Just when you think the bacon craze is losing steam, Burger King puts it in its ice cream sundae—and the media goes wild. The new menu item debuted today with so much buzz (seriously, Esquire reviewed it) that Y&H feels obligated to increase our risk of diabetes so you don’t have to.

“Has it been pretty popular?” I ask the cashier when I order the 510-calorie sundae this afternoon at the Adams Morgan Burger King on Columbia Road. She chuckles and tells me I’m the first one to order it today. Alright, then.

The $2.49 (before tax) marketing ploy—er, sundae—is comprised of your typical vanilla soft-serve with swirls of chocolate and caramel.  Sprinkled on top are bits of bacon and one bacon strip (or as Burger King calls it a “hardwood smoked bacon garnish”).

I get the salty-sweet appeal, but the bacon tastes like someone spilt the salt shaker on it. At first, I’m surprised by the bacon’s crunchiness, but it quickly turns chewy sitting in the ice cream. When I pass the sundae over to my colleague, Loose Lips columnist Alan Suderman, he takes one bite of bacon, then immediately throws the remaining bits in the trash can. (But he finishes the rest of the sundae in minutes.)

The ice cream sundae without bacon, it turns out, is not too bad.

Photo by Jessica Sidman