I can't believe this burger! Even worse, I can't believe I ATE this burger!

This one is definitely a case of 'taking one for the team'! Over the July 4th weekend, Karen and I went to North Carolina to visit her son and his family. As with any road trip we take, we try hard to avoid restaurants that we have here in NY. So, no MacDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, even Arby's is on that list now that they've opened a place in Wantagh and at Broadway Mall. So bearing that in mind, and with the knowledge that even though we don't have places like Chick-Fil-A, Captain D's Seafood, and Hardees in our area, we occasionally see a commercial for them on a national network or cable channel (like TBS). 
On Saturday, we took a ride to the farmer's market in Elizabeth City. Picked up some amazing blueberries which had been picked less than 24 hours earlier at a local farm. Huge, sweet, wonderful. Got a couple of deep red, ripe heirloom tomatoes (I sense a BLT happening soon!), a pound of farm cured bacon, and a ring of bratwurst for the cookout we had on July 4th evening. Donated to the local VFW, and got a bag of fresh roasted peanuts as a thank you. All in all, a small, but very nice market.
Off to lunch we went. Dennis and Maggie have 4 kids, and as those of you who are parents know, if the kids aren't happy, pretty much nobody's happy. We know that all of the kids like Chick-Fil-A, so we went there. As usual, great food and very nice, friendly service. I've written up their food previously, so if you're really curious, page back through these posts and you'll find it.
Sunday we decided to leave for home right after breakfast, which we had at a local place called Southland. They do a breakfast buffet that is really good, all the usual breakfast items, plus a great fresh fruit bar. We had a good meal, and got on the road.
Around 1 pm, we decided we would stop and get lunch, rather than try to get home and have dinner. As we drove up route 113 through Maryland and into Delaware, we had a lot of options to choose from; but, I'd been joking about this ridiculous burger that Hardee's has been advertising, called the "Most American Thickburger". Now, Hardees is unashamedly politically incorrect, both in their advertising, and their food, which, of course, places it high on my list of places to stop. Hardees pays tribute to their rather humble beginnings with nice art throughout the restaurant, such as this one.

Their burgers aren't skinny little things on a flat, floppy bun, topped with a piece of orange wax masquerading as a tomato; no, they're big, thick, patties, topped with fresh red tomatoes, crisp deep green lettuce, and all sorts of silly things, like six or eight slices of bacon. Or the bbq burger, with sauteed onions, onion rings, bbq sauce and cheddar cheese. They're just big, juicy, tasty burgers that are overloaded with toppings. The patties come in 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 pound sizes, and you can get up to three patties on your burger.
The "Most American" thickburger, however, is a major step forward in culinary craziness. It's your choice of beef patty, with cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion; topped with potato chips, and a hot dog! Yes, you read that right, the whole burger is topped with a hot dog! And some ketchup and mustard to dress it up. Here's the burger as it arrived at our table.

Looks innocent enough, right? If you look closely at the bun by the fries, you can just see the tip of the hot dog poking out from under the bun. And here, in all it's uncovered glory, is the entire mess.

 The patty is a 1/4 lb burger, but not like you'd get at MacDonald's in their 'quarter pounder', it's thick (hence, 'Thickburger'); the dog, not a small one, but a full size dog, split and grilled to a nice crust. Smoky, spicy, not the usual bologna dog like you'd get at a typical fast food place, but one with real character. And, not surprisingly, the dog actually overwhelms the burger. The potato chips are underneath the burger, nestled in below the pickles, lettuce and tomato. Unfortunately, the fresh tomato juice rendered most of the chips soggy, but the ones that remained dry added a nice crunch to the whole mess.
Now, truth be told, I didn't eat the entire thing; Karen took a bite. But I DID eat all that was left after she had her taste, and I'm almost ashamed to say the damn thing was really good! I don't think I'd order it again, as it's just too ridiculous, even for me. But, after seeing the commercials multiple times, and saying to myself 'they must be kidding', I'm glad I had the chance to try it. It's a limited time offering, so who knows if it'll ever show up again. And if it doesn't, at least I can say that I had one. And, most surprisingly, no nasty after effects from it! I guess once in a while, taking one for the team isn't a bad thing!