The tournament so far: Introduction | Local Qualifier | Regional Qualifier | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5

We’re so close. This was the conclusion to the semifinals, defining the matchup for the Last Supper. But first thing’s first!

Hardee’s Beer Battered Fish Supreme
Once again, Hardee’s impressed me with the wheat bun and big lettuce leaves. I said it before and I’ll say it again, this sandwich just looks and tastes homemade, and I say that as a good thing even for someone who prefers fast food sandwiches over homemade sandwiches.

There’s not much more to say that I didn’t say last time, other than the fact that the fillet was much better this time. Hardee’s had previously been in the “heavily fried to the point of hard crusty fillet” category, which I later concluded was responsible for tastiness but also post-lunch gutrotting sensations. This particular outing found that the fillet had a similarly hard exterior — which helped maintain fillet stability — without that “overly fried” effect. So somehow, Hardee’s managed to preserve the taste and structural benefits of the hard exterior without the negatives.

About 2/3 of the way through this sandwich, I was thinking “The structural integrity of this sandwich sure is holding up well,” recalling how the fillet slid out from between the bun halves last time I was there. Immediately, the fillet slid out from between the bun halves.

Structural integrity is important to me, but there are two main ways in which a sandwich can fall apart — one is to crumble in to several pieces, and the other is to have the fillet slide out. If I had to choose a way for my sandwich to disassemble, I’d choose the latter. So this problem, while somewhat annoying, could be worse. It’s pretty easy to put this thing back together.
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The tournament so far: Introduction | Local Qualifier | Regional Qualifier | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4

My apologies for the tardiness of this update. There’s actually a stupidly simple explanation — I keep my notebook in the chest pocket of my winter jacket, the weather has been nice, and so all these times when I think about writing this, I find myself somewhere without my notes.

Before I get into this round too much, I want to talk about a pattern I noticed. Consistently, throughout every round of this tournament, the sandwich I have eaten at lunch has defeated the sandwich I’ve eaten at dinner (with the sort-of-exception of the controversial Round 1, when I ate both sandwiches at lunch, in which case the sandwich I ate first defeated the sandwich I ate second). Bronco’s beat Don & Millie’s; Runza beat Culver’s; Bronco’s beat Burger King; Runza beat Wendy’s; Hardee’s beat McDonald’s; Arby’s beat Long John Silver’s. All of the winners were eaten first.

I’ve come up with some theories as to why this might be.
1. By the second sandwich, I’m sick of fish, and I end up taking it out on whichever sandwich I ate last.
2. All of these fish sandwiches are bad, but I really only know that for a fact based on the sandwich I’m eating at the time. The sandwich from several hours ago has had a chance to sweeten in my memories.
3. I have my subconscious favorites, and since I am more excited about eating those, I go at them first.
4. Total coincidence.
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