Few menus anywhere in the Food world are as iconic and well known as McDonaldâs.
The fast-food titanâs Quarter Pounder with cheese (or âRoyale with cheeseâ if youâre French) even got a featured line in the seminal Quentin Tarantino film âPulp Fiction.â
Thatâs to say nothing of the other culturally iconic Food items McDonaldâs has offered over the years. So many people have heard of (if not personally consumed) the Big Mac, the Happy Meal, a Big Breakfast or the limited-time McRib.
And that doesnât even begin to mention McDonaldâs fries, which are largely considered to be the âgoldâ standard for what a fast-Food french fry should taste like.
Well, it turns out that menu is headed for a shakeup â and the return of a very familiar face for fast-Food eaters of a certain age.
In a press release Monday, McDonaldâs announced that it would, effectively, be improving on its older burgers and such. The famous golden arches of McDonaldâs can now boast its âhottest, juiciest, and tastiest burgers yet.â
The one downside to these new and improved burgers?
âTheyâre so delicious⌠theyâve drawn the Hamburglar back into a life of burger crime,â the release states.
For the unfamiliar, the Hamburglar was a part of the iconic McDonaldâs mascots that were ubiquitous as recently as the 1990s. The entire cast of characters and their respective histories are so deep, thereâs an entire fan Wiki page dedicated to the characters of the âMcDonaldâs-verse.â
Characters like Grimace (an unidentified purple⌠thing), Mayor McCheese (a duly elected official who happens to have a burger for a head), Birdie (an âearly birdâ meant to help promote McDonaldâs breakfast menu), The McNugget Buddies (sentient chicken nuggets) and, of course, the iconic, red-haired clown himself, Ronald McDonald, populate a bizarre marketing world that McDonaldâs has actually largely been phasing out in recent times.
Hamburglar was a part of this eclectic cast of characters and was typically presented as the mischief maker of the group. Typically seen dressed in cartoonish prison garb with a mask and cape, this strange fellow more than lived up to his name â he was a thief of burgers.
Despite largely being phased out, it appears that these new burgers are so much better that they will draw Hamburglar back into a life of crime.
âThe burgers are so tempting⌠theyâve caught the attention of McDonaldlandâs resident mischief-maker, the Hamburglar. Keep your eyes peeled for our very own red-handed fugitive (the OG hamburger influencer) who is back to his old burger-snatching tricks in our newest TV commercial,â the statement read. âWhen you spot his notorious cape and striped outfit in your city, youâll know thatâs when you can head to your local McDonaldâs to get your hands on our best-ever burgers.â
So what exactly is changing that is making these burgers so much better?
âOur chefs have been cooking up small but tasty improvements to the Big MacÂŽ sandwich, McDoubleÂŽ burger and our classic Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger and Hamburger â and we canât wait for fans across the U.S. to get a taste,â the release stated. âThe magic is in the details.â
Those âmagicâ details that McDonaldâs is boasting about?
Improved buns (described as âsofterâ and âpillowyâ).
âPerfectly melted cheese.â
McDonaldâs will start adding onions to burger patties while theyâre still on the grill (anyone who cooks can tell you this will, nominally, improve flavor).
More Big Mac sauce!
The rollout of these improvements will take place over âthis yearâ in America, after a successful launch in several international markets, such as Australia and Canada. The plan is to be fully rolled out across America by 2024.
Of course, some markets have already begun utilizing these improved burgers.
The release does note that if youâre a fast-Food connoisseur in âLos Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver, Boise, Tucson, and surrounding citiesâ you can try these new burgers for yourself.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.