REVIEW: Carl’s Jr. Hardee’s Bacon Beast Burger

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Hardee s Bacon Beast Burger Top

When I was very young, one of my favorite fast food sandwiches was the simple, yet respectable Hardee’s roast beef. Later, in my early 20s, and with an accordantly sufficient metabolism, I would occasionally go to town on a Monster Thickburger. You know, the one with two 1/3 pound beef patties, four strips of bacon, three slices of American cheese, and a slathering of mayo. (I always appreciated how they didn’t put on airs by adding anything that came from a garden.)

I’m older now, and as such, I wouldn’t feel responsible ordering one of those if Hardee’s still made them. (There’s a smaller, tamer version, but it just isn’t the same.) Couple the lack-of-a-sideshow-aspect with the fact that the nearest Hardee’s just isn’t very near, and the bottom line is, I don’t get there all that often. So, when I heard about its rollout of the new “Bacon Beast” menu featuring a Bacon Beast burger, breakfast burrito, and biscuit, I wondered, will this be enough to work Hardee’s into my regular fast food rotation?

The answer, simply put, is no.

You see, the thing is, I’ve got three Burger Kings closer to me, and Burger King has a Whopper, and to that Whopper, one may add bacon and cheese. And that is, from a taste standpoint, a 98% match for this burger.

Hardee s Bacon Beast Burger Sides

The Bacon Beast consists of “a 3.5 oz patty, tomato, lettuce, pickle, yellow onion, mayonnaise, American cheese, and four strips of Applewood-smoked bacon complete with a special sauce on a seeded bun.” (You can also get it with two or three patties; I ordered a single and was given a double.) A Whopper has a 1/4th pound patty, white onions instead of yellow, and ketchup instead of “special sauce.”

The thing is, for the life of me, I couldn’t tell how this special sauce WASN’T just ketchup. It was a little sweeter, maybe? But whatever it was supposed to be, it was nearly indistinguishable from ketchup.

The other thing, obviously, is that BK flame-grills its meat while Hardee’s charbroils it. Is it different enough to be noticeable? Not to me. Hardee’s patty seemed a bit saltier than BK’s, but it was tasty. Everything else was totally standard, and totally reminiscent of a Whopper. The vegetation was unremarkable but fine, the bacon was decently thick, the bun was bland, and the American cheese was waxy and what one would expect from fast food.

Hardee s Bacon Beast Burger Split

I had no complaints about this thing, but I didn’t come away with any compliments, either. It was a bacon cheeseburger from a top-10 fast food hamburger place. Better than a prepackaged one from a hospital vending machine, but much less desirable than one from Five Guys. And while I get that a place like Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. isn’t in direct competition with a place like Five Guys or Shake Shack or Your Favorite Local Hamburger Place, if they’re asking me to pay close to that same amount, they’ve gotta give me something fun or unique. A Whopper clone with sad special sauce and a different kind of onion just won’t cut it.

Purchased Price: $6.79
Size: Single Patty
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 900 calories is the only nutritional fact available on Hardee’s website at this time.

REVIEW: Little Debbie Ice Cream

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Little Debbie Ice Cream Lineup

Update 9/5/23: We tried the Turtle Brownie, Apple Fruit Pies, and Chocolate Chip Creme Pies ice cream flavors! Click here to read our review.

Update 3/8/23: We also tried the Fudge Rounds and Birthday Cakes flavors! Click here to read our review.

Update 9/2/22: We also tried the seasonal Pumpkin Delights flavor! Click here to read our review.

Update 6/24/22: We also tried the Star Crunch and Unicorn Cake flavors! Click here to read our review.

There aren’t many independently-owned companies with a brand as well-known and emotionally coveted as Little Debbie. Maybe it’s the vast and varied number of snack cake, donut, and bakery items. But I think Little Debbie has managed to package up some processed snack food magic in its little boxes, and when I heard it had collaborated to create Little Debbie-themed ice creams, my Cosmic-Brownie-loving heart did a flutter.

