Taco Bell catches a lot of flak for taking the same three ingredients and turning them into any number of new product offerings. And this is a fair criticism, but it isn’t all that different from what most other fast food purveyors do with their LTOs. I mean, unless you’re Arby’s giving me strange and exotic meats, you’re probably just rearranging the stuff you already had in the kitchen.

And if you’re Sonic, one of your go-to schticks is taking your standard bacon cheeseburger and imbuing it with some sort of butter. In October 2019, we reviewed the Garlic Butter Bacon Burger. In March of 2021, we did their Mesquite Butter Bacon Cheeseburger. And now the fast food chain is back at it with the Steak Butter Bacon Cheeseburger. Aside from the key ingredient — “a rich and creamy butter made with steakhouse seasoning” — this thing has two slices of American cheese, bacon, grilled onions, and mayo.

Here’s where this burger excels — it proudly and unashamedly assaults your arteries with each bite and forgoes all unnecessarily healthy pleasantries like “lettuce” and “tomato,” aka The Devil’s Burger Toppings. From the greasy, crispy, salty bacon, to the salty, creamy steakhouse butter, from the salty, creamy mayo, to the melty, salty American cheese, this burger is… well, in a word, salty.

Here’s where this burger fails — did you see how many times I used the word salty in the previous paragraph? And honestly, I may’ve been selling it short. This thing was a salt lick. And this is coming from a guy who has an incredibly unhealthy love for all things sodium. But the butter coupled with the bacon and the beef and the cheese is a lot. To be honest, doing away with one of the cheese slices might’ve been a good move; as it stands, the cheese essentially overwhelms everything else.

Additionally, I’m not sure what makes this butter “steakhouse” butter. All the butter does is melt, and you’re left with a shiny, greasy, delicious meat patty. But I didn’t notice anything distinctly “steakhouse” about it.

So, in the end, this is a fine burger. It’s cheesy and greasy and EXTREMELY salty, but sometimes that’s just what you want. It is not, however, groundbreaking or innovative. So if you’re expecting “steakhouse butter” to be something revelatory, disabuse yourself of that notion. Oh, and by the way — ask for extra napkins. The attire-decorative properties of this thing are pretty groundbreaking.

Purchased Price: $5.89
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 980 calories, 39 grams of fat, 21 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 120 milligrams of cholesterol, 1910 milligrams of sodium, 50 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 39 grams of protein.

Thanks to Patrick Mahomes, King of Kansas City (with all due apologies to Roger Miller [and props to the eight readers who will get my archaic reference]), my city and its surrounding suburbs are now home to several Whataburger restaurants.

Now, because there isn’t a particularly close one (yet), and the lines are still at the “OMG OMG OMG, WE’VE GOT A NEW _____” stage, I still haven’t had it. But from what I can tell, it’s like a lot of these things in that people either swear by it, or they don’t think it’s anything too special. What both camps seem to do, however, is compare it to Sonic. (Maybe it’s an Oklahoma/Texas bitter rivalry thing?)

Anyhow, I’ve had Sonic all my life, and in the chain burger hierarchy, I think they’re in my top 3. (Or maybe top 5. I’d probably have to give it some deeper thought.) And while Sonic tends to knock it out of the park on their standards — the chili cheese coney, the bacon cheeseburger, the tots, and the onion rings — its LTOs are much more hit or miss.

It’s my sad duty to report that the new Chophouse Cheeseburger is in the latter camp.

It features Sonic’s beef patty topped with “Chophouse aioli,” fried onion strings, and two slices of American cheese, all situated on a toasted brioche bun. Now, some collateral I came across in my research suggests that the patty is seasoned with “Montreal steak seasoning,” but other things — including the app — don’t mention this. Did I notice a different seasoning on the patty I consumed? I mean… eh? I thought I noticed something, maybe, but it’s hard to tell if I was willing myself into tasting a deviation from a standard Sonic patty or if there was actually something there. In either case, it wasn’t enough to make much of a noticeable difference.

The same is true of the “Chophouse aioli,” a lackluster, oily substance that added absolutely nothing. It barely registered, giving me no sense of what I was supposed to be experiencing. What is chophouse aioli, anyway? Fancy steak mayo? To be fair, and as evidenced by the picture, the burger technician had a very light sauce hand.

What this burger had plenty of, however — too much, in fact — is cheese. Honestly, one slice would have sufficed, as the standard melty Americanness overwhelmed everything except the meat. The fried onion straws added a nice textural element and a welcome sweet component to contrast the saltiness of the proceedings. The brioche bun — which Sonic has used on multiple other burgers — was pedestrian but held up well, as it typically does.

While I appreciate Sonic’s regular efforts at giving customers something new, the Chophouse Cheeseburger doesn’t feel like it’ll create any long-lasting memories, nor will it convince any Whataburger die-hards to switch allegiances.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, maybe I’m finally ready to go sit in a drive-thru for 45 minutes to see if “spicy ketchup” is worth it.

Purchased Price: $5.49
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 980 calories, 69 grams of fat, 18 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 110 milligrams of cholesterol, 1610 milligrams of sodium, 57 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar, and 32 grams of protein.

