1921 Slider

 

(www.whitecastle.com, 2021) In honor of their centennial White Castle has made this supposedly once standard, and for the last few years very rare (available at only a handful of locations, allegedly one spot in Chicagoland, and that spot certainly wasn't 79th and Stony) burger widely available. It features a freshly grilled, thicker, more wild looking patty than the standardized square, aerated slider, plus fresh lettuce and tomato. On the one hand, it is delicious, probably the tastiest thing on their menu (unless your loyalty to the gooey butter cake exceeds mine). On the other hand, it's a weird marketing ploy to say, "Hey America, our product used to be better than it is now!" We didn't remember that, you were off the hook!  Also, cutting up fresh vegetables is new to the staffs, and my first sack each had a different cross section of the sticker on the sliced tomato. But hopefully this sticks around permanently (I'll keep buying them) and they will all master tomato sticker peeling.  It's $1.69 in Chicago (so probably the same in NY/NJ, and a dime less everywhere else) but it's worth it, as three of these are definitely as or more filling than five traditional sliders, so you pay a couple bucks more for a better meal, which is still half the price of an overrated Au Cheval single burger.