Loaded Taco Burrito

I don't watch very many commercials, but somehow my ears always perk up when there's one for Taco Bell, most recently their loaded taco burrito. Supposedly this was supposed to be a "coupling" of a crispy taco and a burrito, which to me just sounded like a burrito, but I tried to keep an open mind as we gave it a try.

The loaded taco burrito consisted of a "double helping" of ground beef (double compared to the taco which makes sense as you can't fit as much into a taco as you can a burrito), cheese, lettuce, tomato (although we did not really notice much, if any, lettuce or tomato), tortilla strips, sour cream, and avocado ranch sauce. I guess by "loaded taco burrito," they just meant that they were taking the fillings of the usual crispy taco plus the shell and putting it into a burrito, but really that's just a burrito with tortilla strips in it. Nothing about it, even after tasting it, made me think, "Whoa, it's just like eating a taco but in burrito form!" It was just a burrito. A also wasn't all that impressed with the "inventiveness."

That said, it wasn't bad. The flavor was actually pretty good, between the meat, sour cream, and avocado ranch sauce, and it was relatively satisfying. Nothing revolutionary though. And it was definitely not worth kicking the naked chicken chalupa off the menu for this. (Bring back the naked chicken chalupa!)

Naked Chicken Chalupa

I was reading Grub Street earlier today and they were talking about a new Taco Bell experiment - a taco shell made out of a fried egg debuting this month in Michigan. I can't say that I'm very excited about the idea of holding an oily, squishy egg in taco form, but it reminded me of the last unconventional taco shell that Taco Bell had, the one made out of fried chicken that they sold across the country as the naked chicken chalupa and which was gone within a month.

The naked chicken chalupa came out at the end of January, and within the first week, I picked one up at Taco Bell for lunch and absolutely loved it. I wanted to get more, but there isn't a Taco Bell super close to us at home and our February weekends were pretty packed, making it difficult. Sometime near the end of February, less than a month after releasing it, they announced that the naked chicken chalupa would be gone before March. I had missed the news for a few days (was pretty busy with work and stuff), so by the time I finally learned about it, it was too late. The naked chicken chalupa was gone. I always knew it was going to be a limited edition item, but I didn't think it would be that limited.

There was a lot of buzz around this chalupa when it first came out because it was replacing the regular fried chalupa shell with a shell made of fried chicken. Inside the fried chicken shell were the usual chalupa toppings - lettuce, tomato, cheese, and avocado ranch sauce. Eating it, it was just like eating a regular chalupa. The taste was so similar, except better since the fried chicken shell not only had the flavor of the regular fried chalupa shell but also fried chicken. It was so good. Unfortunately, now it's gone. Was it that expensive to make? Did they run out of fried chicken shells? It got pretty good reviews as far as I could see, and there was a lot of hype about it, so why was it gone so soon? Hopefully this will be like some of the other menu items that Taco Bell brings back from time to time. If so, I will definitely be trying to get as many as I can.

Blue Star Paros

Our trip from Naxos to Santorini was on the Blue Star Paros, another large ferry with lots of amenities (unlike the small ferry we took to get to Naxos). We paid for business class again to get some space to comfortably relax on our afternoon journey, and it was totally worth it. About an hour into our trip, we decided to get some lunch, and we were happy to see that there was another Goody's restaurant on the boat so we could get more from the Greek fast food chain. Unfortunately, since it's now almost six years later, we don't really remember that much about all of the stuff we ordered (really wish we took notes back then so we didn't lose all these memories; at least we've learned our lesson now), but here's what we got.

Onion rings fried in olive oil, which were like the soft onion rings with mashed up onion inside:

I love onion rings like that, but I have no idea where to get them regularly at home. Sometimes the AYCE Chinese buffets have them but it's very hit or miss.

Fries, just like the ones we got last time, fairly standard and just lightly salted:

"Chicken Fillet Goody's," breaded chicken breast fillets (basically chicken nuggets) served with mustard sauce and salad with vinaigrette sauce:

It was nice to get some salad with chicken nuggets, and I wish that was common here too.

Western barbecue burger, which added barbecue sauce, cheese, bacon, and onion rings to the burger:

After eating, we just rested and watched the seas and islands pass by from our window. The boat stopped briefly at Ios, where it was raining, and then finally we were in Santorini, the last Greek island on our adventure!

