Up first: McDonald's. I was able to try the new fast-food burger during a media event on Monday — and I was impressed by what I found.
"Those who are seeking a larger burger ... this is what they were looking for," Linda VanGosen, McDonald's vice president of menu innovation, told Business Insider.
"It was hotter, juicier, more flavorful," VanGosen said. "This is addressing what they're looking for."
The only change in the burger, according to executives, is the fresh beef. Everything else is exactly the same.
McDonald's beef prep simply requires slapping the patty on the grill and adding a bit of pepper. One positive of fresh beef: it cooks faster than frozen, which means that the new preparation style isn't going to slow down McDonald's workers.
Taking a bite, the difference that fresh beef makes is immediately obvious. Hotter, juicier, and finally freed of its mulch-like texture — the fresh-beef burger is a vast improvement over the old-school Quarter Pounder.
I hadn't realized how much of a handicap the texture of McDonald's patties were to the chain's hamburgers until I had a fresh-beef burger. While the dryness of the burgers can be ignored on a Big Mac — as other elements take the forefront — the Quarter Pounder is vastly bettered by the beef upgrade.
However, this is still a McDonald's burger, with the chain's signature flavor.
The closest I can come to describing the distinct McDonald's flavor is to say that the new Quarter Pounder still tastes like McDonald's smells, but a little bit better.
So, McDonald's fresh-beef burger is better than its previous iteration. But is it better than Wendy's?
I decided to try the classic quarter-pounder Dave's Single to see. I did a poor job ordering, so I ended up with a very plain burger — just cheese and beef — but, I figured that would allow the natural flavor of the beef to take center stage.
Wendy's burger didn't need any toppings to top McDonald's. The burger is, quite simply, that good.
I'm focusing on the patties here — and Wendy's fresh-beef patty reigns supreme. McDonald's is juicier and hotter than its previous attempts, but Wendy's is even juicier and hotter than its rival.
Wendy's burger embodies a quiet quality, while McDonald's is simply an improvement on something that needed fixing.
Maybe it's because Wendy's spent decades cracking the fresh-beef code, or maybe it's just because McDonald's needs to maintain its signature fast-food flavor. Whatever the reason, Wendy's is still top dog in the latest fast-food burger battle.