Price: $1.00

Location: 6261 N. Lincoln, Chicago, IL 60659 (map); phone: (773) 588-1976

Rating: 4 out of 5 – good

The Whopper Jr. was not something I’d been looking forward to revisiting anytime soon, but a late Friday-night attack of hunger pangs forced my hand. (Actually, running out of meat for the new Burger King Steakburgers ultimately did that, but since I was already at the local BK, there was no sense in wasting gas by driving home on an empty stomach.) At any rate, this time around with the Jr. proved to be a surprisingly pleasant experience, as I actually enjoyed my smaller-sized sandwich quite a bit, even after taking my worked-up appetite into account. The key to a good Whopper, it seems, is all in the customizing — having it Your Way, if you will.

The regular Whopper Jr. — and, by extension, the regular Whopper — is not all that different from the Burger King Hamburger. It merely trades in the mustard for mayo and tacks on lettuce, tomatoes, and onions to give it that deluxe look. These differences made my meal that much more appealing, however, as I began to ask for changes to the standard topping set: no raw onions, but extra mayo for flavor. (I could care less about the lettuce, but it was added in sparing amounts, thankfully.) In the end, thanks to some combination of richer mayo and fresher preparation due to the modifications, I got a sandwich whose balance of ingredients in proportion matched my own taste preferences quite well.

Having now been through Whopper Jr. experiences both good and bad, I find that the Jr. can produce worthy examples of fast food at a cheap price… if prodded and prepped properly, that is. A two-dollar Whopper might look like a bad deal in comparison to this linchpin of the BK Value Menu, or a compelling compromise-free alternative when on sale for anywhere from $1.39 to $1.75 (2-for-$3.50 sales). Either way you slice it, knowing that the Whopper Jr. can be coaxed into a snacking stopgap is valuable information, indeed, especially if you’re not feeling up to a Dollar Menu Double Cheeseburger from McDonald’s at the moment.

Tags: balance, BK, Burger King, burgers, changes, cheap, coaxed, customizing, deluxe, extra, fresher, good, hamburger, Jr., lettuce, linchpin, mayo, onions, proportion, raw onions, Regular, review, stopgap, tomato, Value Menu, Whopper, Whopper Jr.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.