Breakfast Sandwich #66 - McDonald's aka A Return To The Classics

Sandwich: Sausage Egg Biscuit
Location: McDonald's
Date: September 16, 2016
Cost: $3.18

I reviewed the Egg McMuffin awhile ago and noted at the time that if asked to guess I would have said it comes with sausage on it. It turns out that the classic McMuffin has Canadian bacon on it, not sausage.

Lately I've been wanting for a sausage based breakfast sandwich and although this was probably not the best choice to sate that craving, it was convenient. That's how they get you, right?

"Add Round Egg" sounds funny and more than doubles the cost of the sandwich for reasons I don't understand. Eggs are cheap.

Aesthetically pleasing bag design.

Looks OK, right?

The eye is immediately drawn to that base layer of melted cheese.

The Sandwich - Sausage Egg Biscuit. I guess it's really a Sausage Biscuit and the Egg is an add on, but here is the shocking part - they ask you if you want your egg folded, or round. When did that start? It startled me when she said it and I just stared at the drive thru speaker for a bit and then asked her to repeat the question. "Do you want your egg folded or round?", she repeated, and the tone of her voice had a subtext of "dumbass" in it, which was probably not unfounded. I ordered the round egg because it's more visually appealing, usually it looks like cartoon food. I didn't tell her that part. I'm not sure how much of this sandwich is real food, but it does a pretty good job of posing as real food. The biscuit was alright, a little smooshy, but it didn't crumble apart. The round egg was cartoony and ok, I already knew it wouldn't be runny, and the cheese was nice and melty. The sausage had the exact sausage flavor I was craving. Overall, it was just about exactly what I thought it would be although a little on the salty side. After looking up the nutritional content it turns out it was a lot saltier than I thought, but it didn't taste as such. It has considerably less sodium than the Denny's sandwich I recently had, which isn't saying much.

The Result - 3.50 Better Than You Thinks out of 5 Better Than You Thinks. I intentionally avoided my previous McDonald's review so as not to color my opinion on this one - and now that I look it's the same sandwich, but on a biscuit instead of a muffin. Well, shit. I thought I reviewed the classic McMuffin with Canadian bacon last time. Nope. But, I have rated this sandwich much higher than that one. I can't change it now, that would be intellectually dishonest. I guess the crux of the biscuit is "what a difference a day (or biscuit) can make". Makes sense. Maybe the first time I went to this McDonald's the head chef was on vacation and the sous chef made my sandwich and he was a little hungover. I don't know. This sandwich was pretty good but I had low expectations and I think that helped. It shouldn't be a surprise that it was OK, they've been cranking out these sandwiches by the thousands for several decades.

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Breakfast Sandwich #65 - Johnson Public House aka Special Agents Recommend Special Sandwiches

Sandwich: Sunday Morning
Location: Johnson Public House
Date: September 11, 2016
Cost: $7

I had heard the rumblings about the Sunday Morning sandwich at Johnson Public House but hadn't hadn't made it a point to stop in there. In retrospect it was foolish to wait this long.

Honestly, I was really in the mood for breakfast sausage on this morning as the past 3 reviews have all included ham, and before that it had been a solid run of bacon-focused sandwiches. Things have been a little hamcentric here lately and that was going to continue for at least one more day.

Breakfast sausage aside, I wanted a really good cup of coffee and JPH fell more or less on the path of my morning errand. Also, I read the description of the Sunday Morning sandwich and whenever I see the words ham and maple syrup together I can only think of Special Agent Dale Cooper.

The description from their web site:

Sunday Morning: ham + maple syrup + cheddar + fried egg

Very enticing. 

I couldn't decide if this shot or the following one with the direct sun was better.

Too much sun? Probably. 

The Sandwich - Sunday Morning. No options are offered. As soon as this sandwich came out I forgot about my desire for breakfast sausage. The top piece of bread was slightly askew and when I lifted it I saw that the yolk was still a little bit runny. What a pleasant surprise. When I think of coffee shop sandwiches I think of boring eggs that have probably been microwaved or whatever, but this sandwich immediately pushed that thought out of my head. You can see the nice base of melty cheddar on the bottom and while you can't see the maple syrup, it is there. The maple syrup is the key here - there is just enough to combine with the ham in a tasty way but not so much that it takes over and is oozing out all over the place. I was afraid there would be too much. Agent Cooper was really on to something here. That top piece of bread might look burnt, but no, it had a nice toasted char to it and while this was a fairly messy affair, the bread kept things together.

The Result - 4.75 Special Agents out of 5 Special Agents. I have definitely been more generous with my ratings in 2016, at least on the really good sandwiches. Maybe I've just been hitting the right places at the right time. OK, but anyway, this was a great sandwich. This could easily be a 5. I can't think of what I would do to improve it. Maybe serve it with a little wet nap like you get at a barbecue place? Make the egg runnier and the sandwich even messier and serve it with two wet naps? The perfect amount of syrup does make your fingers sticky and then when you try to take photos of the sandwich your phone gets a little sticky. That might be the definition of a First World Problem. This sandwich also gets points for creativity - nobody else is making anything like this out there in the field. Are they? If they are I'd like to know about it. I think this sandwich would also work with breakfast sausage in place of the ham, although perhaps not as well. I'm going to have to try the other sandwiches at some point - I almost ordered the roast beef but Agent Cooper kept me on track. The cup of Kenyan coffee was incredible.

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Breakfast Sandwich Word Cloud

Slap some of these together and you've got yourself a sandwich review!