Hello San Diego

Our San Diego vacation from last October feels like it was just yesterday, and we wish we were back there instead of in New York's cold winter (even if today felt like spring for a day). We normally do separate posts for every place we visit on our trip, but since the first day was mostly spent traveling and we hit up lots of places that are repeats from other recent trips, I'm going to combine them all here to move things along faster.

We flew out on JetBlue from JFK, so there weren't a ton of fast options for lunch. A chose to go with Famous Famiglia's pizza, getting one slice of plain pizza and one slice with sausage and pepperoni, the first of which he found bland and the second a bit too salty. They both could have used more time in the oven, and generally he didn't particularly think too highly of them.

I went to the Boar's Head Deli which had a fancy tablet ordering system, and got a chipotle chicken sandwich with lettuce, avocado, and provolone. I remember the menu saying something about a mango mayo but didn't taste anything like that. This sandwich was supposed to be a panini, but it wasn't very pressed. The provolone cheese was melted, but the sandwich just seemed to come out like it would if I put a sandwich in the toaster for a few minutes, not a panini press. I had thought the chipotle chicken would be chunks of chicken, not slices, but that was not the most logical expectation considering where I went to get the sandwich. It was nice having some avocado, but since that was in chunks, it kind of fell out and made the sandwich harder to eat. The sandwich wasn't cheap, but at least the flavors were good.

In-flight, we got our usual free snacks - lots of water and (for A) some ginger ale, plus some chocolate chip cookies and Cheez-It crackers. We've mentioned JetBlue's free snacks plenty on this blog, and we hope they never stop doing that.

Once we finally arrived in San Diego and got our bags, our first stop was the Ryan Bros coffee stand near baggage claim. Ryan Bros was a local micro roaster, but A had no idea of that when he opted to get coffee. Unfortunately, he didn't think it was that good. He's not judging the whole brand by this offering though, because it was really late and this was just a small kiosk with coffee sitting in those silver cylinder dispensers and not freshly brewed. It really wasn't a very good cup of coffee.

To close out the day, we went for pretty much the same meal we always do when we first get to California, In-N-Out Burger. Is that what most people from the East Coast do when they go out west? We were pretty hungry, so we got three double-doubles, animal style of course, and two orders of animal style fries. It had been so long since we had In-N-Out that we forgot our usual order also added raw onions to the burgers, but it was fine without them. Everything was so, so, so, so good, and we were thankful that we got there at the exact time we did because that branch was packed. It was so crowded that the drive-thru line went out of the parking lot and circled down the street, and at one point after we ordered, we saw the restaurant line go out the door. Can't think of any fast food out here that would inspire that type of line other than Shake Shack (but you definitely couldn't get out of Shake Shack with all this food for $20).

It was a good first day of our trip, mostly traveling, with the San Diego portion kicked off by a delicious visit to In-N-Out. We were pretty excited for the upcoming week of relaxation and good food, and couldn't wait to get started.

Sriracha Chicken

It was late afternoon yesterday when I went for lunch thanks to a bit of a doctor's office fiasco, so I wanted something quick. There was a Wendy's nearby, and they're probably my favorite of the big 3 fast food spots, so I stopped in there, lured in part by the giant sign for bacon sriracha fries. Once inside though, I saw that not only were there bacon sriracha fries, but a sriracha chicken sandwich. That sounded even better to me.

After doing a quick check online to make sure there was no broccoli slaw hiding anywhere in the sandwich (I've been surprised by it before), I ordered it. The sandwich (which is technically called the "spicy sriracha chicken sandwich") had a sriracha-infused bun, spicy crispy chicken, sriracha jack cheese, a few slices of applewood smoked bacon, creamy sriracha aioli, spring mix, and red onions. It seemed like they pretty much added sriracha to every single component that they could. It showed, as the spice of the sriracha was definitely there. There was a bit of a burn (in a good way) from the sriracha. I liked the sandwich.

As I thought about the sandwich more and more as I was eating it, I realized that this might be the closest thing I've had at Wendy's to the wild mountain chicken sandwich that they offered more than a decade ago and that I still miss. I think I mention this sandwich every single time I try something new at Wendy's, but I can't help it. It was so good. That one had a southwestern pepper sauce instead of sriracha aioli, and because of it, the spice there was more zesty than the burn of sriracha. There was also colby jack instead, which I preferred to this cheese. But otherwise, it was close. It was good on its own and even better because it came close to the best sandwich they've ever made.

