The most important meal of the week at Casa Ralat is not taco night. Surprise! It’s burger night. Usually, the only tacos we cook at home are for breakfast, or we’ll grill fajitas and wrap them in thick, dusty flour tortillas made at the mercadito that morning. Tacos are also normally a weekend meal. But burgers—oh, burgers. They’re so easy to sling and they pair perfectly with tater tots. We do that every Wednesday night. On a recent Wednesday, I miraculously persuaded the wife and kid that I needed to try Whataburger’s new pico de gallo burger. I argued that it was worth getting drive-through and not messing up the kitchen any further that day. It would be only my third or fourth visit to the iconic San Antonio–based Texas burger chain. Show My most memorable Whataburger experience was at the brand’s birthplace in Corpus Christi, at the two-story location on North Shoreline Boulevard. Fans lovingly call it the Whataburger by the Bay, and the view is indeed scenic. I stood on the rooftop terrace and looked east across the ruddy waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It was late summer 2015, and I’d just finished a day of crisscrossing Selena’s hometown for that year’s Texas Monthly taco issue. I got a quick burger and soda to justify my time looking out at the horizon. It was a peaceful and satisfying experience. Though I may never quite understand the depth of love that drives diehard fans to sell table tents on the black market, throw elaborate Whataburger-themed parties, or crochet a Whataburger koozie, I do appreciate the brand’s significance to Texans. It’s almost equal to my appreciation of getting a reprieve from the Sisyphean quarantine tasks of doing the dishes, scrubbing pans, and wiping counters. Drive-through burgers would be a relief, I thought. Instead, it was an ordeal. I’m not referring to long lines or the wait to place an order. Those things are expected. It was the passing back and forth of the debit card and the receipt, plus the pawing through bags to make sure orders were correctly processed, that sent me nervously fumbling for the hand sanitizer kept in the car. (We should have worn pairs of the medical-grade gloves we keep in a box in the backseat.) My fingers and mind were aflame with anxiety over this outing. This was, of course, after my wife and I accidentally got into the I-30 HOV express lane and shot past the office high-rises of Irving in the distance. “I hope this doesn’t take us to Arlington,” she said sharply before we found the next exit, somewhere near Arlington. It was a relief to return home to Oak Cliff with our burger combos in orange-and-white striped paper bags. Eating this burger didn’t top the experience of my Corpus Christi pilgrimage, but it was a solid runner-up. The combination of pico de gallo with creamy lime cilantro sauce atop warm, melting pepperjack cheese approximates the heat and pleasant gooeyness of chile con queso—about as comforting a dish as any signature Texan culinary invention. Less bold than the brand’s popular jalapeño burger, the pico de gallo burger has a spice that creeps up at the end of each bite, then subsides. It doesn’t claw at your tongue or the back of your throat. But it’s there. The sturdy, squishy bun helps smooth out the kick. My only problem with the burger was the meat. The pico de gallo is supposed to be made with two patties, but when I squeezed the burger between my hands, I was unable to tell if the order was filled incorrectly. There could very well have been only one patty in the burger. The meat itself was cooked well-done and charred from the edges to the center. Not a ringing endorsement, I know. But I’d try it again. It was a comforting, slightly above-average burger, and sometimes that’s what hits the spot. Next time, I’ll have to ask if they make it a little less well-done, and I might ask for extra sauce to up the fantastic chile con queso factor. Pico de Gallo Burger from Whataburger on Old Spanish Trail Photo: Alison Cook / Staff A young colleague suggested I write about the limited-time special Pico de Gallo Burger at Whataburger, Texas’ fast-food sacred cow. I approached the idea with curiosity and trepidation. I’ve never been a Whataburger fan, and after numerous disappointing experiences at the location nearest me on the east side, of the “you call that a beef patty?” variety, I resigned myself to the fact that I would never experience the magic professed by the brand’s many vocal fans. The regional chain founded in 1950 by the Dobson family — who ran it until just last year, when they sold to a venture capital company — now has over 670 stores in Texas alone. They are as much an article of fast-food faith here as Buc-ee’s is revered by those who travel the highways. Mostly I keep quiet when the Whataburger topic arises, which it does with great regularity. I know what’s good for me. But I had to admit the Pico de Gallo Burger sounded pretty good. My big question was where to get it. My nearest location was out of the running, as far as I was concerned. So I asked my Twitter followers to suggest their favorite Whataburger locations, and Katy Bar the Door, they had dozens. And dozens. The Whataburgers on Shepherd and on