Giddy at the prospect of living within a reasonable distance of a Sonic for the first time in my life, I couldn’t wait to make up for lost time by downing the new limited edition Churro Shake. Technically it doesn’t officially debut until August 1st, but us early birds can order now using the Sonic app.

I was greeted by a generous helping of the super-dense, velvety-smooth whipped cream that I always think of as “the good stuff.” That whipped cream, in turn, was topped with a sparkling smattering of cinnamon sugar (plus, like all Sonic shakes, a cherry, though that addition didn’t seem particularly relevant to this flavor).

The shake consists of vanilla ice cream mixed with cinnamon sugar and caramel, but the taste of vanilla definitely packed the strongest punch to me. That might seem disappointing for a treat whose name gives the word “churro” top billing, but honestly, I didn’t think the relative subtleness of the churro-esque elements was a bad thing. Sonic’s vanilla soft serve is so dang good that all a new flavor has to do is complement it, and this shake certainly succeeds. Sure, mine was not quite as brown as the promotional images promise, but cinnamon and caramel are both substances where a little goes a long way, so I still appreciated how they added plenty of extra richness and warmth to this decadent dessert without making it too overbearing.

Of course, another notable discrepancy between the promo image and the shake I was actually served was the namesake itself. In the promo image, the churro peeks jauntily out from the top like a crunchy feather in the shake’s cap. In my shake, the churro was ostensibly AWOL. It’s understandable how something so dense and doughy would sink straight to the bottom, but I couldn’t even see a hint of the sweet snack submerged within. It wasn’t until I caught myself thinking, “What a pleasant churro-inspired shake” mid-sip that it occurred to me that there actually was supposed to be a real churro somewhere in there that was actually intended to be a major component.

With some tactical spoon maneuvering, I was able to recover it. It’s a good few inches long and wasn’t the half-hearted mix-in I might have expected. It had the characteristic sweet-with-a-cinnamon-kick flavor, plus that coveted crispy exterior and softer (but not too soft, since it had just gone diving in a lake of ice cream, after all) interior. It’s just unfortunate that there wasn’t really any clear way to enjoy such a large chunk at the same time as the rest of the already-formidably-thick shake, so I had to take a break to munch it down before continuing my slurping. I also could have done with another churro piece or two in there, but hey, I’ll take it.

This shake may not be reinventing the wheel (or the cinnamon-and-sugar-dusted snack), but it is extremely delicious. If you’re blessed by proximity to a Sonic like I now am, do yourself a favor and pick one up before it’s gone on September 25th.

Purchased Price: $5.09
Size: Medium
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 960 calories, 46 grams of fat, 29 grams of saturated fat, 560 milligrams of sodium, 120 grams of carbohydrates, 84 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein.

Am I the only person who has never gotten fries at Sonic?

The fast food chain just has way too many unique things on its menu. I never have any desire to hit an old reliable. I don’t want a burger and fries at Sonic. I want a corndog and tots. I want a chili burrito and whatever “fried vegetable” du jour it’s pumping out as a limited side dish. Sonic would have to do something big with its fries to get me to order them.

What’s that, you say? Nachos with fries instead of tortilla chips?

That does sound distinctly Sonic. I guess it’s time to try Sonic fries.

Sonic’s new “Frychos” consist of fries, creamy cheese sauce, bacon pieces, diced onions, spicy jalapenos, and a zesty “baja” sauce all piled together in a stupidly named hill of slop.

Ok, that’s a little rough, but I don’t like the name. It’s a play on its “Totchos,” which is a good name, and I don’t have any better suggestions, but when it comes to “Frychos,” I think they chos wrong.

I like to think the old Sonic guys would have made that line work, but they got replaced by random people who pale in comparison, so we’ll never know.

But I digest…

As you might expect, nachos with fries substituted for chips would be pretty hard to screw up, but Sonic did try. While I found the overall flavors mostly worked well together, there were some major flaws.

I expected the fries to be instantly soggy despite being told they were “crispy,” and I was right. They essentially just mashed together into a giant fry ball and made it difficult to eat, even with a fork.

I’m of the opinion that jalapenos enhance almost everything, but I think they completely swallowed up whatever flavor “baja sauce” is supposed to be. I loved the heat and crunch they brought, but at no point did I notice any “baja” bite. If anything, that just got blended into the cheese, which was nice despite not really being nacho flavored.

The onions didn’t need to be there. You’re already getting a little veggie crisp from the peppers, and their flavor was also lost completely.

The bacon pieces were definitely the main attraction. Midway through, I realized that nachos without crispy chips don’t work nearly as well, but the bacon pieces were so crispy that they almost made up for it.

Overall, I’d say Frychos are ok. Not bad. They never screamed “Nachos!” They just tasted more like a decorated side of sweaty cheese fries, and unfortunately, I still don’t actually have a good gauge on the flavor and texture of a Sonic fry.

Frychos are only available through the app, so I’d recommend tinkering with the ingredients. Go light on the sauce, and ax the onions. You can even add chili if you’re feeling frisky.

If you end up grabbing these, stop there because this is a hefty, substantial meal on its own. Also, literally stop there and eat in one of the designated parking spaces because I don’t think these would survive the drive home without turning into a congealed wad of regret.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: Not available on site.