A Smashing Labor Day

We dropped by the Midtown Manhattan location of Smashburger near the Empire State Building for lunch on Labor Day, and it occurred to us that we hadn't really posted anything here about Smashburger other than our visits at the airport (see here, here, here, and here). We had these grand plans at one time of trying every burger style on the menu and writing a comprehensive review, but obviously that never happened (or really got off the ground). Better to just tell you what we got this time while we still remember it...

M's sandwich review:
For the longest time, I always got burgers at Smashburger. While those are good, lately I've been gravitating more towards the chicken sandwiches, and specifically, the grilled chicken. A grilled chicken sandwich sounds incredibly boring, but at Smashburger, it's anything but. They flatten the chicken breast and however they grill it, it has so much flavor and isn't dry. I opted for the spicy jalapeño baja style that I often get, which adds fresh jalapeños, guacamole, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, red onions, and chipotle mayo to the chicken on a spicy chipotle bun. The sandwich has a little bit of a zing to it that I like, and the flavor combination works really well, both as a burger and a chicken sandwich (and also as a salad). This is probably my favorite style, up there with the classic.

A's sandwich review:
I'm pretty sure the truffle mushroom swiss burger is the same burger I got the first time we went to this location. I love the flavors of the mushroom and swiss together. The truffle doesn't really come out all the time other than the scent, but at least the scent lets you know it's there. Overall the burger is delicious. They add just the right amount of seasoning to the meat, and the mushrooms are fresh and earthy to pair with the slightly funky swiss cheese. I love this combination, and it's often my go-to when we come here.

We also got 2 types of fries with lunch - the regular smashfries and also the sweet potato smashfries. Unlike the plain fries, the smashfries mix the fries with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic. They are so good in both versions, and it's hard to choose which one is better. We couldn't pick at lunch that day, which is part of the reason we got both.

Smashburger is probably one of our favorite fast casual chains, so we're hoping more outlets open up in the city at some point. Not only is the food good, but if you do the surveys, you can get free smashfries on your next visit. Totally worth it.

Chicken Caesar

As we've been wandering the city on all of our Pokemon walks, we've been seeing posters for limited time chicken caesar specials in the windows at McDonald's. I guess the posters worked because after unexpectedly chasing a rare Porygon today when I went for lunch, I found myself hungry and near McDonald's, and decided to stop in to try it.

I went to look for the sandwich on the McDonald's site, but apparently it's only a special in the NY area. Not only is there a chicken caesar sandwich, but they also have salads and McWraps as part of the promotion. I'm not sure if all the special caesar ingredients are the same across the different items, but I imagine they're fairly similar.

The chicken caesar sandwich pairs crispy (or grilled) chicken with toppings of lettuce, tomato, caesar dressing, and some parmesan shavings. Unlike some other fast food items, the sandwich ingredients didn't look that different from the poster; they just weren't styled as nicely.

Overall, I thought the sandwich was fine, but it didn't seem all that different from your regular chicken sandwich. The cheese and caesar flavors were there but not incredibly strong, and the other stuff is all fairly standard. I don't know that I need to go get this again before the promotion ends, but I wasn't disappointed that I tried it.

DC Kickoff

A few months ago, we went on a short road trip to DC. We just needed to get out of the city for a little bit (although we did really just end up in a different city), and thought some time in a new environment, hanging out around pandas, and eating Ethiopian food would do us some good.

The morning we left for DC, it snowed a little bit, but fortunately that didn't screw up our drive too much. We left a little later than we planned, but made good time driving through Jersey. As a quick snack to start the trip, we decided to split some crispy M&M's that we had picked up from Target not long before. The bag was 99 cents for very few M&M's but it had been so long since I had had crispy M&M's that I couldn't resist picking up a bag.

The crispy M&M's had been back on the shelves for about a year already, but we hadn't gotten around to getting them. I think part of the reason we like them is the crispiness, that inner wafer-like center, and an overall texture reminiscent of a malt ball. But I think another part of it is also nostalgia. They hadn't had crispy M&M's for a decade or so, and we remembered them (and that age) fondly. The M&M's were fine, just not really a whole lot of them for the price, but it was nice to have them again.

We were planning to grab lunch in Maryland, but we were getting really hungry around Trenton so we decided to stop at a rest stop for a snack. Burger King seemed like the easiest option for something quick and not too heavy, and they had recently come out with jalapeño chicken fries, so we got a box of those as well as the onion rings I can never resist from BK.

