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• I tried the signature burgers from three fast-food chains: McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Burger King.
• I thought McDonald’s Big Mac was underwhelming and needed more sauce.
• I liked the smoky flavor of Burger King’s Whopper and the chain’s recent upgrades.

As a food reporter, I’ve tried and tested many burgers over the years. But for my latest taste test, I decided to go back to basics.

While I’ve compared the biggest burgers at fast-food chains and practically every fast-food double cheeseburger, I wanted to see if the signature burgers from three of America’s most beloved chains really are classics.

I tried the McDonald’s Big Mac, the Wendy’s Dave’s Single, and the Burger King Whopper to determine which is best in terms of taste and value.

Even though they’re menu mainstays, not all the burgers have remained unchanged: Burger King recently updated its signature Whopper, and it’s already helping boost the brand.

Inspired by customer complaints that the burger was often squished during transit — it used to be simply wrapped in paper — the fast-food chain updated the Whopper in February with new box packaging, a new bun, and new, “creamier” mayonnaise.

In August, the chain reported that US same-store sales jumped 8.5% in the second quarter, a surge that company president Tom Curtis attributed to the updated burger and new family-focused promotions, such as Burger King’s Mandalorian meal collab, showing the power a signature burger can have.

Here’s how the three burgers compared and how I ranked them, from least to most favorite.

My least favorite of the signature burgers I tried was McDonald’s Big Mac.

Arguably the most iconic fast-food burger, the Big Mac is a staple on McDonald’s menu. Created by owner-operator Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh in 1967, the first “Big Mac” featured a triple-decker burger and sold for 45 cents, according to McDonald’s.

The burger rolled out across the US in 1968 and quickly became the chain’s signature burger.

Today, an estimated 900 million Big Macs are sold each year around the world.

A Big Mac comes with two 1.6-ounce beef patties, pickles, shredded lettuce, chopped onions, a slice of American cheese, and layers of Big Mac sauce on a sesame-seed bun.

The Big Mac cost me $8.39, excluding tax, at my local McDonald’s in Brooklyn, New York.

Right away, I wasn’t obsessed with the flavors or texture of this burger.

The burger I received was mostly lettuce, which covered up the flavors of the cheese, meat, and sauce. I wanted more of a tangy flavor from ketchup, mustard, or simply more Big Mac sauce.

I thought it could have used an extra layer of sauce or cheese on top of the burger.

The burger tasted dry to me — I think a lot of that could be remedied if the burger wasn’t so bottom-heavy with its toppings.

The cheese and layers of Big Mac sauce were all toward the bottom of the burger, rather than the top, which meant the dry bun and burger were hitting the roof of my mouth with little to no flavor or moisture happening.

While I understand that this is the most iconic burger on the McDonald’s menu — and that preparation can vary slightly by location — it is by no means my favorite.

Next time, I’ll order a Quarter Pounder.

My second-favorite burger was the Dave’s Single from Wendy’s.

Named after Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, Dave’s Single is Wendy’s signature burger. It is available in multiple sizes, from a single to a triple-stacked burger.

It features one of Wendy’s signature square patties and is the chain’s take on a classic cheeseburger. 

The Dave’s Single burger comes with a quarter-pound beef patty, a slice of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard, and onions on a potato bun.

The burger cost me $8.74, excluding tax, at my local Wendy’s in Brooklyn.

The burger was noticeably saucier than both the Whopper and the Big Mac.

It was practically dripping with sauces, which I didn’t necessarily mind. Some of the flavors were slightly masked by the two condiments, but I thought the cheese was tangy and the onions cut through the burger’s sweeter elements.

There was also a generous serving of pickles and a large slice of tomato.

Overall, I thought this was a good, classic cheeseburger.

If I had to change one thing, I might remove or ask for a half-serving of mayonnaise.

But I thought it was an overall solid choice for a late-night snack.

My favorite burger was the Whopper with cheese from Burger King.

