In the Northwest, the Walla Walla sweet onion has a spot on our food export Rushmore. Sure there are more than four noble busts on ours, but this is no watered-down pantheon of heavyweights. Somewhere amongst apples, hazelnuts, marionberries, salmon, peaches, Hood strawberries, hops, beer and wine (shall I go on?) lurks our favorite onion.I'd be lying if I said I don't like Vidalias. But try some Burgerville Walla Walla sweet onion rings when they're in season. Good lord. It just isn't fair.
Burgerville doesn't screw this up. The batter looks and tastes like panko and cornmeal had a dark, crunchy lovechild. And somehow they've perfected keeping it on the rings... something 92% fail at. Batter-dipped doesn't come to mind, it's like the breading grew out of the onion itself. But this would be for naught if it weren't for thick, tender, sweet rings of a Walla. Vidalia simply suffers from girth-envy, mostly because this batter would overwhelm it.
I don't mean to talk shit to rightfully proud Georgians, it's just that I had Burgerville tonight and Walla Wallas are in the house. Not only the onion rings but the seasonal burger with grilled Wallas and horseradish. Oh, and a fresh Oregon raspberry shake.
I'm calling scoreboard on this one.
Girth-envy? This truly is "food porn". As someone who lived in the great state of Oregon, I can say, that Walla Wallas are very good! However, as a Southener, my pours exhale Vidalias with their 12-15% sugar....
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