If French toast sticks don’t take you back to your childhood with syrupy nostalgia, then you didn’t childhood correctly. I kid, I kid (see what I did there). Growing up, my go-to favorite French toast sticks were from Burger King, which they first started doing in 1985. So, BK has the edge on Wendy’s, who only in the past couple of years started serving breakfast and only recently in early August, rolled out its own version of French toast sticks, the homestyle kind. I actually haven’t had Burger King breakfast in a number of years, so it’s been a while since I partook in their French toast sticks. I can only compare with a nostalgic lens.
The breakfast wars are heating up on the griddle! McDonald’s, of course, has been doing it for a while and changed the game when they started serving breakfast at all hours of the day (the pandemic messed this up some). Which I would imagine was a response to Taco Bell launching its own breakfast menu the year prior. Wendy’s won’t be left out, though. In this new phase of the war, the fast food breakfast war is going to be fought with sticks.
Wendy’s wants us to wake up with them because, “We Breakfast Better.” So much better, in fact, that they can be our new moms: “And oh, you like sweets for breakfast. Then try our new Homestyle French Toast Sticks that are so good they put your mom’s to everlasting shame. Sorry, not sorry.”
To be fair to my mom, who did make yummy French toast, she can’t compete with them in the stick format! There is something about that almost bite-sized crunchy dunkability offered by the French toast stick that makes it the best version of French toast since, well, the sliced bread kind.
This morning, I got the six-piece combo meal, which comes with the six pieces of Homestyle French Toast Sticks, seasoned potatoes, and orange juice. I apparently did this too early because I didn’t think it would come with seasoned potatoes (what else would a combo come with?), and I got excited by the seasoned potatoes on the menu, so I ordered an additional thing of seasoned potatoes. Alas.
As I gross aside, when I’m running quick errands, particularly when I know I won’t be getting out of the vehicle, like going through the Wendy’s drive-thru, I bring along my foster dog, Benny. He loves car rides! But Benny also has an extremely sensitive stomach. If I deviate at all from his lamb and rice food, he’s liable to puke and/or have diarrhea issues. The previous night at a family cookout, he sampled a burger, a different kind of bone treat, and so forth. That indulgence, which was totally my fault, came home to roost right after I placed my order at Wendy’s and was driving up to the second window. Benny stood up his front paws on the center console, dry-heaved twice, and then puked the chunkiest, almost poop-looking puke into the cupholders. Well, isn’t that an appetizing thought and image before being handed delicious morning breakfast?
And what makes that all the better, is that FYI for all you pet-lovers, Wendy’s apparently has a stash of dog treats for moments like today when I roll up with a dog in the car. They asked if he could have a treat. I hesitated for a split second given he just puked — as I’m also trying to cover up the puke with my arm for some self-conscious reason — and said, sure, why not. Then, they didn’t have any left, which was probably for the best.
So, yeah, I drove home with my orange juice tucked into the driver’s side door and the food bag between my legs. Once I got us home, I put the bag in the microwave and cleaned up the puke mess before getting a chance to dunk my French toast sticks. I did heat them up.
With all of that working against my first Wendy’s Homestyle French Toast Sticks experience … these were phenomenal. The best French toast sticks, as I alluded to earlier, strike a balance of crunch around the edges and soft yummy gooiness in the middle, with that delicious heaping of side syrup, the kind of syrup that makes me want to completely debase myself in decadence by licking the little container.
That extra bit of heat from nuking them in the microwave helped, too, I think because of having them just on the precipice of piping hot. They are quite large, too! These aren’t bite-sized or baby French toast sticks. Taste-wise, I don’t think there is much of a difference between these and Burger King, and again, I’m relying on nostalgia for BK’s. But size-wise, and also I haven’t done a size-by-size comparison, Wendy’s sticks seem bigger. On that score, Wendy’s has to win!
These homestyle sticks, along with the seasoned potatoes side, are a good breakfast combination to get your day started.
Milam's Musings 