White Castle Microwavable Hamburgers Review

This review comes with a caveat: if you weren't raised on the east coast, and never went to a White Castle fast food restaurant as a kid, you will probably HATE these. I've never met anyone who tried these first as an adult and loved them. On the other hand, those of us who were raised with the real White Castle will find nostalgic joy in White Castle frozen burgers. Fellow east coasters will LOVE having access to these.

When I was a kid, the White Castle restaurants in our area were completely made of stainless steel: steel counters, steel tables, steel benches. Unlike other fast food places, White Castle always seemed really, really clean (I guess because stainless teel is easy to wipe down and keep clean between customers.) White Castle was always a treat...we'd only get to go a few times a year but, oh, did we savor those times! Part of the joy was the fact that the burgers were not only square, but tiny. Dad would order several bags of burgers and a few orders of fries, and we'd all munch away. If you haven't had a WC burger, let me fill you in: the burger is more like an incredibly thin slice of compressed beef, topped with chopped onion and ketchup, and placed on a square, steamed bun. Yes, steamed. Sounds gross, but it's yummy. (variations include cheeseburgers and bacon cheeseburgers, but I'm sort of a purist, when it comes to WC)

Of course, there's no White Castle west of the MIssissippi (i think that's the cut-off point), so those of us stuck on the  west coast are deprived. That's where the frozen burgers come in. The folks who make these have managed to freeze and package a product that tastes exactly like the burgers you'd get at a WC restaurant. It's uncanny. Each box has six burgers - 2 to a packet. The instructions on the box tell you to take the plastic packet off and wrap the burgers in a paper towel before nuking them. I think it works a lot better to open the end of the plastic, but leave the burgers in and nuke them just like that, discarding the plastic when you're ready to eat.

Now, these should not be considered a meal. They're a snack. You know that feeling on a Sunday afternoon, when you know dinner is four hours off, but you feel peckish? White Castle frozen burgers to the rescue! Two burgers make a perfect 'tide you over" snack. And, no, this is not gourmet fare but, rather, yummy, nostaligic goodness. It's junk, but it's sooo very nice...like that awful chair with the ugly upholstery you love so much. You know that chair will never get your living room's photo in Architectural Digest, but it sure feels good on your butt when you sit in it.