Burger King’s signature burger has been around for decades. Released in 1957, just four years after the chain opened, the Whopper was 37 cents compared to Burger King’s original burger, which cost 18 cents.

Whoppers — and all Burger King burgers, for that matter — are flame-grilled, giving their burgers a distinct smoky flavor.

You can order a Whopper with or without cheese.

For the sake of this experiment, I decided to order a Whopper with cheese to ensure a fair comparison with the other signature burgers. 

The Whopper cost me $9.18, excluding tax, at my local Burger King in Brooklyn.

A Whopper comes with a quarter-pound beef patty, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mayonnaise on a sesame-seed bun.

Burger King updated the Whopper to include a new premium mayonnaise and a new bun, and now serves it in a clamshell box instead of wrapping it in paper.

The thicker, fluffier bun gave the burger more heft, which held in the generous amount of toppings.

The flavorful burger was my favorite for both taste and texture.

The lettuce, tomatoes, and onions all tasted very fresh, adding a delicious crunch to the burger.

The patties had a smoky, savory flavor that made the burger taste freshly grilled. Their wider, flatter shape also made the sandwich easier to eat than some of the thicker burgers I tried.

The new, creamier mayonnaise had more flavor, without making the burger a soggy mess. Overall, I thought the burger was worth its higher price tag, which surprised me.

Comparing the three signature burgers made me feel like a fast-food Goldilocks: One was too dry, one was too juicy, and this one was just right.

• Just-department OpenAI staffer David Robinson published an essay about AI safeguards.
• Robinson said he intends to “strengthen the incentives” for AI to develop at a safe pace.
• His departure comes after OpenAI faced scrutiny over the Hugging Face hack.

The OpenAI leader who just quit and issued a stark warning about safety says that, like other recent Big Tech defectors, he plans to help solve the problem from the outside.

David Robinson worked at OpenAI for three and a half years and ran transparency for the safety team. In an essay published Saturday in The Atlantic, he said he oversaw the company’s “preparedness framework” and the writing of a slew of safety reports.

“Perhaps I should have stayed and fought for fundamental shifts in our staffing and culture, but in practice, my colleagues and I were so busy sprinting that we seldom had the chance to consider big changes, much less to actually make them,” he wrote.

“That’s why I concluded that stronger incentives for safety — coming from outside the company — are a big part of getting this right.”

Robinson said he hired a PR firm, Spitfire Strategies, to help him with the public attention he’ll receive following his departure. “But the decision to speak out is mine alone,” he added.

That might be aimed at claims from some that public resignations by workers from companies, including Anthropic and Google, are part of a coordinated effort to spread mistrust of AI and foment government regulation. Elon Musk, for instance, said that former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon‘s resignation and subsequent public appearances seem “like a setup,” which Coxon denied.

In response to Robinson’s essay, an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement that the company is working to ensure AI models don’t outpace the safety measures they’ve implemented.

“As our models become more capable, we continue to strengthen our safety and security practices to address the risks we see today while building safety cases to anticipate the risks of future advances,” the spokesperson said. “We’re making sure our models don’t become more capable than we can safely manage and secure, and we pause training or hold back models when we need to slow down.”

The spokesperson said OpenAI is taking steps to improve security for its AI models.

“We’re making significant changes to strengthen security in our research and testing environments, train models to not just complete tasks but do so responsibly, expand our work with third-party evaluators, and improve real-time monitoring so we can detect and respond to concerning behavior earlier in the training process,” the spokesperson said.

Robinson’s departure comes two months after OpenAI agents escaped their system and hacked another AI company, Hugging Face, in July. OpenAI is not the only company struggling to balance the AI race with calls for guardrails. Last month, a small AI startup said it used Anthropic’s Claude to hack into OpenAI’s codebase, and The Wall Street Journal reported that Google’s Gemini had hacked three companies this spring.

More recently, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an OpenAI agent hacked a government website in June.

Robinson’s PR reps did not respond to an inquiry from Business Insider about his next steps. In The Atlantic, he suggested his game plan is in flux.

