Review: Burger King - Smoky Cheddar Steakhouse XT

Burger King's Smoky Cheddar Steakhouse XT burger is a limited time item and part of Burger King's recent premium Steakhouse XT line which go head-to-head with similar premium offerings in McDonald's Angus Burgers and Jack in the Box's Sirloin Burgers. The Smoky Cheddar Steakhouse XT (The XT stands for Xtra Thick) features a flame-broiled, almost-half-pound beef patty (7 ounces), barbecue sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes, four strips of bacon, and two slices of Cheddar cheese on a special cornmeal-dusted bun for $4.49.

In my area, Burger King has a "buy one, get one free" coupon going around, reducing my effective cost per burger to roughly $2.50 after tax. The Steakhouse XT burgers also coincide with Burger King's new broilers which feature top and bottom burners and save power by not having to be on all the time like the previous flame conveyor broiler. They cook burgers in batches like an oven and allow the possibility of new Burger King items that you might normally cook in an oven.

Burger King made the curious decision to go big rather use premium beef like the other chains and it'll be interesting to see if that works for them or if they'll give in and also use premium beef. That being said, the Smoky Cheddar Steakhouse XT burger is a hefty burger and a meal (or two) in itself.

The beef patty was very thick and sported some nice grill marks and char. It lacked the drool-inducing and probably carcinogenic smoke smell you get from grilling your own burger though. It did have a distinctive smell that permeated my car. While not a bad smell, I can't say it made me rush home.  On the plus side, it did allow me to take a lot of pictures rather than stuffing my face.

So how did it taste?  Pretty good.  I'm not sure that a corn meal dusted bun adds anything but it held up well and the flavors of the sandwich were fairly balanced.  Surprising the slightly seasoned beef patty did not overwhelm the other flavors, while it was fast-food-burger dry you got a good taste for the beef and a bit of char flavor.  The lettuce and tomatoes were nice and fresh.  The bacon was fast-food thin but you could still taste it.

On the things I would have liked to have been done differently, I would say the barbecue sauce was a overly sweet and not smoky at all.  It should really just be the BBQ Cheddar Steakhouse XT.  Also, the Cheddar cheese was a bit weak in flavor, it has cheese flavor but if you closed your eyes you wouldn't say it was Cheddar.

But still, a fairly good fast food burger but like McDonald's Angus Chipotle BBQ Bacon, a bit too big to be something I normally eat.  Between the two, I think I might give a slight nod to the Angus Chipotle BBQ Bacon (what is up with these long albeit descriptive names?  Just call them a Wild West XT and a Chipotle McAngus already).

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