McDonald’s has released a Large Mac attack, and South Florida is on the frontline. This week, the fast-food large started promoting two new versions of its iconic Huge Mac sandwich: the Mac Jr., which is smaller than the original and best has a single hamburger patty, and the Grand Mac, which is greater than the authentic and has two heftier patties.

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Great, just what us wishes: a larger, more calorie-encumbered Massive Mac. The Grand Mac has 890 calories, according to the menu board of the McDonald’s pressure-via, wherein I scored one the alternative day (compared to 530 energy in the trendy Huge Mac, and 480 calories inside the Mac Jr.). The new line of Macs is meant to enhance hobby within the authentic, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017. In advance, the brand new Macs have been examined in Dallas and Columbus, Ohio, these 12 months and are being rolled out in Florida and Pittsburgh before going national early next year. Call it a McReboot for a brand new millennium. Inside the pursuits of meals journalism and complaint, I sampled each new type this week. My takeaway: These mutant Macs needlessly mess with a traditional Darbi.

But first, some words approximately the authentic Massive Mac ($3.sixty nine, But costs vary). There’s a purpose why it has persisted, past the ingredient list grew to become advertising and marketing jingle that brainwashed my whole generation in the Seventies: “two all-red meat patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.” The Large Mac, it pains me to mention, is good. It’s miles a double-hamburger rendered as seven-layer cake, and everything is in perfect stability. The smallish pork patties

(totaling just 2 ounces) are merely a part of a larger symphony. And although the towering stack is going excessive — perfectly embodying America’s can-do, reach-for-the-stars spirit — it is not too wide. The proportion is proper. The Grand Mac ($4.ninety nine) is also huge and thick, with the 2 red meat patties totaling a third of a pound (about five. three oz). To me, it appears less Big Mac and extra Double Whopper with cheese. The Massive Mac taste profile is in there, but the meat overwhelms the alternative factors.

You’ll suppose that after New Coke, Large manufacturers would study the lesson of no longer looking to reinvent the wheel. But McDonald’s isn’t ditching the authentic Big Mac, first added via Pennsylvania franchisee Jim Delligatti in 1967. The chain is merely looking to goose sales with novelty items. But the Mac Jr. changes the inherent nature of the Large Mac. And the

Grand Mac supersizes it, precisely what a kingdom with an obesity epidemic does now not want. McDonald’s says The brand new Macs may be restrained-time menu items that come and go, much like the McRib sandwich. Or they could emerge as permanent fixtures if the loads embody them. I say they should pass.