Breakfast Sandwich #114 - Kwik Trip aka Spelling Counts

Sandwich: Egg White, Ham and Cheese Muffin
Location: Kwik Trip (formerly a PDQ), Stoughton Road.
Date: March 10, 2018
Cost: $2.69

My previous review of Kwik Trip happened by accident - I was on a road trip with some folks and we pulled over for gas and snacks and I snapped into sandwich reviewer mode and #94 happened. This is how it goes when you are America's Premier Breakfast Sandwich Reviewer™ (Which as of this moment I have proclaimed myself as. I'm willing to abdicate this title to a worthy individual but I will need proof. Articles such as "The Sausage McMuffin/Big Mac Sandwich Hack You Have To Try" will not be accepted as evidence and will likely cause me to want to punch you in the bacon bits. I would never do that, of course, but I'll consider it momentarily.) Anyway, this visit was much more deliberate - I had things to do on a Saturday morning and this new Kwik Trip (formerly a PDQ) was on my route and I wanted to check in and see what they could offer the Madison Breakfast Sandwich Market. This is the type of information that you, the consumer, expects from America's Premier Breakfast Sandwich Reviewer™.

Is anybody else getting tired of all these intentionally misspelled brands? It was fine for awhile but now that it's standard for people to send you a message that says "K CU L8R" I think we've gone too far. Elon Musk should be airdropping pocket sized dictionaries all across this country rather than selling crappy flamethrowers and launching cars into space. I know I sound like Grampa Simpson but in my day we spelled words correctly and we wrote them in cursive and we made our own molotov cocktails and when we dreamed of space cars they didn't have wheels and weren't attached to rockets WHICH IS TOTALLY CHEATING AND DEFEATS THE PURPOSE.

Excuse me. Let me tell you about this sandwich. Here are some photos that will help calm me down. I'm sorry I made a joke about punching people in the bacon bits. I don't even know what that means.

Note - this was a Saturday morning. During the work week there are at least three times the sandwiches on display.

What is there to say about this other then I can already tell that muffin should be toasted more.

The plastic cutlery did a really swell job of slicing this open to reveal exactly what I thought I would see.

The Sandwich - Egg White, Ham & Cheese Muffin. If you look at the photo of the hot case above you'll see that the slot for this sandwich is empty. I took the photo and grabbed a Sausage, Egg & Cheese Muffin and right after that Hairneted Sandwich Chef Lady brought out a new batch of sandwiches. I opted to alter my selection in the name of freshness. I already mentioned the muffin, which needed more toasting. This would have made a big difference as the whole sandwich had a rubbery consistency that I wasn't appreciating. Other than that it tasted exactly how you think. The American cheese was melted, that ham was of a standard deli quality and the egg white was just fine. I think this may be the first egg white sandwich I've ordered which means I don't get to complain about not having a runny yolk. I really missed that yolk. Additional toasting and a runny yolk (which would never happen in this situation) would have made a big difference here but you play (eat) the hand (sandwich) you're dealt (foolishly choose from the hot case).

The Result - 2.19 That's No Yolks out of 5 That's No Yolks. This is a $2.19 sandwich masquerading as a $2.69 sandwich. You might be thinking "that's only 50 cents", and it is, but in the world of grab & go breakfast sandwiches that is the sweet spot and the consumer has several options under $3. There are many factors that might lead to somebody buying a Kwik Trip sandwich - convenience being the most likely. My ranking here is weighted more towards what other choices people have rather than my just my personal preference. Honestly, this sandwich was fine for what it was although it's unlikely I would seek one out for enjoyment rather than research and reporting. I'm well aware that I have loftier expectations than most consumers. I do think the coffee that PDQ carried at this location was better than the Karuba they now carry as a Kwik Trip. 

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Breakfast (For Dinner) Sandwiches #113A & 113B - These Sandwiches Have a Name

Sandwiches - Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit with Arugula and Dijon Mustard
Date: 3/2/18

Earlier this week I joked on a group text about bringing breakfast sandwiches to an event and one of the participants asked for "bacon & cheese biscuit, egg over-medium, with arugula and dijon". Oddly enough I already had all of those items in my fridge so I made a plan to do some work in the lab. Friday I would have breakfast for dinner. How exciting!

Of all the sandwiches I've made in the lab this is the first using biscuits which I now realize has been a horrible oversight. My excuse is that I don't usually keep biscuits around the house, but, I had some leftover from a meal earlier in the week and the lab is for exploring and in this case, filling a blank area on my sandwich palette. To be clear they were the refrigerated kind, I didn't actually bake biscuits. I've always had a affinity for Poppin' Fresh (The Pillsbury Doughboy) and I even had a t-shirt with him on it when I was younger and that's no joke. Poppin' Fresh turns 53 years old in just a couple of weeks - the day after St. Patricks Day! That ticklish little bastard is probably due for a makeover at this point and with a name like Poppin' Fresh I think he's got a bright future as a heavily autotuned rap singer. I want to be in his band and I'm going to tweet this at them as soon as I'm done here and that also is no joke. This is serious stuff.

Biscuits make for pretty pictures.

It was so tasty I had to make another.

The Sandwich - Bacon & Cheese Biscuit, Chicken Egg Over-Medium, with Arugula and Dijon. I took it as a sign when I had all items on hand so I did not stray from the recipe - even on the second sandwich. The one detail that I would have changed is to use an American Single for the cheese, which I didn't have. I used Stone Ridge Marble Cheese - a combo of monterey jack and colby which melted better than I thought it would. You can't tell from the photo but I broke the yolk on the second sandwich trying to fish out a large chunk of shell. As a result there was no runny yolk but I managed to eat it anyway. You can see I cooked the eggs using the puck method. It just makes sense when you're dealing with a round bread such as a biscuit.

The Result - This was a winning combo, indeed. The dijon adds a proper spiciness and blends with the peppery arugula. That, combined with the bacon more than atoned for the somewhat bland cheese choice. The biscuits held up admirably and were perhaps just a little too dense. They weren't as flaky as Pillsbury would have you think and they're a touch on the sweet side. They didn't crumble though and that's crucial. I have dubbed this sandwich the McEvan, named after the original requester. This is what it will be called at my all day breakfast sandwich restaurant that I will never open cause I'll be too busy playing bass on tour with Poppin' Fresh. 

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