Vol. 26: Wendy's Chili Cheese Fries

As recently as a few years ago, Wendy’s French fries tasted like licking cardboard monkey hair needed a good bit of improvement.  Thankfully, their corporate headquarters listened to consumer reviews such as this one*, and have launched several campaigns to improve the quality of their food, making them quite the the powerhouse in the mid-range burger competition.

They’ve also kept their promise to have forty zillion a wide variety of side dishes, ranging from chili to baked potatoes to blah blah blah, you know the story.

It was just terrible that none of these possible side dishes was truly fatal enough capable of standing up to the glory that is some of their creations, such as the Triple Baconator (see vol. 1, -Ed.) or the Octuple Stack**.  I mean, honestly – if I’m stuffing my face with a pound of cow and pig, do I really look like I want a baked potato with broccoli on the side or a light garden salad?

Then they came out with the Chili Cheese Fries.  Of course, I had to have them, even though I was more broke than Greece budgetarily challenged at the time.  Observe:

I couldn’t wait til after the picture to take a bite.  Sue me. 

Now I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking, “Hmm, does Wendy’s chili really hold itself up as a French fry topping?”  The answer is yes, it does, now stop asking yourself rhetorical questions.  Observant readers might notice that there is actually a combination of cheese sauce and shredded cheese on top of the chili, which serves as a key point.

The cheese sauce acts as a thickener.  And mixed with the shredded cheese?  If you’re hungry enough, you might never notice that it was a sauce to begin with.  Oh, and did I mention they’re actually pretty danged tasty?  The fries stay surprisingly crisp for quite a while, a fork is a necessity, and the cheesy-chili-ey goopy mess left in the container is great to dip your burger into.

Because it wasn’t bad enough, already.  Oh, and because the obvious needs to be said sometimes – DO NOT EAT THESE WHILE DRIVING.  You have been warned.  I claim no liability.

You might need to come prepared for these guys, though.  Currently, it’s only $1.00 to upgrade your standard combo meal fries to Chili Cheese Fries, and I highly recommend doing so.  Keep in mind, though, that the serving size is 231g for these bad boys – they may not look like it, but that’s over half a pound of chili and cheese and fry.  Definitely a significant markup from the little cup of fries you were going to get.  For only a dollar more?  WTF are you waiting for?  Go get you some deliciousness!

P.S.  I highly recommend consumption with either the Double or Triple Baconator.  That way, you can get almost all of your 2,000 calorie daily input in a single sit-down.  Toss in a soda, and you can do so, easily!  That’ll free up the rest of your day for doing important things.  Like sleeping.

The Verdict

4/5.  As an upgrade to a combo, the added dollar is well spent.  On their own, I don’t know how much they are because I’m a slack@ss the price wasn’t added to the regular menu at the Wendy’s I went to, so I can’t readily award it a 5.  For a dollar extra on your combo, though?  Stop reading and go get some, already!

* My involvement in Wendy’s taste improvement campaign can be neither proven nor disproven.

** Some self-assembly required on this burger.