Alison Cook heads to Whataburger.
A young colleague suggested I write about the limited-time special Pico de Gallo Burger at Whataburger, Texas’ fast-food sacred cow.
I approached the idea with curiosity and trepidation. I’ve never been a Whataburger fan, and after numerous disappointing experiences at the location nearest me on the east side, of the “you call that a beef patty?” variety, I resigned myself to the fact that I would never experience the magic professed by the brand’s many vocal fans.
The regional chain founded in 1950 by the Dobson family — who ran it until just last year, when they sold to a venture capital company — now has more than 670 stores in Texas alone. They are as much an article of fast-food faith here as Buc-ee’s is revered by those who travel the highways.
Mostly I keep quiet when the Whataburger topic arises, which it does with great regularity. I know what’s good for me. But I had to admit the Pico de Gallo Burger sounded pretty good. My big question was where to get it. My nearest location was out of the running, as far as I was concerned. So I asked my Twitter followers to suggest their favorite Whataburger locations, and Katy bar the door, they had dozens. And dozens.
The Whataburgers on Shepherd and on Kirby and on Edloe each got a lot of love. The North Main location just off Interstate 45, in the Heights, proved to be a sentimental favorite. North Shepherd at 610 drew some votes, as well as a few far-flung suburban outposts.
I was struck by how much of a travel ritual Whataburger is for my fellow Texans. Various commenters chimed in to declare their fealty to Whataburgers in Refugio, or Giddings, or La Grange.
People either mentioned the hotness/freshness of food as the reason for their picks, or the courtesy and speed of the service, especially in the drive-thrus. One fan alluded to the increasingly rare “original A-frame design” of his favorite store as an attraction.
Finally, I picked a multiple vote getter relatively near me as my test location: the 24-hour Whataburger at 3624 Old Spanish Trail, otherwise known as Alt. 90, just west of Scott Street. This is my story.
Pico de Gallo Burger $6.14; small fries $1.84; small Dr Pepper shake $2.84 for a pretax total of $10.82
ORDERING: I sat in the drivethru for a not-hideous amount of time, placed my order with a very
polite staffer, paid at the window and was asked to pull up “to the trash can” to await my food. An employee in mask and gloves came out with my order in four or five minutes.
ARCHITECTURE: No salad stuff, unless you count the pico de gallo, which rode on top. On a very wide “extra large” bun, toasted, went a slice of pepperjack cheese, a 5-ounce beef patty, another slice of pepperjack, a second patty, and a crowning smatter of pico de gallo doused in a considerable quantity of mayonnaise thinned out with lime juice.
QUALITY: This was the best Whataburger I’ve ever tasted — specifically because the ground-beef patties were not leathery and dry, my usual complaint at my neighborhood location. I didn’t swoon at the beef flavor (matter of fact, the first note I registered was that of cooking grease), but the sandwich settled into itself as I ate. I appreciated the crunch and lively heat of the pico de gallo, which really did add character and a sense of place to the burger. My only lament on that score was that the copious amount of limeflavored mayo running every which way seemed out of whack. If there had been twice the pico de gallo and half the mayonnaise sauce, I would have been happier.
I did wonder about what had happened to the poor little pepperjack slices, which had galvanized into sheets that stuck to other surfaces as if they had been glued together. More meltiness, please.
OOZE RATING: Strictly condiment-based.
LETTER GRADE: C+. With more pico de gallo, I could have gone to B minus.
VALUE: Pretty good. That was a lot of burger, and a lot of protein, for $6.14.
BONUS POINTS: The vanilla shake I sampled was decent of its soft-serve genre, with a strong, clear note of vanilla extract.
MINUS POINTS: The Dr Pepper shake on limitedtime special turned out to be every bit as gruesome as I had feared: cloyingly sweet, the milky soft-serve component at war with the soda. The french fries I received were pale and listless. None of that famous Whataburger ketchup was included with my order, either.
STUFF FOR LATER: Chicken fajita taco that was quite decent, although the sauteed pepper and onion element could not make up for the fact that no salsa came with my order. (I added my own.) This taco was good enough that I suddenly understood why so many people obsess about Whataburger’s breakfast taquitos.
LOCAL COLOR: Several commenters in my Twitter feed, including a fast-food connoisseur I know and trust, named this O.S.T. and Scott Street location as their favorite Whataburger store. It’s about halfway between the University of Houston and the Medical Center, and it’s open 24 hours. This particular drive-thru was carefully landscaped with blooming greenery, a pleasant feature — as was the courteous service. I enjoyed the next-door presence of a Sonic and the sight of my beloved Ray’s BBQ Shack as I whizzed toward home on Old Spanish Trail. I should have stopped in there for an order of stupendous onion rings to go with my burger.