Haute-N-Ready: Black Burger, American-Style

Burger King unveils new Whopper with black bun for Halloween because black is scary.

For those of you unfortunate to be affiliated with me on Facebook or Twitter, you know I've one common complaint about being a fast food writer: Asian markets get to have all the fun. It's just the way it is. Absent a built-in market, fast food corporations flail about wildly to win the hearts and minds of the foreign market. The KFC Double Down Dog was introduced in KFC Philippines. Domino's sells an avocado shrimp pizza in Japan. The hot dog stuffed crust was first introduced across the pond before being repackaged for the somehow more discerning American market. And now Burger King has brought a version of the black Whopper—whose black cheese-laden forebear debuted in Japan a year ago—to the United States of America.

john_locanthi_hauteThe Halloween Whopper is mostly an aesthetic twist. A1 sauce baked into the bun gives it its dark, forbidding color. Bright green pickles and pale sesame seeds stand out amidst this black canvas. In a day and age when many fast food chains are experimenting with artisanally branded bun types, higher quality ingredients or jamming hot dogs onto burgers, Burger King's straightforward approach is more than refreshing. This isn't a brioche bun. There's not any arugula or sirloin beef. It's just a Whopper with a savory black bun ($5.49).

I ordered a small combo ($7.79) with onion rings and a Halloween Whopper sans cheese. While the bright orange of American cheese product would stand out brilliantly for photographic purposes, I have been eating Whoppers my whole life and this is how I like them.

IMG_20150928_114615_975One bite in, everything is familiar if slightly off. The crunch of raw onions, the tartness of the pickles, the disappointment in the not-quite-fresh tomatoes, the mayonnaise remaining an uninvited milquetoast at the party in my mouth, etc. everything in the Whopper was as it should be. And yet it was different: the bun had actual flavor.

The hamburger bun has mostly been a tool for holding a hamburger without getting your hands dirty since time immemorial. They've always had flavor, mind you, but it takes a back seat to everything in the burger. The A1 sauce in the Halloween Burger patty is a game-changer. The bun is now salty and savory. It is now substantial. It raises the profile of the burger patty. The pickles remain the strongest flavor here but the burger has taken on a different character.

While this still isn't as exciting as Burger King Japan's Black Burger, which gets its coloration from squid ink, this is by far the most interesting thing to come out of Burger King's team-up with A1. (And you can tell the A1 Mozzarella Burger I said that.) This also gives me hope for more exciting fast food to come. If the American market shows excitement for a black-colored novelty burger, maybe I won't have to slink into an A&W/KFC the next time I want a Double Down Dog. Maybe Pizza Hut will add a whole shrimp option for their Cheesy Bites pizza. Maybe the fast food world will get away from the artisanal kick and start making food we never thought we'd get paid to eat.

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