I realize there are a lot of nostalgic ties to Little Debbie treats. People have strong opinions about their favorites. My review aims to evaluate each ice cream for its overall representation of the snack cake and the total quality as a stand-alone ice cream. I purchased as many of the accompanying snack cakes as I could find but could not track down a Honey Bun or Swiss Roll IRL. (Supply chain shortages, UGH!)

I started my journey with the Nutty Bars one and immediately noticed the foil lid with a Hudsonville Ice Cream label. In my excitement to find these, I had missed the fantastic detail that these are all truly “ice creams” and not “frozen desserts,” “light ice creams,” or “soft serves.” The first three ingredients in every variety are milk, cream, and sugar (and then many other ingredients, but still, I was delighted and hopeful).

Nutty Bars Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Nutty Bar 1

The Nutty Bars variety is a peanut butter ice cream with chocolate swirls and small Nutty Bar-type inclusions. The pieces were wafer squares covered in chocolate which had a more dense texture than the Nutty Bars themselves but were still pretty representative and delivered a wafer crunch. I was smitten. The flavors were clear and balanced, and the ice cream had enough flavor and texture elements to make it enjoyable while also definitely reminding me of a Nutty Bar.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Nutty Bar 2

Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 280 Calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

Zebra Cakes Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Zebra Cake 1

Next up, I dug into the Zebra Cakes version, stopping to admire the zebra-striped lid and familiar graphics. It has a vanilla ice cream base with chocolate fudge swirls and vanilla cake pieces. The base tasted remarkably similar to the cake and frosting of the actual snack. The fudge swirl was a great addition, though I think it overrepresented the chocolate note compared to the snack cake’s decorative chocolate swirl. The pieces were more saturated than the Zebra Cake cake, which somehow made them better. This reminded me of the Christmas Tree Cakes Ice Cream, but with the welcome addition of the over-achieving chocolate swirl. Also, yeah, the only Zebra Cake I could locate was a Zebra Cakes ROLL, but the flavor, for comparison’s sake, was the same.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Zebra Cake 3

Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 220 Calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Strawberry Shortcake Rolls Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Strawberry Shortcake Rolls 1

After the Zebra Cakes, I went for the similar Strawberry Shortcake Rolls Ice Cream. This was vanilla-based with a strawberry swirl and vanilla cake pieces. This flavor made it clear that Little Debbie was an active participant in this collaboration because the strawberry swirl tasted IDENTICAL to the strawberry cream in the snack cake version. Like, WOW. There were lots of vanilla cake inclusions, and once again, the base had a bit of that vanilla cream flavor as well. In terms of tasting like the snack cake, this one felt about as close as you could get in an ice cream form. I’m not typically a strawberry ice cream fan, but there isn’t anything I don’t like about this.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Strawberry Shortcake Rolls 2

Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 220 Calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Oatmeal Creme Pies Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Oatmeal Creme Pie 1

Having established a heightened level of expectation, I chose the Oatmeal Creme Pies one next. This flavor had a lot of pressure, as it’s one of Little Debbie’s most well-known and best-selling treats (according to the internet). The ice cream base was a nice clean vanilla, and the mix-in was marble-sized gobs of cinnamon cookie pieces that didn’t appear to have any oats. Still, they were certainly representative. My biggest qualm is that there were too few cookies since they were the only inclusion. They also tasted too heavily of cinnamon and ginger. They were delicious, yes, but they didn’t taste as close to the Oatmeal Creme Pie cookie as I thought they would. Once I found and ate the cookie pieces, I was left with too much plain vanilla ice cream.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Oatmeal Creme Pie 3

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 220 Calories, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 25 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Honey Buns Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Honey Bun 1