“Now I plan to work on the outside, in the hope that I can help more people understand the risks I saw, and strengthen the incentives OpenAI and other firms have to be safer,” he wrote. “Like other colleagues, I’m figuring out exactly what that means.”

• Tori Dunlap became a millionaire at 27, about five years ago.
• She refuses to spend on signifiers of wealth that aren’t meaningful to her.
• Her privacy has become more important as she builds wealth, she says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tori Dunlap, founder of Her First $100K and author of “Financial Feminist.” It has been edited for length and clarity.

My parents were very good at teaching me about money, not just by what they said, but by what they did. They were middle-class — by no means rich — but they made very smart financial decisions and equipped me with a lot of financial skills.

By college, I was the friend whom other friends came to ask about money. I set myself a very public goal of saving my first $100,000 when I was 25 — which I achieved. By 27, I was a millionaire, and now, at 32, I’m a multimillionaire.

Yet I don’t look or act the way many believe a multimillionaire should. Here’s what I refuse to spend on — and what’s become even more important to me as I build wealth.

I don’t spend on signifiers of wealth

I’m often told online that I don’t look like a multimillionaire should. My hair, for example. If I’m going to be on television, I’ll get it blown out. But when I’m creating content for my community, it’s often pulled back.

I get my hair done about every three months, which is more than most people. Yet I’m not going to spend the money — or, more importantly to me these days, the time — to have it done constantly. It’s just not a priority for me when I have a company to run.

I drive a 12-year-old Toyota

I still drive the same Toyota RAV4 that I went into debt to purchase when I was 22. It’s a cute car, it’s dependable, and it does everything I need it to.

Maybe I’ll change my mind and get a flashier car in the future. It’s fine for people to change their minds about what’s important to them. But I’m not going to buy a luxury car just to show my wealth.

I rented until last year

Until last year, I rented an apartment even though I was a multimillionaire. I could afford to buy, but I didn’t have the time to search for a house.

Then, my landlord decided to sell. That happened to me twice in a row, and made me realize I was willing to invest the time to find a house I love. As I’ve built wealth, time has become the currency that matters most to me.

I don’t think there are silly purchases — just ones we don’t think about

I’ll never be the financial expert telling you that spending on lattes is stupid. I’m not saying that spending on hair, cars, or homes is silly either.

What’s stupid, to me, is spending on things that don’t matter to you. If you’re buying a certain bag, vehicle, or home just to keep up with the Joneses and look wealthy, you’re not being intentional.

In my book, “Financial Feminist,” I say that we don’t need to stop spending money. But we do need to stop spending on things that we don’t care about.

I indulge, but not always publicly

I spend pretty unabashedly on travel. To me, it’s one of the most important things.

I’m also proud of the house I bought last year. It’s newly renovated and has a beautiful view. Yet, I don’t share it online because my privacy is more important to me than showcasing my home. I’ve been very intentional about keeping some things private, including my partner and house.

My markers of success aren’t material

The vision we’ve been sold of financial success is sexy: it’s designed bags, sleek blowouts, and marble columns. I’m out here showing a different version of success.

For me, success means having enough financial security that I never have to be in a situation that doesn’t respect me. I want to be able to donate to causes I believe in, and always pick up the check for friends and family without worrying about it.

Women in my community have been able to leave abusive relationships or toxic workplaces because of their financial independence. They can improve their communities and families. For them — and me — those markers of success matter so, so much more than any material markers of wealth.

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk said one problem for robotaxis at night has whiskers and a tail.
• “Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark,” he said.
• A Waymo hit and killed a cat at night last year.

There are many challenges to putting self-driving cars on the road. Elon Musk says one of them has nine lives.

The Tesla CEO announced on Saturday that the company is expanding the operating hours of its robotaxis from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Austin and said that his team has been trying to overcome a rather stealthy problem.

“The main thing we’re trying to solve is making sure that we don’t run over pets when they’re hard to see at night,” Musk wrote in an X post. “Literally trying to avoid grey kittens on grey tarmac in the dark.”

