For a limited time, which means until people get sick of it again by Thanksgiving, McDonald's is bring back the McRib…the sandwich which has made more comebacks than Chevy Chase. The McRib, by the way, is funnier.
I will not be rushing or even strolling through the Golden Arches to get one. Back when I liked fast food a whole lot more than I do now, I sampled a McRib and found it — how do I put this? — pretty awful. I actually like McDonald's burgers for what they are…which is familiar, safe food you can grab in a rush even when far from home. And I've been known to breakfast in a hurry with a Sausage Biscuit with Egg…plus McDonald's fries were among my favorites until I discovered Five Guys.
But you know what my favorite thing ever at McDonald's was? Back in the late seventies or early eighties, the ones near me in L.A. all carried their version of a steak sandwich. It looked kinda like the McRib. It was longer to fit on a french roll and it had inch-long pieces of onion on it which provided most of the flavor. The meat itself was chopped ground beef like a hamburger although with what seemed like much better quality than they then put into their burgers. And I seem to recall they only offered it late in the day, after 4 PM or so, with commercials that sold it as a reason to bring your dates to dinner at Mickey D's. And there's a way to really impress a woman. ("You're taking me there? Wow! Let me get these panties off…")
I remember this vividly but after typing the above, I did a Google search and the only near-mention I could find was this from a Wikipedia list of discontinued McDonald's items…
Beefsteak Sandwich — test-marketed in New York and other East Coast markets in 1980 and as far west as Chicago were part of a McDonald's "Dinner Menu", offered only after 4:00 p.m. The Beefsteak Sandwich was essentially an elongated hamburger of a different quality served on a short French roll, similar to a sub or hero roll. Packets of steak sauce (A1 sauce in Chicago) were available for the sandwich.
I'm sure they had it in Los Angeles and I think it was called a Chopped Beefsteak Sandwich…or something that made clear you shouldn't expect a genuine piece o' steak within. In any case, it didn't last long and I remember lamenting its disappearance. It was an honest creation: Real good meat and real onions grilled simply and served on a real roll. I suspect if they'd used cheaper beef, deep-fried it and slathered cheese on the thing and called it the Mr. McSteak, it would have been a hit.