I was driving home from work and saw a sign saying Arby's had a Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich and pulled in to give it a shot.
I was skeptical. A lot of fast food places have done BBQ themes this year, slapping some mediocre crock pot style BBQ pork on a burger. There's also the infamous McRib. But attempting to do brisket in a fast food setting takes some big kahones. If anyone could pull it off, it would probably be Arby's since they make that freakishly delicious roast beef sandwich.
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| Photo Credit: Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich photo from Arby's website |
The sandwich is priced at $4.99 and rings in at $7.49 for a combo. It's a pretty tall sandwich of a slightly crispy bun, layers of brisket smoked for 13 hours, smoked gouda cheese, fried onions, BBQ sauce and mayo.
The brisket was shaved thin and it had an obvious cure/smoke ring on the edges. The brisket looked a little odd but maybe that's because I'm not used to seeing shaved razor thin like that.
Grading this on a fast food curve, I'd give this a solid b or b+. Trevor had one and agreed. There was a strong enough smoke flavor from the meat, cheese, and bbq sauce. If you're not a big fan of liquid smoke in your BBQ sauce, you might want to ask for Arby's sauce instead of the BBQ sauce. I don't mind it if not too overpowering. The meat was tender and the onions crispy, giving a nice overall texture. It was good enough that I had another one for lunch today.
Hey look, fellow BBQ Brethren, Neil "Big Mista" Strawder is on their commercial!
This isn't going to compete against a brisket sandwich from your local BBQ joint. But as far as fast food BBQ themed items go, I think this is the best of the BBQ bunch and it's a good sandwich.
That being said, I'd rather have a couple of the Arby's Classic with some Arby's Sauce and/or Horsey Sauce. It's hard to beat the original.
[Standard Disclaimer] No compensation was received for this post.
