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Dollar Menu Delicacies

By Southern Grit · On February 29, 2016

Article by Wade A. Hunter

Photography by Fitz

(Lead photo of Wade Hunter outside of Saint Germain with McDonalds dollar menu items)

When a moment of lucidity struck me, I was fidgeting in the passenger seat while an exhausted woman droned down upon us through the Mono-speaker on the McDonalds menu. Already late, we idled in the St. Paul Boulevard location’s drive-through. This was insanity.

“Do you think that would be enough?” I whispered to Fitz. We had already ordered almost one of anything from the dollar menu: a single, double, and triple cheeseburger, two medium fries, a McChicken, a McNugget… “Let’s get a medium coke,” I said.

I’m sure there’s a reduction to be had there. For the fifth time, the dead-sounding voice box asked with a note of impatience, “does that complete your order?” The grimy light of the menu emanated across the desolate parking lot and my mind was turning with what possible ways this challenge could go. I was certain of one thing; tonight we would feast with sophisticated grandeur.

Saint Germain had just started bustling with customers for the evening. We sat anxious, wafting McScent from the McBags ― an amalgamation of cheap paper, grease stains, and clashing fonts ― stationed luridly before us upon their tasteful granite bar. I wasn’t certain that the exceptional Chef David Hledik would agree to this challenge, but he seemed more than excited for the attempt. Hledik, whose culinary escapades precede themselves and whose dishes often feature the finest of ingredients (from locally sourced artisan vegetables to flown-in ibérico ham), has proven that, when properly stocked, is more than capable of cooking to impress, but could he really reframe what is often considered bottom of the barrel in the culinary world into something exceptional?

Executive Chef David Hledik, Sous Chef Nate Rhoden, and cook Martel Stone working the McDonalds dollar menu into a fine dining three course meal at Saint Germain.

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McDonalds is a quintessential name in American households and, for many overworked middle-class American families, a sizeable portion of their yearly diet. There was a time in my misspent youth doing “food hacking” on the limited menu of McD’s (such as a McGangBang – take one McDouble and wedge a McChicken patty between the buns). Naturally, this had to be brought to its extreme in the form of the challenge: three courses whose ingredients consist of at least 50% of miscellanea from the dollar menu.

Assorted McDonalds dollar menu items used in the Dollar Menu Delicacies challenge

Meanwhile and out of the kitchen’s heat, Fitz recruited the aid of some well-to-do seeming folks who were unaware of the “secret ingredients” worked into the food, along with some of the front staff. Within a small moment, the first course had already appeared:

Chicken McNugget and mushroom freeform mousse, French fry hash with pickles, radishes and onions. It was presented beautifully and served with a Nước chấm ―drizzle made from McNugget sweet and sour sauce base. Those aware of the ingredients were able to discern the overwhelmingly distinctive McNugget taste despite the rather clever masking, but the control group seemed to find the flavor complex and interesting. The second course came shortly:

Terrine of double cheeseburger, wrapped in house bacon with Purée de pommes de French fries and McBBQ au jus. Hardy and surprisingly delightful. Within the terrine were the pickles and onions, ringing true to the source ingredient. Some of us were giggling madly at the absurdity. One of the unbeknownst participants called it St. Louis-esque “rib sticking good food.” After some time, dessert came out:

Burger bun beignets with cardamom mascarpone crème and Coca Cola reduction. This proved to be the most difficult to make, as the preservatives and additives within the buns proved difficult to work with during assembly. Regardless, Hledik’s creole roots showed through with some masterfully light and airy beignets, of which were a favorite among a contingent.

Chef Hledik plating the burger bun beignets

After the dessert, we finally let those “taste testers” in on the know. What followed was shock and amazement as they attempted to piece together flavor profiles with the bases on which Hledik and co. had built upon. Many may write off this as merely the psychology of presentation (and there is no doubt of the beauty in plating) or the overwhelming quality of the included elements (which would be fair, for there were many fine things outside the dollar menu utilized). I don’t speak alone in saying that there was, however, some inspiration and depth of flavor added to what is indelibly pedestrian. It’s voodoo. We’re blessed with a wealth of culinary creatives in this area, but not many that could make fast food sing like that. Maybe that’s what exalts a great chef from a good one.