After years of delays, Tesla’s robotaxis were rolled out in Austin last year. Since then, the company has gradually expanded the availability there and in other Texas cities and in Florida.

Cybercabs use “camera vision and sensors” to navigate, according to Tesla. In its vehicle manuals, Tesla says that low or limited light — including unlit or poorly lit roads at night — can limit a camera’s ability to provide accurate visual information.

Cats and dogs, which are prone to darting unpredictably into the street, could pose a higher risk than the relatively routine flow of traffic.

In a reply to a comment on his X post on Saturday, Musk pointed to AI-assisted camera processing as a way to improve nighttime visibility.

“Visual spectrum cameras can see very well in the dark when AI is doing the photon count analysis,” he said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Telsa’s camera system for full self-driving vehicles and whether it’s good enough at spotting road hazards in less-than-ideal visibility conditions.

The robotaxi industry leader, Waymo, uses a different system than Tesla — LiDAR, which uses laser beams to scan the environment. One late night last year, a Waymo struck and killed a 9-year-old tabby cat named KitKat — prompting an outpouring of tributes from residents in the neighborhood.

In September 2025, a Tesla Model Y operating in its Austin robotaxi service struck a dog that ran into the street, the company reported. The report, which Tesla filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the dog ran away from the car, apparently uninjured.

Musk has owned cats, including one named Schrödinger, after a physicist’s famous feline-based thought experiment. Musk once said he “tried liking” Schrödinger, but “the feeling wasn’t reciprocated. Not even slightly.”

“One day she disappeared,” he said.

• I love visiting Cancún, but I’ve been on the hunt for a similar spot that has fewer crowds.
• Recently, I fell in love with Isla Mujeres, an island near Cancún that has great food and beaches.
• I think Isla Mujeres is a perfect spot for fans of Cancún who want a beach trip with less nightlife.

I love Cancún’s balmy, multi-blue-toned water, but I’m less fond of the crowds, nightlife, and traffic. These days, when I travel, I want as much peace and nature as possible, from calming ocean waves to the squeaky chatter of local birds.

I’ve been to Cancún countless times, but recently visited the nearby Isla Mujeres for the first time — and found it to be the quiet, tropical escape that I needed.

This island is just a 30-minute boat ride from Cancún, but it feels worlds away. It’s also much smaller — the entire island of Isla Mujeres is 5 miles long, less than half of Cancún’s Hotel Zone alone.

The island is ideal for those who, like me, want to avoid the crowds and loud music of Cancún and Tulum.

The island is just a quick ferry ride from Cancún

Isla Mujeres is an easy day trip from Cancún, but there are plenty of hotels — from luxury options to budget picks — for those who wish to stay longer.

On this trip, I picked an all-inclusive resort that provided a catamaran ride from Cancún, though there’s also take a ferry for under $20 (one way).

The vacation began the moment I boarded the catamaran: I found a prime, comfortable spot next to the captain and enjoyed the scenic boat ride. The crew told us it’s not rare to see dolphins along the way (although we sadly didn’t).

One of the first things I did upon arriving was explore the island. It was fun to pass brightly colored homes painted in shades like banana yellow and aquamarine, and watch cute iguanas sunbathe.

I also stopped at popular Instagrammable spots and monuments, such as the Mayan goddess Ixchel statue at Punta Sur, toward the southern tip of the island.

Isla Mujeres is one of the best places in the world to swim with whale sharks

Every year, hundreds of whale sharks arrive on Isla Mujeres between summer and early fall for a bountiful plankton feast. I learned that this is widely considered one of the ethical places to swim with whale sharks because regulations are in place to protect the animals and their environment.

I was lucky enough to visit during the prime season to see these gigantic, gentle creatures on a boat tour. I also got an unexpected bonus: There were at least a dozen surprise manta rays swirling around.

Isla Mujeres is also a fantastic base for scuba diving. I didn’t get a chance to dive on my trip, but next time I visit, I plan to explore the MUSA Underwater Museum, which has hundreds of life-sized underwater sculptures.