Honey Buns Ice Cream was next, and I have to say, I was really disappointed I couldn’t find an actual Honey Bun to compare. I did find a Hostess Jumbo Honey Bun, but that’s a different brand, and I was dedicated to the accuracy! When trying this, the first words out of my mouth were, “Holy crap! How’d they do that?” This delivers on the donut flavor. The base tasted exactly like a Honey Bun (again, maybe this is the magic of shared artificial flavors, and if so, I’m ALL for it!). There were cinnamon sugar swirls and sugar-coated fried dough chunks, which were slightly CRUNCHY like an old-fashioned donut. This ice cream blew my freaking mind. I will buy this again. The cinnamon might have been a tiny bit heavy, but those donut pieces, whoa.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Honey Bun 3

Rating: 10 out of 10 with enthusiasm.
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 240 Calories, 13 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 95 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Swiss Rolls Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Swiss Roll 1

Heading back to the cake roll realm, I tried Swiss Rolls Ice Cream next. Again, pathetically, I couldn’t find an actual Swiss Roll to compare it with and had to go a bit on memory for this one. This featured a chocolate base which, again, tasted remarkably similar to the specific chocolate frosting found on Swiss Rolls. There were chocolate cake pieces and a white swirl to represent the sweet cream filling which had sort of a marshmallowy flavor. It might have just been my pint, but I thought the cake pieces were noticeably smaller than those in the Zebra Cake or Strawberry Shortcake varieties, and that made it hard to taste/notice them. When I did encounter some cake, it was dry and gritty. Overall, I still think this came close to representing a Swiss Roll, but as a stand-alone ice cream, the quality wasn’t as high as the others.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Swiss Roll 2

Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 210 Calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Cosmic Brownies Ice Cream

Little Debbie Ice Cream Cosmic Brownies 1

And to round out this crossover launch, there’s Cosmic Brownies Ice Cream. Bright-colored chocolate sprinkles and gobs of chewy chocolate brownie were scattered against a background of chocolate ice cream. I honestly think the base’s flavor could have been stronger, but that might have taken it closer to the taste of Cosmic Brownie frosting. Maybe they could have also added a chocolate swirl? The brownie pieces, however, were fantastic. Chewy, chocolatey, and plentiful, the only thing wrong with them is that I think I liked them better than an actual Cosmic Brownie, and that made me feel like a traitor. The vibrant sprinkles are a little bit lost and muted when submerged in ice cream, but I was surprised that they still did deliver a candy flavor of their own. A pretty decent match with the popular treat and not at all a bad stand-alone ice cream.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Cosmic Brownies 2

Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 230 Calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 22 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Little Debbie Ice Cream Pure Joy

I was pretty blown away by this lineup. I told A LOT of friends and family to go find them. I don’t think many other brand crossover launches like this have done this well at replicating flavor profiles, and I tip my hat to the ingenuity of McKee Foods and Hudsonville Ice Cream. I was particularly impressed with the quality, especially at a $2.50 price point. As mentioned above, the only disappointment was when I occasionally realized I might like one or two of these better than their bakery counterpart. Heaven forbid.

REVIEW: Taco Bell Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco

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Taco Bell Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco Both

What is the Taco Bell Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco?

Taco Bell brings back its Crispy Chicken and puts it in a flour tortilla with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and your choice of avocado ranch or creamy chipotle sauce. The protein is crispy, white-meat chicken that’s marinated in jalapeño buttermilk, seasoned with Mexican spices, and has a tortilla chip coating.

How is it?

I loved the previous product that featured the Crispy Chicken – the Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco. But it was small and quite basic, with the regular one having just the chicken and chipotle sauce in a flatbread.

The Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco is slightly more substantial. But if you look at the ingredients, it’s basically a Crispy Chicken Soft Taco Supreme, except the sour cream is replaced by a different sauce. The flavors from the vegetables and cheese also made this taste Taco Supreme-esque.

