McDonald’s Angus Third Pounders in Burlington, WA

ChowtimesNoWord32x32This post is written upon free coupons from McDonald’s. We are not paid for this post.

Our flight to Spain was from the Seattle-Tacoma (SEATAC) Airport.  Flights from the US are way much cheaper than if one flies out from the Vancouver International Airport.  Frankly, I don’t have much of a choice of the departing airport when it comes to staff travel.  Flying from SEATAC is the cheapest they could route me.  Otherwise it would have been about $200 more … per person.

It was very much down to the wire.  He he he … Suanne was quite nervous but I knew our travel services will come through.  On the day before our scheduled departure date, we still had not had the e-ticket issued.  We only received the e-ticket about 18 hrs before our departure time.

Lots of Hotels and Long Term Parking along International Blvd
Lots of Hotels and Long Term Parking along International Blvd

Since our flight is in the morning the next day, our plan is to drive to the SEATAC Airport the day before and stay the night in one of the many motels around the airport.  We chose one that has a night stay with discounted long term parking.  Found one that had crappy hotel rooms but at least the long term parking was cheap at $8 per day.  One tip about the long term parking in the hotels in SEATAC — you can actually bargain with them on the posted rate.  We had our parking reduced to $8 from $9 per day.  All long-term parking and motels provide free shuttles to the airport.

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Our original plan was to have a nice lunch in Seattle at Mae Phim.  But because by the time we gotten the e-tickets in our hands, it was already too late.  So we decided to just take it easy and take a slow drive and just settle for burgers.  We stopped at the McDonalds outlet in Burlington along I-5.

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If you remembered, McDonalds sent chowtimes quite a number of McDonald’s Angus Third Pounders coupons last month (see our post here).  We have given away all we had except for two.  So we used that.  To our slight dismay, this coupon is only for the sandwiches, not the meal deal.  Oh well, at least it was free.

For those of you who received the coupons from Suanne, have you used your coupons yet?  Let me know what you think.

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The Angus Third Pounders are only officially launched in the US.  They are not in Canada yet and if you see them here, it is probably under trial or test or whatever they call it.  The Angus Third Pounders came in three different different offerings:

  • Deluxe
  • Bacon and Chesse
  • Mushroom and Swiss

The sandwiches alone costs $3.99 USD.

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One thing we noticed differently is the bun.  They are much better tasting than the normal ones.   They are toasted sesame seed buns and are sweetish and soft.   (more…)

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New McDonalds Product – The Angus Third Pounders

Hi All:

Chowtimes were informed by McDonalds USA that they were launching a new burger nationwide yesterday. Please note that this is currently being launched in the US and not in Canada. Normally we would not be interested because it’s for the US but since they offered to provide us BOG (Be-Our-Guest) cards, we jumped on it and said yes.

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The new products are called the Angus Third Pounders.  Obviously from the name itself it is large … a third larger than the quarter pounders.  As a matter of fact, this is the first new burger launch from McDonald’s since the Big N’ Tasty burger was added to the menu in 2001 … eight years ago.

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The Angus Third Pounders are available in three offerings:  Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese and Mushroom & Swiss.  The big-big difference between this and the other McDonald’s burgers are the introduction of ingredients never seen before on a McDonald’s burger:

  • Red onion rings
  • Full slices of bacon
  • Sauteed murshrooms
  • Natural Swiss Cheese
  • Bakery-Style sesame seed roll

It seems like McDonalds is upgrading their burgers to offer (more…)

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Washington DC: Food Court in the Union Station

By the time we were left the Arlington National Cemetery, it was already getting late. We did not want to go to unfamiliar neighborhood looking for food and decided to just head back to the hotel and pick up some food at the Union Station. Frankly, we did not care too much for food. We were just too hot and thirsty … both of us thought of only one thing — smoothies.

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We did not know that there was an even bigger food court at the basement level of the Union Station. For the past three days using the Union Station, we had always thought that all the eating places were at the street level floor until I peeked down an escalator and there was it … a huge food court with quite a lot of variety of food.

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Suanne and I simply need rice. If we go a few days without rice, we felt like we had not eaten at all. There were the Chinese food stall but we did not really like that … it is, as expected, American Chinese food. You know … what they call fried rice is more like soya sauce rice. (more…)

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Washington DC: Ben’s Chili Bowl

Despite the name of this post, nope, this is not about my recipe. This is about an unpretentious eating place which had turned out to be a Washington DC landmark and had been here since 1958.

We went to Ben’s Chili Bowl right after our visit to the Library of Congress. We had actually wanted to also visit the US Mint too but … oh wow … those guys at the US Mint did not allow anyone who has a camera in. They don’t care if you put it in your bag, or even take out the batteries but if you have a camera, they won’t let you in. They don’t even have lockers for you to lock up your camera. Ooops … I digressed … back to food.

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Sorry if I don’t understand food like hot dogs and sausages. What amazes me is how a place like Ben’s Chili Bowl had become such a landmark of a national capital. If I am not mistaken, I recall someone (Jason?) remarked on chowtimes that the food here is over-rated. I think that observation is right. But then it is still a great place to grab a quick bite.

