Oh, how hard it is to pay attention to a meal when you are watching your football team lose in the playoffs. I am giving Kurt a little bit of a hard time here, but, being a Bears fan, I have not had this problem in a very, very, very long time. So I will try not to be too harsh.

This Saturday found us at Anelia's in La Conner, a sweet little place with a great bar...though every time I have tried to step down from one of the stools my feet don't reach the ground and I almost fall. Which has nothing at all to do with how much beer, wine or whiskey I have had to drink. Nothing. At. All. I am just very short.

We decided to go to Anelia's because they have a screen above the bar and we figured that there would not be a ton of fans watching in this particular place, as it is known for its pierogies, not its TV. We were very happy to find that we had made the correct decision. They were raffling off cookies for each touchdown the Seahawks scored....so very few cookies were given out that day.

The burger, on the other hand, was quite good, in my opinion. Kurt is still not completely sure what he thought. The meat is from Fulton farm, out of Oregon, so not technically local, but the cows are grass-fed and the owner/bartender knew and told us all about it. 

When the burger arrived, it looked quite good, though it did not arrive next to french fries, most likely because the Polish hate the French. Just kidding. I actually have no idea. But, I was saddened nontheless. The veggies looked crisp and fresh, though I was sad to see no onion and no pickle for the burger. The bun size was perfectly matched to the size of the burger, and that, I thought, was quite impressive. There were two slices of American cheese, and some kind of pinky orange, salty tasting sauce/dressing.

The burger itself was seasoned, and cooked to a perfect Medium temperature. The bun stood up quite nicely, and frankly had the right amount of give without becoming too soggy so that is really was the perfect delivery vehicle for the meat it enveloped. Kurt thought the bun was too much, that it hid some of the burger's flavor, but I thought that if the burger had come with onion and pickle, the bun would not have seemed so overpowering. Seriously. No onion? No pickle? When everything else has been so well cared for? 

Whether he was right, or I was, here are the scores:

KURT:

• Flavor           8
• Juiciness     8
• Vegetables  7
• Bun               9.5
• Source         8
• Value            7
• Synergy       7

TOTAL                    8

SARA:

• Flavor             8
• Juiciness       9
• Vegetables    6
• Bun               10 (oh, yes. I did.
• Source           8.5
• Value              9
• Synergy         7

TOTAL:                    8

For me, I feel like without the pickle and the onion, the flavor profile is lacking as is the texture profile. Yes, if the bun had been less meaty, the Synergy score might have been higher, but I must ask, why punish the bun when the onion and pickle don't show up to the party? It is like punishing your good employees by making them work with a bad employee who shows up late or not at all, and when he does he is too hung over to be productive. Ya just don't do it. Don't make the bun be responsible for more than it can be. A great cheeseburger is a group effort, and when the group ain't makin the effort, well....

That said, this was a good burger. Kurt believes that the football game kept him from scoring it accurately, as he feels that the burger probably deserved a lower score. I stand by my score. For the record, his was averaged up, and mine down. Just for the record.
​

The good news is, The Seahawks are out for the season, so it will be easy for any fans to go and determine whether or not they truly like this burger.

There are moments that are special. Experiences that bring your childhood back in one sweeping rush of scents, flavors, and delightful sounds. 

Believe it or not, going to Wendy's to critique a burger brought about just such a moment.

For me, it was that Wendy's had always been just out of reach as a child. There were none in our area, (I grew up in a little village just outside of Chicago,) so that we had to take the long and arduous journey to Wisconsin to obtain these blessed burgers. We did not do this often.

For Kurt, my partner in culinary critique, it was like a coming home of sorts: "I was raised on Wendy's, baby," he said to me as he leaned back in his plastic chair, hands folded behind his head, satisfied with the double he had just consumed.

In keeping with the rules of the project, I ordered a single. And while it did not look in any way appetizing, it was delicious. I also made it my mission to order a fries and a Frosty, so that I could dip my fries in the Frosty and eat them as they were meant to be eaten....together. Unfortunately I got a little over zealous and only saved about one-sixth of the Frosty for Kurt. He was nice enough to forgive my insensitivity by noon the next day.

While I in no way believe this approaches the level of Nell Thorn or even The Longhorn, for a fast food burger, it was tops, phenomenal, miraculous.

The scores were as follows:
KURT:

• Flavor           10
• Juiciness       9.5
• Vegetables     6
• Bun               6
• Source           6
• Value             8
• Synergy         9

Overall:                  8

SARA:

• Flavor           9
• Juiciness       9
• Vegetables     4
• Bun               4
• Source           4
• Value             9
• Synergy          9

Overall:                   7

The burger was seasoned, and as we found out, most fast food places get their beef from out of country, and Wendy's uses only US beef, and it is never frozen. The vegetables were in my opinion, attrocious, but saved by the perfect amount of red onion, pickle, and ketchup. The bun fell apart half way through the burger.

What I always come back to is that seasoned food tastes better. Wendy's clearly knows that, and while the burger did not look like much at the onset, when I bit into it, it still tasted and felt like a burger. I can't say as much for other fast food burgers.

It is important to be aware that the less you pay for food, the lower the quality of that food, and Wendy's is no exception. But the fact that they make the effort to get it to you fresh (they don't have to freeze it to ensure this,) speaks volumes.

Being who I am, I will always recommend local beef, sold by an independent outlet. But if that is beyond your means, you will not be disappointed if you go to Wendy's.

This is the first burger of the New Year and with it, a new hope, that we can finish the burgers in the Skagit this season and move on to other areas in the fall. 

If you have to eat fast food, eat at Wendy's. It is just better. I am not going to include a map because well, they are just about everywhere and they all taste just about the same. 

Because its cheaper that way.