Carl's Jr. (Everywhere)

I have always intended Sola Cepa to be a project of national scope, criss-crossing the United States in search of onion ring perfection. While on vacation to visit my girlfriend and her family in Colorado Springs, I saw a perfect opportunity to dramatically expand the geographic diversity and scope of Sola Cepa, and immediately set about on a plan of attack and engagement with a number of eateries in the region who had onion rings.

I did, however, start small. Here's a review of onion rings from Carl's Jr. from a Colorado Springs location. Thank you to Jack Shannon for the suggestion.

Presentation and Appearance: 2/5

While I haven't reviewed any fast-food onion rings in many moons, I'm familiar enough with the scene to know the standard protocol, and the presentation for the onion rings from Carl's Jr. fits the bill. A haphazardly filled and strewn cardboard container, resting atop a plastic tray, is literally overflowing with the onion rings. The plating is characteristically rushed, and undertaken without great care, but, again, I know what the standard for fast food places are. 

The appearance of the onion rings is a mixed bag. Most onion rings in the box have some deformity or another, typically a cracked of fraying batter, with pale shadows of onions shining from deep within the recesses of the box. Their structural integrity, even at this cursory glance, seems to be clearly unstable. A handful of rings were solid, consistent, and not cracked, but this was not the norm. 

Taste: 3/5

The breading for onion rings is often a tricky thing to get right, particularly in terms of flavor and seasoning. Many restaurants throw in the towel and substitute flavor for copious amounts of grease, desperately masquerading as the flavor that onion ring lovers so badly need.

Not so with Carl's Jr. The batter on these onion rings had extraordinary seasoning, characterized by bold and daring flavor. With nary a hint of excessive grease (which did make the onion rings more than a little dry), my first bite revealed healthy doses of salt, pepper, and hints of something greater and more elaborate. This coating was among the finest seasoned onion rings I've had the pleasure to sample, which is a mark in its favor.

Unfortunately, the onion didn't measure up with the strength of the batter. As I could already tell from the cracked batter, the onions were paper-thin, nearly translucent, and with a weak ,underwhelming flavor to match. For all the flavor of the breading, I failed to detect hardly a hint of onion flavor within.

The accompanying ranch sauce perks up the onion rings more than a bit, with the cooler ranch flavors serving as a fitting complement to the bold spices of the onion rings. Anecdotally, I'm almost certain that this is the exact recipe of ranch dipping sauce that Wendy's used one or two iterations of ranch sauce ago, but I can't be certain. 

Texture: 2.5/5

As with taste, the texture is a bizarrely mixed bag. The breading had a robust and satisfying crunch, which was maintained under heavy scrutiny (and chewing). Unfortunately, this is the high-mark of the texture. 

The mostly non-existent onions had a weak texture, as would be expected. Most rings had barely a sliver of onion in tem, and those that did fell prey to an impressive amount of slippage, facilitated by the already half-disintegrated onion ring batter. I occasionally got bites of onions that were tough and yellowed, as though fried to so great an extent that they passed the overcooked and mushy stage of the onion all the way into sheer petrification. 

Value: 4/5

For $2.99, my girlfriend and I dined on an overflowing carton of onion rings as a sufficiently filling side for our $5 box. There was a fairly large quantity of decently sized onion rings, at a more than fair price. 

Total: 11.5/20