Kirby and on Edloe each got a lot of love. The North Main location just off Interstate 45, in the Heights, proved to be a sentimental favorite. North Shepherd at 610 drew some votes, as well as a few far-flung suburban outposts. I was struck by how much of a travel ritual Whataburger is for my fellow Texans. Various commenters chimed in to declare their fealty to Whataburgers in Refugio, or Giddings, or La Grange. People either mentioned the hotness/freshness of food as the reason for their picks, or the courtesy and speed of the service, especially in the drive thrus. One fan alluded to the increasingly rare “original A-frame design” of his favorite store as an attraction. Finally, I picked a multiple-vote-getter relatively near me as my test location: the 24-hour Whataburger at 3624 Old Spanish Trail, otherwise known as Alt. 90, just west of Scott Street. This is my story. Fries from Whataburger on Old Spanish Trail Photo: Alison Cook / Staff PRICE: Pico de Gallo Burger $6.14; small fries $1.84; small Dr Pepper shake $2.84 for a pretax total of $10.82 ORDERING: I sat in the drive-thru for a not-hideous amount of time, placed my order with a very polite staffer, paid at the window and was asked to pull up “to the trash can” to await my food. An employee in mask and gloves came out with my order in 4 or 5 minutes. ARCHITECTURE: No salad stuff, unless you count the pico de gallo, which rode on top. On a very wide “extra large” bun, toasted, went a slice of pepperjack cheese, a 5-ounce beef patty, another slice of pepperjack, a second patty, and a crowning smatter of pico de gallo doused in a considerable quantity of mayonnaise thinned out with lime juice. QUALITY: This was the best Whataburger I’ve ever tasted — specifically because the ground-beef patties were not leathery and dry, my usual complaint at my neighborhood location. I didn’t swoon at the beef flavor (matter of fact, the first note I registered was that of cooking grease), but the sandwich settled into itself as I ate. I appreciated the crunch and lively heat of the pico de gallo, which really did add character and a sense of place to the burger. My only lament on that score was that the copious amount of lime-flavored mayo running every which way seemed out of whack. If there had been twice the pico de gallo and half the mayonnaise sauce, I would have been happier. I did wonder about what had happened to the poor little pepperjack slices, which had galvanized into sheets that stuck to other surfaces as if they had been glued together. More meltiness, please. OOZE RATING: Strictly condiment-based. LETTER GRADE: C+. With more pico de gallo, I could have gone to B minus. Dr Pepper shake from Whataburger on Old Spanish Trail Photo: Alison Cook / Staff VALUE: Pretty good. That was a lot of burger, and a lot of protein, for $6.14. BONUS POINTS: The vanilla shake I sampled was decent of its soft-serve genre, with a strong, clear note of vanilla extract. MINUS POINTS: The Dr Pepper shake on limited-time special turned out to be every bit as gruesome as I had feared: cloyingly sweet, the milky soft-serve component at war with the soda. The French fries I received were pale and listless. None of that famous Whataburger ketchup was included with my order, either. STUFF FOR LATER: Chicken fajita taco that was quite decent, although the sauteed pepper and onion element could not make up for the fact that no salsa came with my order. (I added my own.) This taco was good enough that I suddenly understood why so many people obsess about Whataburger’s breakfast taquitos. LOCAL COLOR: Several commenters in my Twitter feed, including a fast-food connoisseur I know and trust, named this O.S.T. and Scott St. location as their favorite Whataburger store. It’s about halfway between the University of Houston and the Medical Center, and it’s open 24 hours. This particular drive-thru was carefully landscaped with blooming greenery, a pleasant feature — as was the courteous service. I enjoyed the next-door presence of a Sonic (so Texas, this conjunction) and the sight of my beloved Ray’s BBQ Shack as I whizzed toward home on Old Spanish Trail. I should have stopped in there for an order of stupendous onion rings to go with my burger.
What is on Whataburger pico de gallo burger?The burger has two beef patties on a five-inch bun with two pepper jack cheese slices, pico de gallo and creamy cilantro lime sauce. The chicken sandwich has the same toppings, comes on a brioche bun and can be ordered with grilled chicken or a Whatachick'n filet.
Is the pico de gallo burger spicy?Less bold than the brand's popular jalapeño burger, the pico de gallo burger has a spice that creeps up at the end of each bite, then subsides.
Does Whataburger still have pico de gallo burger?HOUSTON – Fans of Whataburger, rejoice: The restaurant has brought back the Pico De Gallo Burger. The fan-favorite menu item is filled with fresh Pico de Gallo inspired by Mexico, choice of either a beef or chicken patty, topped with pepper jack cheese and cilantro lime sauce in between two buns.
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Is the Whataburger pico de gallo burger good?
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