topped tacos, baconize your Big Mac, bacon subs…
I never really got into most of the Wendy’s specialty burgers. I tend to avoid any mushroom-melt type arrangement because the mushrooms are invariably canned and therefore taste like salted rubber. Only when the mushrooms are real, fresh, sauteed mushrooms will I partake.
Outside of that though I have to say that Wendy’s is probably my favourite fast food burger joint. At least the hamburger meat tastes like it came from an actual cow and not hacked from a loaf of something that may or may not contain up to 30% of something referred to only as “meat” and may additionally have the term “by-product” in it. (I’m looking at you, Harvey’s!)
To slide off on a related tangent for a moment, I’m annoyed that Harvey’s got rid of their fish sandwich. That is to say, their breaded fish sandwich. It was pretty decent. They ended up replacing it with their salmon burger, which may or may not contain salmon and almost definitely has the terms “hydrolized plant protein” and “reconstituted dog vomit” in it. They did, however, have some real potential winners when they were test marketing their Buffalo Chicken Strips, Chili, and Steak Sandwich. All of these were absolutely awesome and I said so on their survey sheets repeatedly, but they ended up keeping only the steak sandwich. Bastards. They never listen to me.
Back to Wendy’s, they also used to have really good chili, but in the past five or six years (maybe longer) it seems like the meat in the chili has just been scrounged from cooked but unsold burger patties, evidenced by the fact that you can usually find one of the square burger corners lumped in there somewhere. (No fingers yet, however)
It’s all Other People’s fault. Other People don’t like things that actually taste good, look good, are made well, sound good, are well written, thoughtful, or reflect in any way that the creator has two brain cells to rub together. That’s why Bush is president and all the good TV shows get cancelled. Other People suck.
And even though a lot of people think they’re awful, I think McDonalds should keep the McRib as a permanent part of their menu. Sadly, around here it only appears for a few weeks at a time every couple of years…
Wendy’s has the best ceasar side salad ever…bacon, cheese, croutons, and the dressing is divine. All for a buck! There’s one by my house, so anytime I need a salad I go there. It’s cheaper than buying a bag of greens and dressing, plus it’s always fresh.
I worked at Wendy’s when I was 16, I am now 38. Back then, any overcooked, unsold burgers were placed in a bin and used for Chili. My guess is that hamburgers get sold by weight and the little “100% real beef” tag. I seriously doubt that chili does. I would venture to guess they are cutting the beef with some hydrolized soybean extract protein fodder and that is responsible for the quality change.
I was very impressed with the quality of food that Wendy’s served. We got real hamburger meat, real chicken breasts, real salad parts. The only thing that came in pre-prepped was the french fries and Frosty’s. Although at the store I worked in still had the cutting tool for french fries, so at that time, getting them frozen was a rather new phenomenon.
The first time I went to Taco Bell and got rice in something, I thought to myself, holy cow, the cheapest form of fast food found a way to be cheaper. It wasn’t on the description of the item on the menu, so I was very shocked and definitely felt cheated.
Go to A&W. Ask for a Velveeta burger. Slip the cashier a $20 if you need to. It’s not on the menu, but it can be done. Oh yes, it can be done.
Pizza Hut had a Sicilian pizza for a while. Herbed crust, very tasty. It vanished, alas. I suspect it didn’t appeal much to small children, who probably account for a staggering proportion of pizza choices at the Hut.
I have to agree with An Arky.
Regardless of what type of product I become fond of; be it cosmetic, edible, wearable or usable - it will be discontinued.
Except Rice A Roni. But everything else. Those other people just weren’t happy with my Buf Puf so - away it goes.
Maybe that explains my lack of shopping buddies, yeah, that’s it.
Ew. Was that policy or just something your store did? Because my guess is that it still goes on, and certainly explains why some of the bits of beef on that chili taste like they’ve been cooking for a week straight.
This is exactly why I like Wendy’s. Frozen fries are fine with me (I’m not a huge fry eater anyway) but the fresh beef and actual lettuce leaves instead of shreddings, that’s really what differentiated them from the frozen meat coins everyone else used.
Taco Bell always struck me as the most brilliant cheap-ass fast food scheme going. Half of the menu items all contain exactly the same ingredients with only the configuration changing. The rest are all just minor variations on the same themes, most of which still containing the same base ingredients. I swear that up at Corporate HQ the Director of Making Up New Shit must just sit there with his little laptop and a small “Mexican Food Generator” program written in Flash that just randomly slaps a set list of ingredients together until something shows up that looks halfway edible.
Taco Bell also adheres to my “Franchise Law of Meat Economy” which states: The finer the meat is ground, harder it is to determine which cuts of what grade of beef was used, or if indeed there was a cow was involved at all.
[QUOTE=Mindfield]
I never really got into most of the Wendy’s specialty burgers. I tend to avoid any mushroom-melt type arrangement because the mushrooms are invariably canned and therefore taste like salted rubber. Only when the mushrooms are real, fresh, sauteed mushrooms will I partake.
[quote]
Not sure what it is now, but when I worked there (1992-1994) it was always fresh mushrooms.
Again when I worked there, this was how it was. Standard chili procedure is that any patties that have been on the grill too long to serve on a sandwich were put in a bin in the warming drawer, then put in the walk in fridge until needed. Then it would be chopped into small pieces and cooked with the chili. That has been the official chili method since at least 1992.
Wendy’s new Frescata sandwiches need some praise too. Those are some tasty little buggers and they’re available well after most sandwich shops have closed down for the night.
It always amazes me that my girlfriend can never decide what she wants when we go to Taco Bell. It’s all the same 4 or 5 ingredients. What could be easier?
That’s where the other half of the brilliance comes in: They make it seem like there’s so much to choose from, but all you’re really doing when contemplating the menu is making a decision on how you want to eat it. Crunchy or soft texture? One or two-handed? Gripped in the fist, held with the fingertips, or eaten in small bite-size pieces? Head straight or tilted when taking a bite? Only a small portion of your choices come down to what you want in it.
It also strikes me as strange that besides the normal taco/burrito faire, I’ve never been to a Mexican resturant that has things called Gorditos or Enchiritos. I’m worried that one day someone will tell laugh at my lunch and say “Hey man, don’t you know that ‘Enchirito’ is Spanish for 'Dead Bathroom Roaches?”