Taco Bell Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco Avocado Ranch

So far, I’ve been on Team Crispy Chicken, and this product doesn’t change my mind. On its own, it has a great taste and fantastic crunch, and those attributes still come through in this menu item. After trying both varieties, I prefer the Creamy Chipotle one. I enjoy the smoky and spicy sauce’s flavor, and it pairs well with the chicken’s seasoning. As for the Avocado Ranch, even though there was a decent amount of sauce despite what my photo shows, it was a little difficult to notice, making the taco less flavorful than the chipotle one.

Anything else you need to know?

Before I saw pictures of the Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco, I had images in my head that this would have the white corn tortilla shell that came with last year’s Cantina Crispy Melt. But sadly, this is not the Cantina Crispy Crispy Chicken Taco. But I’d totally eat the Cantina Crispy Crispy Chicken Taco if it ever gets made.

Taco Bell Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco Chipotle

Also, you might end up with a stubby piece of meat as I did with the chipotle one. Its length was shorter than half a tortilla. But since it was thick, I cut it in half lengthwise and made the chicken stretch from end to end. So just a heads up, you might end up with a couple of meatless bites if you don’t check under the tortilla.

Conclusion:

Although not much imagination went into the Cantina Crispy Chicken Taco, it’s a solid product that highlights the chicken strips.

Purchased Price: $3.89*
Size: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10 (Avocado Ranch), 7 out of 10 (Creamy Chipotle)
Nutrition Facts: Creamy Chipotle – 270 calories, 13 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 690 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein. Avocado Ranch – 270 calories, 13 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 700 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 13 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

REVIEW: McDonald’s Menu Hacks Land, Air & Sea

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McDonald s Menu Hacks Land Air Sea Tower

Hacking menus at fast food restaurants isn’t a new concept. It’s been around for decades but only became more publicly known with the rise of the internet. Most hacks are fairly simple in execution: add a different condiment, swap meats, etc. However, some are insane monstrosities that push the limits of what is a sandwich, like the Land, Air & Sea sandwich from McDonald’s new Menu Hacks line.

The chain has been notoriously silent on the various ways in which customers have used existing menu items to create new (and sometimes colorfully named) products. It was sort of a shock to see it outright acknowledge the menu hacks with this recent promotion. Of course, it’s a win-win for McDonald’s with little effort and will easily end up making the chain some money through customers who are curious about what these items are.

The Land, Air & Sea consists of a Big Mac, McChicken, and Filet-O-Fish stacked together like an edible Jenga tower. It’s worth noting that any of the hack items you order will require you to assemble them yourself. I’m sure most people would assume that, but glancing at the ads can make it seem they’re pre-assembled. It makes sense why we have to do the assembly, but I still would have liked the sandwiches to come as ordered.

McDonald s Menu Hacks Land Air Sea Wrappers

I set out the three sandwiches and attempted to replicate the photo from the ad as closely as possible. I was shocked by how much it looked like the promotional photo without much fluffing done. The first flavor to pop was the Filet-O-Fish and tartar sauce. After that came the familiar taste of the special sauce, chicken, and beef. Three bites in, the sandwich imploded into a pile of meats, sauces, and bread. While not awful, the flavor created by combining the three sandwiches wasn’t particularly interesting.

McDonald s Menu Hacks Land Air Sea Buns

One issue was the leftover bun conundrum. After assembling it, I was left with the buns for both the Filet-O-Fish and McChicken. This was why I had hoped the assembly would be done in-store to avoid food waste. Lucky for me, I have a husband who will, without question, eat whatever I hand him, so the buns didn’t get thrown out.

My biggest issue was the cost. Ordering the Land, Air & Sea through the app was $9.99. I had an inclination that I could get the three sandwiches cheaper but went with the official item in the event there was anything special. There was no special packaging, wrapping, or anything to indicate the hack item. It was just a McChicken, Big Mac, and Filet-O-Fish. After it all was said and done, I went back to the app to see if I could get a deal on the three sandwiches. Through an in-app deal on the Big Mac and Filet-O-Fish, I could get all three for under $7.

