Wendy's, Nanuet, NY

Where: Wendy's, Nanuet, NY

What: Bacon Portabella Melt on Brioche

Build: 1/4 pound burger, crisp bacon, two slices of American cheese and Portabella mushrooms in a cheddar sauce on brioche bun.

Comment: I love a Wendy's burger on occasion, and this burger is good, maybe even very good – but after I finished it, I walked away thinking how difficult it was remembering how it tasted. I then ordered and ate a "Dave's Hot and Juicy" single and thought, WOW, that was a really good burger. But in fairness, the mushrooms on the Bacon Portabella Melt were surprisingly good and fresh tasting…incredible for a fast-food burger! 

I couldn’t help but notice that Wendy's spelling of "Portabella" is different than what I’m used to; the double "o" version, "Portobello.”  After doing a little digging, I found out that a Portabella Mushroom is a large dark brown mushroom, which is simply a fully mature Cremini Mushroom (actually only a few days older than Creminis). The name “Portabella” was popularized in the 1980s to sell what was then considered an unglamorous mushroom. Also, since the Portabella is harvested later, it can easily reach 5 inches in diameter, and has a much more concentrated flavor.

So, getting back to the drawing board…which spelling is correct, Portobello, or Portabella?  Answer: Both. However, the Mushroom Council has adopted the double "a" version to establish some consistency. Sorry for the rambling, but I was curious. In any event, the mushrooms surprised me. 

One more thing; Wendy's debuted their awesome pretzel roll this summer but never told anyone it was an LTO (limited time only) item and this fall they replaced it with the "buttery brioche" bun. I'm not going to go into a tirade on this (although, like millions of other Wendy's customers, I easily could) but honestly, this was so not good on so many levels. In any event, the counter girl told me the pretzel bun will be back this summer (high five) and at the end of the day, this was just another variation of Wendy's burger. 8.8/10