Going gourmet seems to be a rising trend among fast-food establishments. It’s like they all teamed up and decided to offer us something we never asked for — from Wendy’s Truffle Bacon Cheeseburgers to McDonald’s unrecognizable, fancy-sandwich-hawking McCafé. Next to hop on the fast-foodie limo bus: Arby’s, with their brand new pork belly sandwich.
That’s right — forget the bacon, and forget the fact that one chef recently called pork belly out as a downward-trending food. According to Arby’s, it’s high time we all rode the pork belly train. Jon Stewart’s favorite fast food establishment just announced their new limited-time, October-only menu addition: the Smokehouse Pork Belly Sandwich.
For $5.49, you get a sandwich made with three slices of hickory-smoked pork belly (“sliced extra thick, for a more tender style of bacon,” by the way), smoked cheddar, barbecue sauce, and fried onions.
“And if you don’t think it’s better than bacon,” Arby’s writes on their website, “try our bacon.” Which… wait. Can we analyze that statement for just a second? Is Arby’s saying that anything is better than their bacon, because it’s just that bad? Or are they recommending a substitution of bacon for the pork belly, if for some reason you really can’t stand the pork belly?
We’re confused. Maybe this story should be called, “Arby’s has a bad copywriter.”
But we don’t have to be confused for very long. The sandwich is already in the midst of a soft launch — in fact, a couple of folks have already got their pork-belly-lovin’ hands on the sandwich and have taken it to Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKqzimSBV4P/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKjCX2ZBa6d/
For the rest of us, the Smokehouse Pork Belly Sandwich will hit Arby’s franchises across the nation next week. We might be ambivalent and slightly confused about the pork belly, but there’s one thing we’re looking forward to: those fried onions on top of the burger. Can fast food restaurants please hop on that bandwagon? Because nothing’s better than the crunch of a heap of crispy, deep-fried onions on a juicy sandwich. Pork belly or no.