We had tried regular chicken fries at Burger King before, and while we thought they were fine, we never thought they were amazing or anything really special. But these jalapeño chicken fries were different. They were so much better. You could taste the difference in the flavor and there was a definite jalapeño taste and sourness to them (in a good way). We weren't sure what the dipping sauce was supposed to be since no one gave us one with the box of chicken fries (no one really seemed to want to do much of anything at that BK), so we're not sure how well the sauce would complement the fries. But we liked these chicken fries and would get them again if they're still around.

As we sat at the rest stop for our break, we couldn't take our eyes off the news. That was the day that they had discovered a knife near OJ's old property, and it was partway through the season of The People v. OJ Simpson, and we were completely obsessed. Eventually we finished our fried snacks and tore ourselves away from the screen to get back on the road. It was a good thing we had stopped for a snack since we unfortunately hit a fair amount of congestion heading into Delaware, and we would have been so hungry if we had waited until Maryland to eat (and probably would have had even more buyer's remorse; more on that next). We were pretty happy with our snack, and more than anything, happy to start vacation!

Yankee Stadium

I've been a Yankees fan for my entire life, but I have no issues admitting that the food at Yankee Stadium isn't even close to as good as the food at Citi Field. When you have Danny Meyer running the show over at Citi Field with places like Shake Shack and Blue Smoke, the boring food at Yankee Stadium just can't compete. We went to both Yankees and NYCFC games at the stadium recently, and both times we were just reminded about how ordinary and unexciting the food there is.

A ordered something called the "grub tub" on our last visit, and although it didn't have exciting food, it did have a pretty nice delivery system. It's basically an order of chicken tenders and fries made for one person, since it sits in a bowl on top of a drink in a collectible cup. It's much more convenient than getting a drink plus a tray of tenders and fries, since you can just hold this in one hand and watch the game. Points for the contraption, but the food wasn't anything special even though you're paying $18.75 for it.

There really isn't anything spectacular about the mass produced chicken tenders and fries at the stadium, so not a whole lot to say about it. I will say that they never gave us any sauce for the chicken, so that was a bummer. And the person seemed a little clueless on how to put the thing together, so they didn't put the straw in before loading the chicken and fries into the bowl on top, and just gave A the straw separately. He had to assemble it himself on the side before we headed back to our seats. I guess this is the first year they've had this, but still, put the darn thing together. On top of all that, A originally wanted to get iced tea since he was avoiding soda as much as possible, but somehow, in the 2nd inning of the game, this concession stand had already run out. How is that even possible?

When we went to the soccer match, we got one of those mega tubs of 8 chicken tenders and fries, but this time got it with garlic fries. Garlic fries are one of the things we actually like about Yankee Stadium, but they're really just fries with tons of garlic and oil on top and not really unique to this ballpark. Although I love garlic and I do like the garlic fries, I felt like a big heavy blob by the end of the night, full of greasy, unhealthy fries. We couldn't even finish it. It was just too much starch and after a while, even the garlic wasn't enough enticement to keep going.

I wasn't feeling inspired by the fries or the Johnny Rockets burgers or the chicken tenders when we were at the baseball game, and the BBQ kiosk where I had thought about going was closed the entire time, so I just went with the old ballpark favorite, the Nathan's hot dog. They had 2 sizes, although the person working there didn't seem to know what the difference in size was other than them having different prices. I went with the longer one which was $7, and then went to the topping stand planning to top it with mustard and onions. Mustard was there, but no onions. All they had there was mustard and ketchup (blasphemy). Why is all the food so boring?

I really wish they had better food at Yankee Stadium. Sure, you could show up early to the Bronx and head to one of the places outside the stadium for some Jamaican food instead, but if you're not able to do that, you're kind of stuck with those boring and not great options in the stadium. Why can't they take a hint from Citi Field and do something good and affordable? We've had the steak sandwiches at Yankee Stadium before, but they're really pricey, and that's really one of the only unique options at all. Maybe next year something better will turn up. It hasn't really changed much over the years, but I'll keep hoping.

Rodeo Rings

I went to Burger King recently and had a ridiculously unhealthy lunch. I went with the intention of trying the new chicken rings they've been promoting all over the place (even if I hate that they are actually named "chicken fries rings" because I think that name sounds so wrong), and I can never resist the call of onion rings when I'm there. I figured I'd end up sharing some of the chicken rings with everyone else, so I also tacked on a rodeo chicken sandwich that I found on the value menu but had never heard of before.

The chicken rings (I really can't say chicken fries rings; I know they trademarked chicken fries and that's why they're named that way, but I still can't) are similar to the chicken nuggets and chicken fries at Burger King, lightly breaded, seasoned, and shaped white meat chicken. I wasn't entirely sure what the seasonings were, but according to the nutritional information sheet, the seasonings are paprika, garlic, onion, and "spices."

