McDonald’s McDLT gets mentioned on its fair share of fondly remembered food lists and for good reason. Of all the great, and horrible, things to ever grace the menu of McDonald’s, the McDLT was one of the best items they created. I was a fan during its all-to-brief run in the ’80s, and it may hold the #1 spot on my list of extinct fast food items that I want back.
The McDonald’s McD.L.T. was the short name for “McDonald’s Lettuce and Tomato Hamburger and was similar in size to Burger King’s Whopper sandwich and featured mostly the same ingredients. One of McDonald’s signature quarter-pound beef patties with lettuce, tomato, mayo, cheese, pickles, and ketchup on a toasted sesame seed bun. It was how I liked a burger then, and how I still prefer my burgers today.
The beauty of the McDLT though was its packaging. It came in one of those styrofoam containers that you probably remember McDonald’s using in the ’70s, ’80s, and very early ’90s. Those containers are very memorable themselves. Each container was a different color to represent what was held inside, and even the McNuggets had a little compartment built-in to hold the sauce cup. I understand the environmental impact and agree with the decision to stop using them, but dang, they looked cool, and figure prominently in my memories of McDonald’s and childhood in general.
But the one used for the McDLT was slightly different from all the rest, as it featured two separate compartments instead of one. On one side, the side known as the “hot side”, the bottom bun and burger patty rested. And on the “cool side” were the rest of the toppings and the top bun. This allowed the hot parts to remain separate from the cold parts until you were ready to put them together and eat. And that was the brilliance of it all. A fresh-tasting McDLT when the hot patty met the cold toppings.
What I could never figure out though was why the slice of cheese was included on the cold side. To me it would have made much more sense to put it on top of the patty on the hot side so it could get all melty. But apparently, I’m not the genius like the burger builders at McDonald’s were at the time.
The McDLT was released in the early ’80s to much fanfare but was eventually pulled in 1990 due to pressure from environmental groups protesting their use of polystyrene containers. Once the divided container was gone, so was the magic of the McDLT. If you couldn’t keep the hot and cold sides separated, your gimmick was gone and all you were left with was a fast food burger. It was later re-released as the Big ‘n’ Tasty burger, but without the separated ingredients, it fell flat as well.
When I first discovered it as a kid, I was at the age where I was getting a little old for Happy Meals and found the McDLT to be a perfectly acceptable replacement for it. I’m guessing it was basically the novelty of it that turned me on to it, but it was a great burger in its own right so that kept me coming back for more. When it was phased out, I graduated to the Big Mac. On Saturday afternoon shopping trips, Mom and I would finish the day at McDonald’s to enjoy a McDLT, or later on, the Big Mac.
In hindsight, the timing of the fall of the McDLT kind of lines up perfectly with my ascent to a teenager from childhood. Maybe that’s why it holds such a special place in my memories, as in my mind I connect its demise with so many other things from childhood and why I miss it so damn much.
Be the first to comment