Squealing with... Something

When i meet someone new and tell them I’m from Rhode Island, I generally get one of two responses: “Oh, Rhode Island? I hear that FireWater thing is beautiful” or “Oh, Rhode Island? Didn’t one of your politicians go to prison?” I don’t often hear “Oh, Rhode Island. You have wonderful bacon there.” Which is why I thought it was so curious that Johnny Rockets would debut a new burger, with a patty comprising 60% beef and 40% bacon, and call it the Rhode Island Squealer.

Out of morbid curiosity and an equally morbid love of bacon, I took some friends to try the sandwich at the Thayer Street restaurant (there’s also one in the mall, but I wasn’t going anywhere near that place on a Sunday in December). We ordered a couple of Squealers and a plate of bacon cheese fries to round out the healthy meal. On first bite, the burger was solid: crisp tomatoes, lettuce and pickles sat on top of melted American cheese and the bacon burger itself. I got a strong hit of vinegar at first, but nobody else did, so I attributed that to a lot of pickles in one bite.

As we ate, though, things kind of went downhill. We could taste some bacon, but not as much as we expected, and there was sadly none on top of the burger itself. The flavor and quality of the bacon itself was lacking, too. We all commented that the sandwich just made us want a really good bacon cheeseburger instead, and wondered aloud what made this a “Rhode Island Squealer.” A Google search, amid bites of the delicious bacon cheese fries, indicated that Johnny Rockets isn’t serving this burger elsewhere. But if it were going to be a true Rhode Island burger, it would have something local on top. One of my dining companions suggested soupy, the Westerly version of sopressatta. My vote was chorizo. Are you listening, Johnny?

Johnny Rockets Squealer - We ate it! from Axion Media Lab on Vimeo.