Round 1 – Bronco’s vs Burger King

Posted by neal

The tournament so far: Introduction | Local Qualifier | Regional Qualifier

If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen this post Friday afternoon:

Day 3 of the fish sandwich tournament is a disaster … May have to redo. Details to come at nealo.com. Ugh.

My plan for these challenges was to eat one sandwich at lunch and the other at dinner, but with fish day falling on a Friday, I’m quickly realizing that I won’t always be able to assume that I can spend Friday evening at a fast food joint. This past Friday was one of those days. Evening plans meant that I needed to eat both the Bronco’s Fishwich and the BK Big Fish before dinner. So my plan was to go to Bronco’s, eat the Fishwich, and then go straight to Burger King and have a BK Big Fish.

Bronco’s
And that’s what I did. But it ended up not being that easy. I got to Bronco’s, and based on my lesson from earlier in the week, decided not to order fries. So I said I wanted the fish sandwich. The server replied “Which one?” Back on Wednesday, I mentioned that Bronco’s Fishwich is a catfish fillet. I was wrong. Bronco’s has the Fishwich, which is regular cod, and then a catfish sandwich. The problem is, I’m not sure which one I had Wednesday. I’m pretty sure I had the Fishwich, because I think I ordered the #7 of the menu (which is the Fishwich combo), but I also thought the fillet tasted different than the standard fast food cod. I now think that the intense frying of the fillet, which led to a crustier casing than usual, must’ve created a unique enough taste that I thought I was having the non-cod.

But it wasn’t nearly as good this time around. It looked identical to the fish sandwich I had on Wednesday, but this time it was not as deeply fried, and it ended up tasting extremely generic. It didn’t have the charm I felt it had on Wednesday when it bested Don & Millie’s. The problem was, I kind of felt like I needed to also try to the catfish sandwich in order to make sure I didn’t have the wrong one, but more on that later.

Burger King’s BK Big Fish
I threw away my trash, hopped in the car and drove a few blocks to Burger King for their BK Big Fish. This also ended up not being as easy as it would seem. I looked up at the menu above the counter and saw there is a new Lime Big Fish (maybe with cilantro too?). I asked the server if that was what the Big Fish was now (thinking of years ago when McDonald’s relaunched the McChicken as the Spicy McChicken), but she said that now there were two Big Fishes — the lime one and the regular one.

I panicked and ordered the lime one. My thought process was something along the lines of “This is a Lent competition, and this is their featured Lent sandwich,” as the regular Big Fish is available year round. This was a huge mistake. This sandwich was terrible. It tasted like they made a Big Fish and doused it in lime juice, because the whole thing was soggy and overpowered by that taste. It wouldn’t stay together as I ate it. I was tempted to not even finish it.

The verdict Continue reading →

The Regional Bracket

Posted by neal

For an explanation of the NEALO.COM Lent 2010 Fast Food Fish Sandwich Tournament, click here.

Runza’s fish sandwich
This fish sandwich is built around a big cod fillet served on a fluffy sesame seed bun. The fillet is long and flattish and sort of oddly shaped, meaning it looks like it came from an actual fish as opposed to some kind of rectangular fish-patty mold. This has been the first fish sandwich of the 2010 season that includes cheese. I have a history with cheese on fish sandwiches. The lettuce is also in big-leaf form — not shredded. The tartar sauce is almost runny, sort of like the consistency of Runza’s ranch dressing.

This was a very good sandwich. It tasted great, it went down smooth and it did not cause problems later. I’ve had some issues with Runza burger-and-other-sandwich quality in recent times, so I was a little worried about this stop. I was pleasantly surprised.

Culver’s North Atlantic Cod Continue reading →

The Local Bracket

Posted by neal

For an explanation of the NEALO.COM Lent 2010 Fast Food Fish Sandwich Tournament, click here.

My first thought when judging the local bracket of the NEALO.COM Lent 2010 Fast Food Fish Sandwich Tournament is “I hope this gets easier.” This was a tough call to make.

Bronco’s “Fishwich”
The interesting thing about Bronco’s “Fishwich” is that it’s a catfish fillet, as opposed to the usual cod, which seems to be the fast food standard. The Fishwich has some nice flavor and a good, solid texture — my common problems with the traditional cod fillet are that they’re sometimes mushy and often fall apart. Maybe the Fishwish’s advantage comes from its crustier exterior, which was quite tasty. The only topping on the Fishwich was a layer of tartar sauce beneath the fillet, which was just (barely) enough to keep the sandwich from being too dry.

I ordered the Fishwich combo, which came with fries and a drink. The fries were terrible — probably some of the worst fries I’ve ever had. On one hand, it’s not fair to judge a fish sandwich based on the fries. On the other hand, you don’t eat a fish sandwich in a vacuum, and if you plan on eating somewhere, you might want more than just a sandwich.

Don & Millie’s Fish Sandwich
The fish sandwich was surprisingly picturesque. I’m only now thinking “I should’ve taken pictures of these,” but a sandwich doesn’t usually look like it does in the picture. But this did! Content-wise, this seemed to be a much more standard cod fillet with some shaved lettuce and nice lumpy tartar sauce. The sandwich tasted a little bland when I started eating it, but it finished strong.

The fries were quite good. Overall, the meal was somewhat unremarkable, but still very pleasant.

The verdict Continue reading →

And that’s the bottom line, ’cause Lee Terry said so

Posted by neal

Lee Terry, on twitter:

A year later, the stimulus bill still hasn’t helped the private sector. http://omaha.com/article/20100217/AP09

David Leonhardt at the New York Times:

Just look at the outside evaluations of the stimulus. Perhaps the best-known economic research firms are IHS Global Insight, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody’s Economy.com. They all estimate that the bill has added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs so far and that its ultimate impact will be roughly 2.5 million jobs. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent agency, considers these estimates to be conservative.

And Ezra Klein at The Washington Post:

The bill included $288 billion in tax cuts for individuals and corporations. If that money didn’t create even one new private-sector job, then the Republican belief in tax cuts requires some serious revision.

When I first saw Terry’s tweet, I assumed he was linking to a news story analyzing the impact of the stimulus on the economy. Instead, it’s just a story about Terry’s press conference in which he just claims that the stimulus hasn’t helped the private sector.

That’s his supporting evidence — his own press conference.

Announcing the NEALO.COM Lent 2010 Fast Food Fish Sandwich Tournament

Posted by neal

Given that my editorial cartooning career would not exist without fast food restaurants, I thought instead of giving up something for Lent this year, I’d pay tribute to my heritage by conducting a nine-round fast food fish sandwich tournament.

The tournament was open only to fast-food restaurants. As you can see from the brackets below, there are two qualifying rounds — one for local restaurants (defined as the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas) and one for regional restaurants (defined as not national, but greater than just the Omaha and Lincoln metro areas; Hardee’s is considered to be national due to its Carl’s Jr. alternate identity). All major national fast food chains receive a bye in the first round.
Continue reading →