I can’t resist mentioning this briefly, since my mini-report on the HotBytes forum and Facebook on New Year’s Day blew up with “Likes” and comments, hinting that there’s public interest in this bizarre development: White Castle, at least for a while, now offers a veggie burger, of all things. They’re only 99 cents each, cheap, but like their meatful siblings, it takes a few to satisfy an appetite.

The WC folks are using a commercial brand of veggie burger, Dr. Praeger’s, which proved to be a decent patty – round, not square – fashioned from a garden of veggies including corn, green peppers, celery, carrots, and some other stuff, I’m sure. Crispy on the outside, soft within, they’re slapped on a standard white slider bun and available with your choice of honey mustard, “Thai” or ranch sauce.

We tried them at the new St. Matthews WC Lounge and, well! It actually is a pretty good veggie burger. Don’t mistake it for a meat burger, just take it for what it is, and it’s okay. My advice, omit the sauce, which adds nothing. Ask for a couple of pickles and a dab of grilled onions; smear on the brown Dusseldorf mustard, and you’ve got an almost-healthy slider.

(Those who shun meat will be pleased to know that the veggie burgers are cooked on a separate grill and flipped with a green spatula, color-coded to segregate it from the carnivores’ tools.)

White Castle
Many locations: http://www.whitecastle.com/locations