McDonald's Angus Third-Pounders

I think I just had an experience. Living here in New York City, distantly removed from days as an intern at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, I still operate with a purpose when finding great eats, but not with the vigor that I tend to have when around my family (especially my brother). That changed today.

During my lunch break, I passed on a quick Subway sandwich to walk two stores down to a McDonald's with a slight purpose of checking out that new Angus Third-Pounder, specifically, the Angus Bacon & Cheese burger. Curious if this would be one of those burgers that could secretly wow the palette, I dropped the $5.99 for the meal (cheap by NYC standards), took my tray down the steps into the nearly empty spill-over dining room, opened up the hefty box, and stared at this wrapped (yes, it had wrapping) concoction. Taking out the pickles (yeah, no room for that), I added some ketchup and went to work.

Inspiration is a funny thing. While at the desk where I'm working this week, I read about a local diner in the Lehigh Valley area that was closing its doors because of a bypass "stealing" its customer base (read it here: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5charcoal.6006996aug22,0,6600760.story), and I felt compelled to call my brother, living in the area, to see what he knew of the place. However, with some reserved interest, I abstained from getting ensconced by a foodways society or something of the like.

The burger, my new friends, was terrible. Ok, I may be showing off my "n00b" skills by expecting much from a McDonald's, especially one in New York City, where mustard is not found on a hamburger patty at the nearly 25 different ones that I've patronized. This thing, though, was pretty much instantly forgettable. I can see why they were so cheap. Flat, flavorless, thick, but empty, this burger just blew. Standard cheeseburger cheese and broken old bits of bacon probably not fix for the Chicken Clubs line, this piece was a train wreck.

I'm compelled to explore these marketing gimmicks, because I get the feeling, much like the 2003 hot dog "summer days" deal, this burger's days are quickly numbered and will be swept under the rug swiftly. But, who's going to remember it and all of those other fast food special promotions?

Well...I am.

I'm Looking forward to contributing and learning as much as I can from this great site.

-jeff

Welcome Jeff. I saw the ad when I drove past my local McD's and was wondering. Now I am not. Thanks for saving me a few bucks!

So what light was your bro able to shed on the soon to be shuttered diner?

I have a feeling this quote from that newspaper story is a pretty good hint:
"From a business standpoint, "the diner was there strictly as a complement to the bus company,'' Haddad said Tuesday. ''We're not really in the restaurant business."

Hey,
What did you expect from McDonalds? A hamberger????

quote:

Originally posted by enginecapt

So what light was your bro able to shed on the soon to be shuttered diner?

The sign will be missed...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/slice/1140533432/

McDonalds could advertize that " Our burgers taste like crap and most likely will kill you in a week" people would still line up ! (!]

Hell,
McDonalds could leave out that tissue paper sliver of "beef" and Mc Donalds customers wouldn't notice. Pass that happy meal toy,children!

Thanks for posting! This McDonald's sandwich is way too large for me to eat - the largest sandwich I have ever eaten at McDonald's is the Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Not very large by some standards, but plenty for me! I enjoy it, but I have not had one in quite some time.

--Jessica

I tried it when I was visiting in LA last March, and now that they are in NJ. It tasted good, it was the closest fast food burger that tastes like a burger.

sheetz angus burger blows mcd's away and they nuke it.
ron

Please note this thread was started a year ago, in 2007.

A few weeks, McDonald's put coupon books in the Sunday newspaper. I left them in the car just in case. Today, my light lunch let go all of a sudden and I was starving about 6 PM. I happened to be near a stand-alone McDonald's. There was a coupon for $2 off the Angus Third Pounder value meal. That would make by total cost much less than most value meals they sold.

I decided to try the Angus Bacon Cheeseburger. I knew this thread was started, but could not remember the details. Well, the burger was just like everyone else wrote above, so I am not going to waste anyone's time repeating the details. But what no one else mentioned is that the piece of cheese is the same one as for the standard cheeseburger. It only covers about 60% of the surface area of the third pounder. The bacon consists of just one thin pre-cooked slice (like you get in those packages of Oscar Meyer precooked bacon in supermarkets for $4 a box) of bacon. I was placed just slightly off dead center. If one started eating in a certain direction, they would have eaten over 50% of the burger before coming across the first morsel of bacon.

Adjudicator posted a link to a picture of the Angus Third pounder. There is now a whole set, which can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slice/sets/72157601488472709/
Some some of the pictures where they are using toppings from smaller product to unevenly dress this burger with. I didn't see anyone else in the entire restaurant with a Angus Third Pounder.

Has Mc D's ever,ever ,done anything right????....I guess they don't ruin eggs too much at breakfast!!!

I been away from NY too long. That sounds like a lot of $ for that. McDonald's is so bad..They've always been so bad. The only item I can eat on their menu is the Big Mac because I like the sauce and it covers up the blandness of the two patties....special sauce..lettuce ...cheese. I don't like their fries anymore since they stopped using swine shortening.

The company is doing incredibly well. They've recovered from a really bad financial period and the coffee concept is a huge profit maker for them. It's the American way......

True..true...but most Americans have a better way of making a hamburger than McDonalds!!..our way is not their way!

1. I recently had this concoction during another interminable flight delay at Newark Airprt. After 9pm, McD's is almost all that's open. Well, after you wipe off the horrible mayo, and throw away most of the bun, it's still pretty terrible. I thought it was just me, not "used to" McD's - so I'm glad the consensus here is No Way. The meat tasted funny...kinda rancid I'd say.

2. Would love to hear from Acting Man if he is still around...the American Folklife Center is great!! They do work on American Foodways, so I'm sure he'd have a lot more to offer us, even if it's a year later. Are you there, AM?

quote:

Originally posted by leethebard

Has Mc D's ever,ever ,done anything right????....I guess they don't ruin eggs too much at breakfast!!!

Actually, and sadly, they kind of do that too.

Well then, they do do ONE thing right...they're consistant!!!!

NYNM
2. Would love to hear from Acting Man if he is still around...the American Folklife Center is great!! They do work on American Foodways, so I'm sure he'd have a lot more to offer us, even if it's a year later. Are you there, AM?

Yep, and thanks for the regards!  I was picking up so much work that I didn't have a lot of down time to hit up the forums.

So...what about that Angus Third-Pounder, eh?  Man, was I ever wrong in thinking this thing wouldn't stay on the menu...the way it went straight onto the combo boards, and changed up the numbering...so pompous!

Actually, I see people eating these a bit, as I see the boxes quite often.  No surprise that some months later, they rolled out a double bacon cheeseburger to complement the double cheeseburger that people so fervently monitored hopping on and off the Dollar Menu.  I never quite got the appeal, other than it being the cheapest way to get a considerably filling hamburger.