McDonald s Menu Hacks Land Air Sea Bites

The Land, Air & Sea has been a well-known off-menu hack for over a decade, so it’s no surprise that McDonald’s would include it on its Hack Menu. There is certainly a novelty to it, but I think the overall experience makes it hard to recommend. If you’re adamant about trying it, I’d certainly explore the cheaper ordering route instead of through the official Hack Menu. I do like McDonald’s is now openly acknowledging the hacks and would like to see other ones (like the McCrepe) featured on a future menu.

Update: We also reviewed other Menu Hacks — the Crunchy Double and Surf + Turf.

Purchased Price: $9.99
Size: N/A
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 1330 calories, 69 grams of fat, 18 grams of saturated fat, 160 milligrams of cholesterol, 2150 milligrams of sodium, 123 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, and 55 grams of protein.

REVIEW: McDonald’s Menu Hacks Surf + Turf

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McDonald s Menu Hacks Surf + Turf Whole

After combining a McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger with a Filet-O-Fish to create the Surf + Turf Menu Hack, the biggest question I have isn’t about how the Franken-wich tastes. Instead, it’s what the McHeck do I do with the extra top bun?

I’m left with some extra bread-age because I wanted to make it look like what’s in the promotional photo, so I put aside the Filet-O-Fish’s top bun and placed the tartar sauce-topped fish filet and the fish sandwich’s bottom bun between the Double Cheeseburger’s two halves. I imagine I could’ve just slapped the extra bun on top of everything and had the Atkins and Keto gods shake their carb-deprived heads in disapproval. Instead, the extra bun is a pain in my filet as it sits in my fridge.

McDonald s Menu Hacks Surf + Turf Wrappers

Creating the menu hack was also a pain. Have you ever tried to pry apart the two beef patties in a Double Cheeseburger that are pasted together with a Pasteurized Process American Cheese slice? It’s as frustrating as trying to get bubblegum off a shoe’s sole. The cheese prevented me from pulling the patties away from each other cleanly with my fingers. I eventually got them separated, but a patty was harmed in the making of this hack.

All right, enough about sandwich construction. Let’s move on to sandwich conMUNCHion.

McDonald s Menu Hacks Surf + Turf Split

I thought the addition of tartar sauce to a cheeseburger would be odd, but it’s not bad. And after thinking about it, it’s like mayo and pickles, which are on other burgers. So maybe it’s not weird. But, it has me thinking about adding tartar sauce to a burger in the future. Oh, perhaps I’m weird.

I could taste the beef with a few bites as I ate the sandwich, but the fish’s flavor stood out the most between the surf and turf. The tartar sauce comes through with every bite and gives everything a pleasant tanginess. The Surf + Turf is also quite cheesy, thanks to the three Pasteurized Process American Cheese slices. They stand out flavor-wise as much as the tartar sauce. And, as I experienced with the Crunchy Double, the ketchup and mustard get lost among all the other ingredients.

I occasionally crave a Filet-O-Fish, and I often crave a McDonald’s Cheeseburger. While I like eating these sandwiches individually, when they’re together, I get less delight out of them. I kept thinking that I’d like it more if the fish wasn’t there, but that wouldn’t be in keeping with the menu hack.

I’m glad I finally got around to trying McDonald’s Surf + Turf. I’ve known about the hack for a while but never had the motivation to make it before since it’s something I could make at any time. But, after trying it, I’m not motivated to construct and eat it again.

Although, making it again will give me another extra bun to pair with the one sitting in my fridge.

McDonald s Menu Hacks Surf + Turf Extra Bun

Update: We also reviewed other Menu Hacks — the Crunchy Double and Land, Air & Sea.

Purchased Price: $7.28
Size: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 830 calories, 42 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, 125 milligrams of cholesterol, 1700 milligrams of sodium, 73 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 41 grams of protein.

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