McDonald’s Dallas BBQ

Review of McDonald’s Dallas BBQ – Great Tastes of America

Website: http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/product_nutrition.beef.1499.week-2-dallas-bbq.html

What they say:

Get ready for a smokin’ farmhouse special with a 100% beef patty, dry cure bacon, shredded lettuce, red onions, cool mayo and Dallas BBQ sauce, in a sesame seed bun. It’s darn tootin’ good.

Price: £3.99 for the burger only (subject to variation).

Calories: 584 kcal.

Week two of the Great Tastes of America 2015 promotion at McDonald’s is the Dallas BBQ.

It seems every year there is always an entry with BBQ sauce on so just how does this latest limited time burger compare with the previously released Texas BBQ?

Basically, the Dallas version has got fresh red onion and cool mayo in exchange for crispy onions and cheese and is the only burger from the promotion that doesn’t have the latter on it.

This lowers the kcal per portion down to 584 calories, much less than the 722 kcal Miami Special.

“First look” at the Dallas BBQ…

Now this isn’t the first time we’ve had the pleasure of sampling the Dallas BBQ because as you know we had this prior to launch recently when we sampled the full Great Tastes range.

We’ll be including the original photo from that day to compare to our drive-thru build.

And we’ll be eating it with every single ingredient on as well – after all can you really take any burger review seriously that doesn’t include all the components?

From memory, this was actually one of my favourite of the Great Tastes 2015 roster so was looking forward to giving it the proper Burger Lad® treatment.

Now in the past I have accused McDonald’s of tenuous links to American cuisine when developing these burgers but fair dues at least Dallas is renowned for barbecue.

Our Head Office build…

So as I entered the drive-thru humming the theme tune to the TV show of the same origin, I compared myself to Blake Carrington – self-made CEO of monolithic Denver-Carrington, principal character of the series, oil tycoon and a ruthless man in both business and family matters.

It was a relatively short wait this morning and when I got my food I was very impressed with the quality of the build. As you can see it compares quite well with the one we sampled at Head Office 10 days ago.

Upon lifting the lid I was furthermore astounded when I saw just how much bacon was on here.

I’ve seen a fair few complaints and photos on Twitter asking “where is the bacon?” but as you can see from our lifting the lid shot below there was a multitude of the good stuff on-board!

Our drive-thru build…

Just like the Miami Special before it, this is nothing new or innovative from McDonald’s. It’s yet another safe build, designed to cater for the unadventurous. And let’s face it there are plenty amongst us!

It’s another one of those burgers that just switches a few ingredients around to make the public think they are getting something new, when in fact they are getting a comfortable taste of familiarity.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing terrible with familiarity. People like to think they are getting something new but within the comfort of their safety zones.

Why do you think franchises such as James Bond, Fast and Furious and oh I don’t know Saw do so well at the box office. OK maybe not the last one.

But that’s my point. And that’s why we get the same sort of burgers re-hashed from McDonald’s… because of the tastes of the vast majority of the public. After all, their business is in essence to sell as many burgers as possible.

McDonald’s Dallas BBQ…

Hang on a minute BL® you said “from memory this was one of my favourites” so why are you dissing this burger?

Well the simple answer to this question is that I am not. I like the Dallas BBQ and except for the Arizona Nacho Grande is possibly my favourite burger from the 2015 line-up.

The oval beef patty they use on the Great Tastes range is never going to win any “gourmet” awards but I’m a firm believer in getting what you pay for.

And for the money and sheer accessibility of the product you can’t really argue with the standard. OK sometimes they can be a bit dry but why do you think mayo is on virtually every single burger!?

No bacon missing in action here…

OK so today in my first initial bites this did turn out to be dry and I can attribute this to a lack of BBQ sauce compared to the one I had previously.

This is a shame as the sauce is pleasant, quite sweet and works pretty nicely with the sharp contrast of the fresh red onion and bacon.

Like I said earlier there was loads of bacon on my Dallas BBQ and it was of respectable quality and taste – probably some of the best I have witnessed on a McDonald’s burger. Not too fatty and cooked spot on so no complaints from me.

If I could summarise the sensation you get it is the sweetness of the sauce first and the meatiness of the bacon and beef patty which is then cut through by the red onion.

You also get the fresh lettuce providing texture and as I worked my way through the burger I found more mayo which helped tackle the dryness of the patty.

It’s not an amazing or awful offering and I think it should be appreciated with all the ingredients on it to have it as it was intended.

Based on this experience today though it might just have dropped from silver to bronze on my winners (or is it winner’s or winners’) podium.

Respectable presentation…

If you’re a fan of BBQ sauce on a McDonald’s burger then this is the one for you!

For me, the best bit about the Dallas BBQ is the combination of bacon, red onion and the sauce. Despite seeing cheese as a necessity on a burger it’s actually quite refreshing not to have it on for a change.

Again it’s not anything exciting or ground-breaking but is something that will cater for many and sets up the promotion nicely for week three – the California Melt.

Having reviewed the remaining three burgers in 2013 that’s all you’ll hear from us now for Great Tastes of America 2015.

After the success of the Big Spicy Bacon I was absolutely adamant we’d see Jalapeños on one of the builds so we can only hope these re-emerge in future iterations of the Great Tastes promotion.

The Dallas BBQ is on-sale at McDonald’s from Wednesday 6th May until Tuesday 12th May 2015.

Just one final thing Burger Lad®. That was Dynasty… not Dallas.

Burger Lad®