As far as size, they're quite a bit larger and thicker than the onion rings, which are probably the best point of comparison. The box had 6 rings for $2.89, but I think that price varies by branch. I liked the chicken rings a lot, and would consider getting them again. But I've always liked the fried chicken nuggets and fries at Burger King (and chicken nuggets in general), ever since I was a kid, so it's not surprising that I like these too, despite the horrible name.

The rodeo chicken sandwich combined everything that I usually get from Burger King into a single sandwich - fried chicken, onion rings, and BBQ sauce. I'm not sure if I just missed advertisements for this when it was a new menu item (since even if they're playing on TV, I often tend to mentally tune them out) or if it just appeared on the value menu with no fanfare, but I never noticed it before. It was kind of like deja vu, same type of experience we had when we went to McDonald's on a road trip last year and found the grilled onion and cheddar burger on the value menu that we'd never heard of.

Although the rodeo chicken sandwich was okay, I think I preferred the fried chicken (in the form of the rings) and the onion rings with my dipping packets of BBQ better than the sandwich put together. I think it's because the onion rings on their own were crisper than they were in the sandwich, and I could control the amount of BBQ sauce better. Also, the sesame seed bun had the same problem a lot of fast food buns do in that they get a little bit soft and soggy. The sandwich was fine, but I think I'll stick to the nuggets (or rings or fries) and onion rings separately.

I definitely overdid it with all the fried food that day at Burger King, and probably should have mixed it up with some other stuff instead of just fried chicken, fried chicken, fried onions, and more fried onions. I made all my choices pretty quickly, so now I'm wondering what else was on the value menu that I didn't know about but could have tried. I'll take a closer look next time.

Overflowing Onions in Ohio

The Ohio Turnpike has some of the best rest stops we've ever experienced on the interstate. I thought that when I first drove through Ohio over 10 years ago and it's still true today. (To be fair, there are many states neither of us have driven through, but Ohio to me is still the best.) Since it's a toll road, it's not as simple to just get off at any exit for a meal or a break, but they definitely make up for it with the nice rest stops/travel plazas.

Anyway, we stopped for gas at the rest stop in Amherst, Ohio, and I decided to get a snack. Although I briefly considered Popeye's, I was really just looking for a small snack to make it through the next 2 hours or so that it would take to drive to our hotel and check in before dinner. I may have mentioned previously my love for onion rings, and since there was a Burger King in this rest stop, I decided to get some. I ordered a medium and when I got the bag, it looked like this.

That was a pretty full cup of onion rings plus a ton of onion rings in the bigger bag. I wondered if Burger King's fry/ring policy had changed so that they were more like Five Guys after I saw that, but that wasn't the case. The person working there explained that whoever dropped the onion rings put in way more than they should have for a medium order, so they just gave me the rest. That was pretty sweet. Of course, this was the one time I was specifically looking for a small snack to tide us over until dinner, but I'm not going to complain about getting a ton of free rings. I shared them with A, who was originally not planning to eat any, and off we went, eating onion rings while driving through Ohio and then taking in a pretty sunset. So far we hadn't hit any amazing food places on the road trip, but we were still having a good driving day!

Milesburg McDonald's

Driving through most of Pennsylvania on I-80 is pretty boring. There's lots of trees and farmland and hills and clouds, but not much else to look at. Around Milesburg, we decided to stop for lunch. We needed to get some gas and it was about the right time to stop, eat, and stretch our legs. There weren't a ton of options there - a Country Pride at the TA, a Subway in a gas station, and a McDonald's - so we decided on the Golden Arches.

A got a Big Mac combo, I got a Filet-o-Fish, and then we both decided to split a grilled onion and cheddar burger from the value menu. Neither of us had seen this before, although some Googling during lunch told us that it has been on the value menu since early 2013. Huh. I guess we just don't go to McDonald's too much (other than for Minions happy meals). 

The Big Mac was your usual Big Mac, although A noted it had been a while since he had one. The Filet-o-Fish was the same as always. No point in reviewing those as they're pretty standard for McDonald's. They were so ordinary that neither of us even remembered to take pictures of them before diving in. The thing we were most interested in and definitely remembered to photograph was the grilled onion and cheddar burger. 

