As a service to all of our Kansas friends, it is time for another local review.
We have reviewed an item at Spangles before. If you want background on Spangles, check it out here.
For those not familiar, Spangles is known in these parts (what are we in 1890?) as having some unique takes on burgers. That is certainly true with Spangles’ newest creation.
The French Dip Steakburger is served with French onion au jus sauce. The burger comes with two black Angus steakburgers, melted swiss cheese, onion rings, and a toasted sourdough bun.
This is certainly a unique take on a French Dip sandwich. Instead of dipping roast beef, you dip a burger. Interesting. Off to Spangles…
First of all, we are going to start with our test Spangles itself. Our test Spangles was the South West Street location in Wichita, KS. The employees were extremely friendly. They were laughing and joking with us. The cook came out and started talking with us. These people were really cool. You don’t see this everyday anymore, people. Big props to the staff.
The other nice thing about Spangles is that they cook the food after you order it. This stuff isn’t sitting under a heat lamp. We ordered some other stuff with our test. Everything, including the fries, was fresh and hot.
Right out of the gate, we were pleased. With all of the bad service that we get at national places (we’re looking at you, Burger King!), this was a welcome change. Imagine that. Great service and fresh food at a fast food place. Winning.
This is a good time to point out further that this is a major twist on a French Dip. Not only are we dealing with a burger as opposed to roast beef, but there is a big difference with the au jus. This isn’t regular au jus, people. This is French onion au jus. You can see very clearly in the picture above that there is a LOT of onion in the sauce. It is hard to surprise us after all the fewd we have reviewed, but even we were surprised by this creation.
The burger is a pretty good size. And it is actually a pleasant looking burger. The bread is toasted nicely and evenly. You can see plenty of beef and cheese. You can also see the onion ring poking out (HO HO!).
There is a generous portion of beef on the burger. There is more there than it appears.
Here you can clearly see tons of cheese along with the onion rings.
In case you missed it the first time, now you can have an extreme closeup of the onion in the au jus.
So finally, we dug in…
We have to say it again. This is a very unique twist on a classic item. Where do we start…
We haven’t reviewed Spangles burgers before, so let’s start with the meat. Spangles uses black Angus for the burgers. On most burgers, including this one, Spangles features steakburgers. If you don’t know what a steakburger is, look it up. We’re too lazy to explain it.
The burgers taste like a high quality beef. There is a great flavor to the burgers. They are tender and juicy. With two patties, there is plenty of beef. Again, there is more beef to this sucker than accurately shows in the picture. This isn’t Wendy’s or Burger King, people. There meat is actually good. How the hell does this happen at a fast food place? We need more beer…
There is PLENTY of swiss cheese. There is melty cheesy goodness all over the burger. No complaints here.
The onion rings kind of get lost in the mix we think. But it is hard to say for sure. With onions being the featured item, they may contribute to the overall flavor. The rings get sogged out, but what can you really expect? It is going to happen with all the meat and cheese and stuff. Yes, stuff. It is a technical food term, you see!
The bread/bun is good stuff. Using sourdough is different from other places. Unlike many sourdoughs, this stuff isn’t overpowering. It isn’t a strong sourdough flavor. And we (especially Denny) thinks this is a good thing.
The au just sauce in unique, indeed. It is loaded with onion. It reminds us more of French onion soup than au jus. Onion is the very dominant flavor here. If you like onion, and lots of it, you will like the sauce. Just don’t expect a traditional au jus sauce. We don’t think that’s what Spangles was going for, though.
We can’t figure this part out. Even when not dipping the sandwich, there is a strong French onion flavor just to the burger itself. Herman thinks there is a French onion dip on top of the burger. Take a look in the pics above. He thinks the gooey white stuff on top of the cheese is it. Denny thinks that the bread has some of the French onion au jus sauce on it giving it the flavor. We can’t prove which it is. Spangles’ website doesn’t say. We’re not sure what is going on, so if you know, let us know.
Overall, the flavors mix very well. Each flavor, with the exception of the onion rings, is there. It is a good sized burger, also. We think it is unique, and we like it.
We would take this any day over the slop that the national chains are offering. Maybe those dorks should take lessons from us here in Kansas! Spangles knows what it is doing here, people.
The burger itself ran us $5.39. This is on par with specialty burgers at the national chains. And the quality is WAY better. We can’t complain.
The other thing we like about this burger (and Spangles in general) is that it is a specialty burger, but it isn’t trendy. Spangles isn’t going for the trendy bullshit that every other place is going for. Spangles can actually introduce something unique and good without just using kale or claiming it is “clean.” This is just good. Shouldn’t that be enough? Good job, Spangles.
We used to avoid Spangles because of the annoying ads. Those days are over. Everything we have had at Spangles has been good. And it is SO much better than the national chains.
You win, Spangles.
