"whataburger" news and stories

Americans will do crazy things for free food; it's part of our national character. We'll dress up like a cow for a free chicken sandwich (at last month's "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick-fil-A), stand for hours in a Soviet-style bread line just for a free cup of frozen yogurt in New York, or, at truck stops like the Big Texan outside of Amarillo, attempt to eat a 72 oz. steak in an hour.

We like a challenge -- or, at least, some of us do. The rest of us just like to watch as a guy who probably spent $30 to dress head-to-hoof as a cow relishes his free Chargrilled Chicken Club -- a sandwich that normally sells for $4.

Which is why it's somewhat disappointing to see free food given away so, well, freely.

Case in point: Whataburger celebrated its 60th anniversary on Tuesday with a free burger giveaway. And what silly, Flickr-worthy stunt did customers have to do in order to take advantage of the offer? Wear orange.

To celebrate the holiday season, Whataburger is offering its customers 12 menu items on the house.

But don't cancel dinner plans just yet: The dozen freebies will be meted out one at a time over a three-week period.

Diners who register at Whataburger's Web site will receive 12 coupons good for fries, drinks and breakfast taquitos via e-mail between Dec. 1 and Dec. 24. As spokeswoman Natalie Silva explains, each coupon expires at the end of the day. The promotion will culminate on Christmas Eve with a coupon for a free burger.

According to a 2007 report by the Corpus Christi Caller, the burger chain considered rolling out the deal two years ago, but canceled its plans when e-mails were leaked in advance of an official announcement. "The '12 Days of Whataburger' were just too good to be true," the paper lamented, explaining why electronic coupons already in circulation wouldn't be honored.

Behold the Whatafarm burger, which according to alanbeam.net, via about.blank is "a burger ordered from the Whataburger chain and includes chicken, egg, cheese and bacon. 2 parts cow, 2 parts chicken, 1 part pig."

I'm all for the orgiastic multi-species chow down, what with my penchant for Kentucky burgoo (2 formats of cow -- old and young, lamb, pig, and chicken) and applaud the orderers for their gastronomic gumption. If I were being all harrumphy about it, I could note that the menu offers pig in sausage form and a fish filet as well and they opted for neither, but hey - Michelangelo didn't knock out the Sistine Chapel on his first jaunt up the scaffolding.

We salute you with all hooves, claws and trotters up!

[Via about:blank]

I mentioned this story briefly in the roundup of this week's NY Times dining section, but didn't elaborate there because it really deserves its own post. Frank Bruni, the food critic known for his love of the finer foods in life, hit the road in a rented Ford Taurus and ate his way through 42 fast food restaurants, mostly in the southern half of the country. His goal was to find out the best fast food chains in the country, "from familiar national chains, relatively unfamiliar regional chains and tiny local chains [he] had never encountered." He stopped in at places like McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Chick-fil-a and Whataburger, eating burgers, fries andother fried foods in pursuit of his goal.

 

Source