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What I Ate: July 19, 2009 (Whataburger at The Cathedral of Junk)

Posted 19 July, 2009 at 10:14pm by Michael Chu
(Filed under: Food, What I Ate)

Dinner: We met up with a bunch of other Austin foodies at Addie Broyle's Eat-up for this month. Everyone met up at The Cathedral of Junk (4422 Lareina Drive, Austin‎ - (512) 299-7413‎) for drinks and paletas (fruit ice pops).
Cathedral of Junk

The Cathedral of Junk is in the backyard of Vince Hannemann's house. Hannemann built the three story building/sculpture out of junk that he's collected as well as pieces brought to him. Any part that you look at contains what seems like ten different recognizable objects… then looking closer reveals twenty or thirty more objects that take a little longer for recognition to set it. It's like a fractal of junk that you can walk through, climb up to the top for a view, or just sit in the shadow.
Cathedral of Junk

After I wolfed down my hamburger (see below), we stood around chatting, sipping cold drinks, and enjoying our paletas supplied by PopSoCools (11800 N. Lamar #2B, Austin, TX - (512) 775-1353). We tried lime-cherry, watermelon, and hibiscus mint flavors. All three (all natural) flavors were extremely intense, especially the watermelon.
Cathedral of Junk

We knew there wouldn't be any food (the cakes that Jennie Chen of Miso Hungry Now brought don't count - they're dessert - plus we didn't know she'd bring them), so we had to find some portable food to bring to the Cathedral. I decided to give Whataburger another chance and this time ordered a Bacon Cheeseburger with no mustard (my last burger was smothered in yellow mustard) and added ketchup and mayonnaise to the burger. It was kind of a mess. Plus it didn't taste very good - it wasn't awful, it just wasn't good. I don't think I'm going to try that again.
Whataburger - Bacon Cheeseburger

Lunch: Lemon penne with meat sauce.
Pasta and Meat Sauce

6 comments to What I Ate: July 19, 2009 (Whataburger at The Cathedral of Junk)

steviechug, July 20th, 2009 at 4:08 am:

  • I haven't been following you long enough to understand your hang ups with Whataburger but I think I know what you mean. For Texans, for some reason, mustard is an absolute must on a hamburger. If you go to Jack o box, same thing with their Big Texas Cheeseburger. Also, I think that they try to grill their buns which, to me, makes it dry and unappealling. The pluses for Whataburger, other than being open 24 hours a day, are their sauage and egg taquitos with cheese, their fries, and their chicken strips, which with gravy, is quite good.

Debra, July 20th, 2009 at 5:13 am:

  • Just say light mustard and it won't be smothered. But ya gotta have mustard on a hamburger.

83. Cathedral of Junk « 365 Things To Do In Austin, Texas, March 24th, 2010 at 6:10 am:

jimmy, March 24th, 2010 at 6:25 am:

  • You guys are pussies when it comes to burgers.
    1) That Whataburger is upside down. n00b.
    2) You put mayo on a bacon cheeseburger. That's disgusting, and you're a fatass. No one does that. Mustard tastes better, complements bacon and onions [mayo does not] and has far fewer calories.
    3) Even if you are a fatass, get a normal burger and go for their gargantuan milkshakes. Their absurdity alone is worth the price.
    4) It's Whataburger: an upgrade from McDonalds/etc., not a steakhouse.

my god jimmy, March 24th, 2010 at 7:28 am:

  • Geez Jimmy, calm down. One mans opinion on a blog won't put your precious Whataburger out of business. Everyone has their own taste so if you don't like mayo, doesn't mean everyone else can't like it.

Michael Chu, March 24th, 2010 at 3:44 pm:

  • I photographed the burger upside down, because that's how it was placed in the wrapper.

    I've had plenty of bacon cheeseburgers with mayo and ketchup. My point was that trying What-A-Burger a couple times, I wasn't pleased with any of the results. And mayo compliments bacon extremely well.

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