Whopper Bar - P&L District

Everyone has a weakness. Superman had kryptonite, Goose Gossage had George Brett, George Brett had the shits at a club in Las Vegas, Salt n' Peppa had "men", Winnie the Poo had honey, Dick Van Dyke had that silly little stool. Hell, even Chuck Norris had this little kid.

Me? My weakness is a Burger King Whopper. It's always been my Achilee's Heel. When I was a kid riding around with my brother in his 1975 Chevy Caprice Classic, he taught me just how good of a deal 2 Whoppers for $4 after 4 p.m. was. I've never looked back. Add in the fact that I've lived approximately 3 blocks from the same Burger King practically my whole life, and that spells trouble.

My love for the Whopper is undying. Yes, I know there are a million better burgers on the planet that I could enjoy instead of a Whopper. Actually, there are probably about 5 other burgers on BK's menu that are better than the Whopper. But somewhere along the line, the Whopper has ingrained itself into my heart and mind, just like Demi Moore did to Michael Douglas in Disclosure.

So, needless to say I was ecstatic when my friend Stephen threw out the word's "Let's go to Whopper Bar" last Tuesday.  Since it opened in March, I've been trying to find an excuse to head over to the Power & Light District in downtown KC to try it out. But it's hard for a 30-year-old to get anyone to go grab fast food with him during the business day. But when you do, that's when, as America's poet and prophet Tracy Lawrence would say, "you find out who your friends are."

It takes a certain kind of friend to not bat an eye when you order a Double Whopper. It takes an even better friend to order one for himself, as well. Fortunately, I had a two good friends with me. Joe, Stephen and I each ordered a "Double Whopper with Cheese." I got mine with BK's spicy "Angry Sauce", too.

Double Whopper...You vixen, you.

If you haven't heard of the Whopper Bar, it's a new concept by Burger King, this one located in the Power and Light District in downtown KC. It offers about a million options to "Have it Your Way." They offer the basic Burger King menu, but they also have all sorts of add ons that you can't get at the 72nd and Wornall location (my personal BK headquarters). Plus, the Whopper Bar serves beer. So you don't have to sneak it in, like we did in college (high school).

Anyway, I of course ordered the "value meal" which came with fries and a drink. Have you heard of these "value meals", by the way? It's a heck of a deal...all the fast food joints are doing it these days. I think the idea might stick. But it's still too early to call...

Burger King's fries are weak, for the most part. I ate them all anyway though. I have a problem.

Anyway, the burger was great. Pretty standard stuff, all in all. I mean, what did you expect me to say? Fast food is fast food is fast food is fast food. I do offer two observations:

1. The Whoppers at Whopper Bar are a truly made to order. So it was definitely a "fresh" burger. I liked that. Classy.
2. And this is a negative...I ordered "Angry Sauce" on top of the normal mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard. Now that is a lot of sauce, you'd think, right? Well, they BARELY put any of each of those condiments on my burger. It was a bit dry. Not the burgers themselves, but the bun and condiments. I had to ask for more and got squeeze packets. Yeah! And the same went for Stephen's and Joe's orders too.

Now that is unacceptable. I love "sauces". If you don't believe me, just ask the security cameras at Chik-fil-a. I'm like Public Enemy number one at the condiment counter there.

But that was my only knock on the place. The service was very friendly and the price was pretty good...it's fast food so it better be. But what I like the most is that a "new concept" like Whopper Bar is taking its chances in a place like Kansas City. Don't be shy, go check it out.

And tell your Whopper hi for me. Do you think it likes me? What did it say? Like, what was its body language like? Did it sound excited when you said "hi" for me? Should I call it? Nevermind. That would be silly. But should I?

Don't you hate that post-fast-food feeling?
I wanted to burn that tray and act like it never happened
...until next time!

- BTF