At first glance, we wondered if this would be just an ordinary burger with cheese and maybe a few onions. We were pleasantly surprised to see a whole bunch of caramelized onions on the burger. When we tried it, we found that the cheese was creamier and tasted better than what usually ends up on the McDonald's cheeseburger, but the best part was those onions. Such a great caramelized flavor. Overall, it was pretty good for a value menu item (or even just a regular McDonald's item). We would get this again if we saw it on the menu.

McDonald's has apparently decided to impart philosophy on its patrons these days with the sayings on their cups. I like them though. At least they're going for a positive, happy perspective on life.

We tried to relax a little bit and have a leisurely lunch before heading back on the road but that McDonald's was absolutely freezing. The other half of the restaurant by the restrooms was more bearable, but we didn't know that until right before we left. Oh well. Anyway, this stop wasn't anything special since it was just a McDonald's, but it did introduce us to a new value menu item that we didn't even know existed before. Caramelized onions just make everything better!

Ringing Through Jersey

I drove the first leg of our Savannah road trip from home to Maryland. It was a short leg mostly because we were leaving after work and only wanted to drive for a couple of hours so it wouldn't be a super late night. Despite having a decent-sized Chipotle bowl for dinner, I was feeling in the mood for a snack as I drove down the Jersey Turnpike. Since it was a toll road, there weren't tons of options in each rest stop, but fortunately for me, the one where we decided to stop had a Burger King.

I've always had a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for Burger King, especially for their onion rings, and the craving has only increased ever since I've been unable to find those Trader Joe's frozen onion rings, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to pick up a cup of onion rings to snack on during the drive. (We both had some, but honestly it was mostly me.) The onion rings were exactly what I wanted that night - crispy, full of onion flavor, and not overly greasy. A satisfying snack on the way to Baltimore!

Rolled Chicken Tacos

Before we left for our trip, we stopped by Taco Bell to try their new rolled chicken tacos. They looked so good on TV and we needed something to improve our lunch after a potato debacle (perhaps more on that another time). Since we just wanted a light snack, we got an order of 2 rolled tacos which also came with 2 sides. I picked salsa and guacamole, figuring those would be good for dipping.

The salsa was fine, but not very flavorful. Definitely not spicy if that concerns you. The guacamole was kind of flavorless as well, just some processed/mashed up avocado with very little mixed in. The rolled chicken tacos themselves were also a bit of a disappointment.

Source

They looked like taquitos, which we pretty much expected, but they had nowhere near as much stuff inside them as the ads would lead you to believe. They were supposed to be filled with shredded chicken, but I'm not sure I would have known that in a blind taste test at all. Of course food always looks better styled for an ad, but this was just a sad looking cousin to those tacos. Look at the difference!

On top of that, they were also kind of flavorless. This wasn't some situation where we had eaten something really spicy or with heavy flavors and our taste buds had been dulled. Not at all. These just didn't taste like much of anything, sadly.

On a brighter note, I did make a nice story out of sauce packets.

Back to the food though, I think we're going to stick with a taquitos specialist, someplace like Taquitoria, if we want real "rolled chicken tacos." If we want Taco Bell, we'll get the stuff they're better at, like Doritos Locos Tacos. Glad we tried them, but not getting more of these.

Monterey Ranch

Despite the pulled pork debacle a couple of months ago, I'm still a sucker for promotional and limited edition sandwiches at Wendy's, always hoping they'll live up to the glory that was the wild mountain chicken sandwich. This time around, I got the Monterey ranch crispy chicken sandwich that I've seen advertised all over TV (which I think is a limited time recurring item). It looked pretty tasty and I was fairly confident that there would be no broccoli slaw this time!

The Monterey ranch crispy chicken sandwich consists of a chicken patty, a slice of cheese, a large leaf of lettuce, and some creamy ranch dressing. The chicken here is more of a formed patty like the other crispy chicken sandwich on the value menu (which I guess is now the "right price right size" menu), and not the "homestyle chicken" which would have cost much more than $1.79 (which is already more than a lot of the rest of the country). I usually prefer the homestyle since it's more "real" chicken, but this was fine (and cheap!).

The sandwich was exactly what it sounded like - a chicken patty with cheese and ranch dressing - which is a pretty good combination. It was fine, but not enough for lunch for me despite the calorie count on the menu board. I can tell you that it pairs quite nicely with the caesar side salad. Overall, I liked it and if it's still there on a future Wendy's visit, I would consider getting it again. But it wasn't so awesome that I would make a special trip to get it before it's gone if I weren't in the area. All that said, it was definitely better than the last limited edition sandwich I got!