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Judging from the looks of the place, this is certainly a local favourite. Lots of people for sure but the place is larger than the looks from the outside and the table turnaround is very quick. I see quite a lot of office workers (or at least they look like office workers) here.

I read that Ben’s Chili Bowl had always looked the same right down to the furnitures, menu and look for the past 50 years.

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Bill Cosby made Ben’s Chili Bowl famous around the world. Story has that this cheap guy brought his future wife to Ben’s Chili Bowl on dates. And that is dates with a “s”. He had also often had press conferences at this restaurant. That is why there is a posted sign here that says here a list of customers who can eat here for free … and that list has two lines: “Bill Cosby” and in capitals “NO ONE ELSE”.

Oh I went into their washroom and guess what I found. They actually provide chalks and encourage customers to draw graffiti on their walls!

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The above is the food that makes Ben’s Chili Bowl famous — the Chili Half Smoke. I am not sure why they called it a half smoke as I can clearly see they grill the sausages. Anyway, a Half Smoke is basically a larger, meaner, coarser version of a sausage with more spices. (more…)

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Washington DC: McDonalds in the National Air and Space Museum

Alright, alright … here is one posting for all you foodies. It is not terribly exciting to many of you, I know … but it’s still food. Actually I must admit I like McDonald sandwiches.

There are not much food choices around the National Mall area. The only place I know where to find food is in the cafeterias in the museums.

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We were quite excited to see McDonalds in the National Air and Space Museum. I was surprised how big this outside was. There is actually a McCafe at the top floor. This is the first time I had been to a McCafe. I don’t think there is a McCafe in Canada, is there?

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This McDonalds has a different ordering system. You place your order and pay on a front separate queue and they let you know which counter to pick up your order. I am sure there are bigger McDonalds but this is the biggest that I had seen.

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The eating area is large. What you see above is just a quarter section of the entire area. (more…)

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Washington DC: Sbarro Lunch in Union Station

By the time we got to the hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags it was already past 2PM. We were not too hungry but decided that we should just get something to eat since we only had cereals for breakfast. I guess it must have been the excitement that we’re not feeling that hungry. We asked the hotel’s front desk where we could find food and they pointed us to the Union Station.

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The Union Station is an old station built at the turn of the 20th century. At that time, train travel is the main form of long distance travel. The city designed and built this station as a ceremonial station and as a grand entrance to the city of Washington DC. Today it is the main train hub in Washington DC. We started our day from this station everyday.

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Considering this a building of over a hundred years old, it is amazing that it looked so new. I felt that this station is brighter and better maintained than the more famous Grand Central Terminal in New York City. (more…)

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Seattle: Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits in Burlington

Oh shoot!

I felt so pressured to keep up blogging on this Seattle series. My memory on this trip is somewhat fading. I had been looking at the screen for the past 5 minutes just thinking of what to share. Sigh … and some of you just gotta say you look forward to this series. Pressure, pressure, pressure! LOL!

We left Richmond kind of late … in the late morning. By the time we got over the border, it was already noon. We drove on and decided to make a stop at Burlington for a quick lunch in a fast food joint. We did not care about what it is except that it should be something we do not have in Canada.

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As we drove along the shopping row on S Burlington Blvd looking for a fast food joint we chanced upon the distinctive yellow and red Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits restaurant. Popeyes was one of the places we had on our shortlist of restaurants.

One would have thought that in a place called Popeyes, you would have expected that there will be Popeye (the Sailorman) images all over the restaurant. Nope, there was none at all. Strange.

Anyway, Popeyes is one of the biggest chicken fast food outlets in the US. There is none in Vancouver.

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We ordered the 8 pieces Spicy Chicken. It seems like their flagship product just like the Big Mac is to McD’s. It came with some “biscuits”. I still thinks that biscuits means cookies. At least where I grew up, biscuits IS cookies. These US-style “biscuits” should just be simply called bread, or scones.

Anyway, the biscuits were flaky but too dry for my liking. If only I have hot chocolate, I’ll dunk it in. I took a bite and decided I had enough.

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Despite being called Spicy Chicken, it is quite mild. We like the crispy skin a lot and the fact that it was not all too greasy (more…)

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Arby’s in Bellingham, WA

Oh, did you guys know how long was the border wait last weekend? It was unbelievably long … 3-5 hours south bound. We had been going south for our shopping at least once a month since the Canadian Dollar reached par with the mighty USD. However, we had been somewhat lucky not to be caught up in lineups over 1 hr.

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A couple of months ago, we stopped by Arby’s in Bellingham. Arby’s is struggling in Canada with just a handful of outlets in BC. We like Arby’s and used to go often for their Roast Beef sandwiches when there was an outlet in Richmond. It’s closed a few years ago but we still remember having the sandwiches almost once a week.

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We got the French Dip and Swiss Toasted Sub Combo for $6.85. The combo included some fries and a soft drink.

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We prefer toasted subs. (more…)

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