Round 1 – Bronco’s vs Burger King

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
So here I was, having to make a decision between two fast food fish sandwiches when I wasn’t sure if I judged the right sandwich at one location and I made a dumb choice at the other. This problem was amplified by the fact that the three-day opening ceremonies of the NEALO.COM Lent 2010 Fast Food Fish Sandwich Tournament involved eating two fish sandwiches each day, so by this point I had eaten six fast food fish sandwiches in approximately 48 hours. I love fast food but this was too much for me.

I was trying to figure out what to do — Do I judge based on what I ate? Or do I go back and redo this round?

I ended up with what is kind of a combination of the two. Ethically, I felt like I needed to go back and redo this round. But the thought of that turned my stomach. So I started thinking, if I am grossed out enough by these sandwiches that I don’t even want to go back, do either deserve to advance? So I needed to have a winner. And when I considered redoing the round, I noticed the fact that I wasn’t nearly as disturbed by the idea of switching to the regular BK Big Fish as I was by going back to the Fishwich. And that settled it for me.

This was an ugly, bloody round. Bronco’s may end up being the victim of bad timing and an ambiguous menu, but I do not want to eat any more of their fish. I love their burgers and I fully intend to return there soon, but this is the end of the line for the Fishwich. Burger King also does not emerge from this round very strong, but I have almost a month to get that soggy limey grossness out of my mind.

I am so glad that I don’t eat fish again until Friday.

8 Responses

  1. Hats off to you, Neal. I’m not a big fish sandwich person, but I’ll hit fish fry season as hard as possible. I think you should make a tour of it (the fish fry circuit) next year…

  2. For some reason, BK employees across the nation always seem to slather their fish sandwiches with an excessive amount of sauce, be it tartar, spicy, or lime. That said, a properly prepared BK Big Fish (light on the tartar) is the odds-on favorite to win this tournament.

  3. Hi, Why do I come in at 7 every morning, cant wait to get to work. Its because I get to paint my own painting and I like applause. – Warren Buffett

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