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From pickle slush to nightmare burgers: Former 'Simpson's' writer names best, worst fast food of 2018
Bill Oakley, the writer behind "The Simpson's" episode featuring "steamed ham" sandwiches, has capped off his first year as a "fast food reviewer" with awards for best and worst menu items of 2018.
December 28, 2018 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group
Bill Oakley, former writer and producer for "The Simpsons," started reviewing fast food chains on his Instagram account this year as part of an ongoing theme in his career of both lampooning and oddly glorifying Americans' love affair with fast food. He capped the year off by creating the Steamies as a way to honor the year's best and worst menu items.
In videos on his Instagram page, @thatbilloakley, Oakley managed to get an assortment of celebrities to present winning QSR menu items in each of the categories, including everything from "best classic fast food burger of the year" to "biggest QSR disappointment" of 2018. Quite a few of the chains covered on QSRweb received awards, including Wendy's and Burger King as well as a number of non-chain brands around the nation.
Though there were too many categories and runners-up to include them all here, we did want to send out congratulations and condolences to the chains that took home some of the bigger QSR distinctions, including:
- Best non-alcohol beverage: Pickle Slush from Sonic.
- Fast food chain classic burger: Original double from Freddy's Steakburger
- Disappointment of the year: Burger King's Nightmare King burger.
- Best new non-burger fast food: McDonald's Sweet n' Spicy honey BBQ glazed tenders
- Best new fast food burger: Wendy's S'Awesome Bacon Classic cheeseburger.
While we're not sure how "scientific" the research behind these particular awards were, Oakley does have nearly 11,000 Instagram followers and the press around his end-of-year cut-rate Oscars-style recognitions will likely only increase that number. So congratulations then to the brands mentioned on what might possibly fall under the category of "earned" or maybe even "unearned" media.
Feature photo: Sonic
Inset photos: Instagram/Bill Oakley
About S.A. Whitehead
Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.
