Dunkin’ Donuts loads up the Tailgater
This week, just as football season gets rolling, I reached out for a Tailgater Breakfast Sandwich from the Super Bowl champion of doughnut shops, Dunkin’ Donuts, with 11,400 restaurants across America and ringing the world.
This sandwich was designed to give early risers the flavor of breakfast in a stadium parking lot, without the sticky pavement below and annoying planes carrying “Fire the coach” banners above.
And without tipsy fans from the next parking space tripping over your lawn chair and falling into the dessert table. What time do these people start drinking, anyway?
Here’s the other thing people don’t like to admit about tailgating. Mother Nature doesn’t root for the home team. Game day mornings are too hot at the beginning of football season and too freezing cold around playoff time.
If the weather breaks just right, you’ll get two comfortable tailgating games a year — usually in late October. Pass the mimosas.
Here’s the Tailgater Breakfast Sandwich blueprint: a round, slightly broken fried egg, split smoked sausage, fireroasted peppers, grilled onion mix and Ancho chipotle sauce on an oventoasted French roll.
Total calories: 610. Fat grams: 29. Sodium: 1,620 mg. Carbs: 61 g. Dietary fiber: 3 g. Protein: 25 g. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price: $3.99. That’s up there.
America runs on Dunkin’, so the slogan goes, and this breakfast sandwich does the 60-second sprint. It’s fast food done really fast. The down side of speed is, this sandwich isn’t actually cooked to order, it’s more assembled on the premises. The egg and sausage arrive pre-cooked at each DD location. The components are warmed up and toasted just for you.
The up side of the Tailgater Breakfast Sandwich is, like everything on the back wall at Dunkin’, it tastes pretty darn fantastic. The sausage is a link, sliced in two and doubled down. It’s juicy and meaty, with mild smoky spices. The sausage definitely dominates here. It fits the tailgating experience perfectly, a meat eater’s feeding frenzy. This ain’t for dainty nibblers.
The French roll is toasted, nice touch, with a crunchy outside. If you’re eating and driving, eat over the bag on this one.
Dunkin’ does everything big. A few years ago, when Dunkin’ decided to get into the bagel biz, it became the world’s top-seller of bagels automatically overnight. It’s fun to snap your fingers and become No. 1. Dunkin’ did the same thing with coffee.
Another big win for Dunkin’, everything on the menu is available morning, lunch and, if you’re lucky, your neighborhood Dunkin’ is open at night. You have no idea how a few glazed doughnuts can make a crummy night seem, not great, but less crummy.
The Tailgater Breakfast Sandwich is especially good to go for the growing masses of “breakfast whenevs,” people who love scrambled eggs and French toast for dinner. These “whenevs” got it right. Breakfast for dinner is a nifty idea.