The Junkie: Burger King's "Halloween Whopper"

 
I’m going to let you into some of the secret inner workings here at Rock City Eats. This is a conversation between Greg Hendersen, our site’s owner and publisher, and myself. Here’s a snippet of what went down:
Greg: “Dan, I think you’re going to need to try that new Halloween burger at Burger King for your next Junkie.”
Me: “You mean the one with the black bun?”
Greg: “That’s the one.”
Me: “Dude, not gonna lie. That thing scares the sh*t out of me.”
Greg: “In a more literal sense, that’s probably going to be closer to the truth than you realize.”
*crickets*
Me: “So I really gotta eat this thing, don’t I?”
Greg: “Your reputation sorta rests on it.”
Me: “I’m nothing without my reputation.”
Greg: “It’s your journalistic duty.”
Me: “Consider it done.”
And so it was. I recently found myself pulling into the Burger King drive-thru late one night this past weekend. It was eerily quiet as I rolled up to the speaker to place my order. The place was dead, not a car in sight. An omen of my impending doom? Would I be celebrating the “Dia de los Muertos” a little early this year? I said a short prayer and placed my order.
So here’s the deal. Burger King’s “Halloween Whopper” really doesn’t stray too far from the original Whopper recipe. Of course, they dye the bun a creepy black hue (I’m sure there’s absolutely nothing artificial about this whole process). The bun itself is supposedly flavored by A1 Sauce, which is reportedly “baked right into the bun.” But there’s actually some additional A1 Sauce slathered within the burger as well…just so the flavor of the sauce is a bit more noticeable.
How was it? Well, let me put it this way…if you enjoy the original Whopper at all, this is not so unpleasant. In fact, I rather enjoyed the burger in a twisted, un-natural way. Once I forced my mind to get past the grotesque appearing bread, the burger was not so difficult to swallow. I really didn’t get much A1 flavor from the bun itself, but the extra sauce on top was not an unwelcome addition. The Whopper certainly isn’t the best fast food burger in existence (Burger King does not exactly rank high on our list of fast food burgers)…the beef is dry, the cheese is waxy…but it’s loaded with mayo, and that covers a multitude of sins.
Now…you may have read the reports about certain alleged “after effects” of the Halloween Whopper. While I generally try to avoid discussing human excrement whenever I’m writing about food…I suppose I can make an exception here. The burger does indeed turn your poop green. I’m not really in the habit of carefully examining my feces after I’ve done my business (but I know there are many out there who do…sickos), but in this instance, I could not help but look.