There are several white-sand beaches, but my favorite was the popular Playa Norte, located on the northern tip. I highly recommend stretching out on the sand and grabbing a treat from one of the roving ice cream vendors.

The food was incredible

Seafood is especially good here, and you’ll find nearly every kind of Mexican food you’d expect on the mainland.

I tried tikin xic for the first time; locals told me that it was one of the island’s most famous dishes. It’s usually served whole, marinated Mayan-style with peppery achiote paste and spices. I couldn’t get enough of the tender, smoky, and slightly spicy fish.

I didn’t get to try these dishes while I was there, but I was told that cochinita pibil (marinated, slow-roasted pork) and marquesita (a fried, crepe-like wrap filled with cheese) were other local musts.

Isla Mujeres is a perfect place for Cancún and Tulum fans who want turquoise water without the crowds

I hate crowds and lines, and I loved feeling relaxed at every activity and restaurant. I found that I could also walk around town and feel comfortable and at ease, since the streets felt generally less populated with tourists.

For those who are interested, there was some nightlife, with live music and bars downtown — but in my experience, the party scene seemed to wrap up on the earlier side, around midnight.

This was a bonus for me, since I’m usually in bed by 9 p.m. and I don’t drink alcohol. For a sober, early-bedtime girl like me, Isla Mujeres is the ideal alternative to Cancún.

I already can’t wait to go back.

• I’ve traveled a lot for work and pleasure, so I have some high standards when it comes to hotels.
• Since having a child, my needs have shifted, and I now look for different things.
• Attention is my new favorite amenity. It means so much when traveling with kids.

When my husband and I were planning our honeymoon along the Amalfi Coast, we had three criteria for every hotel we booked: superb dining, a dreamy wellness program, and a wow factor. We wanted something like a breathtaking view or spa-inspired bathroom, something that would keep us on our just-married high.

Years later, having traded newlywed life for the life of new parents, we were adamant that we would continue traveling. At 2 months old, our daughter Mabel had a passport. Before her first birthday, she’d clocked two international trips — one to Paris and one to the Dominican Republic — along with a domestic jaunt to Asheville.

With each new hotel check-in during this new phase of life, I found that what I needed from my hotel stays started to shift.

The parent effect

I’ve had a long career in the travel space, with a decade spent on staff at “Fodor’s Travel” and “Condé Nast Traveler,” and now as a freelance travel writer.

Hotels have always been front and center in my career and personal life. In my early years, I built digital products and guided editorial strategy centered on hotel evaluation, and later in my career, I was boots-on-the-ground reporting on the guest experience at luxury hotels around the world. My reporting always focused on the details the industry celebrates: the architecture, the spa, the lobby bar, the Michelin-starred restaurant.

But traveling with my daughter forced me to notice a different set of details, ones that most travelers, and many hotels, overlook.

Suddenly, I cared less about the premium wine list and more about if the in-room blackout curtains actually worked. I found myself checking how flexible the dinner hours were, whether there were affordable laundry services with same-day turnaround, whether the mini fridge could fit several bottles of milk, and whether there was a park within walking distance. The things I rarely, if ever, considered had suddenly become the things that could make or break my stay.

My new definition of five-star hospitality

Parenthood isn’t for the weak. It shifts priorities and redirects attention in a way that can feel merciless. But it also brings a unique perspective and reveals the world to you in completely new ways: the joy of wide sidewalks, chasing park butterflies, and picking ice cream solely based on what color moves you that day.

When it came to enjoying my lifelong passion for travel, parenthood didn’t lower my standards for hotels, it just gave me an entirely new set of them. And for hotels looking to build and maintain guest loyalty, widening the focus on which amenities matter most is crucial. Because if there’s one thing humans have proven they won’t stop doing, it’s making more humans.

The hospitality industry has certainly gotten better at welcoming those new arrivals. “Family-friendly” no longer only implies overly stimulating Disney vacations or an unsettlingly warm kiddie pool. The growing trend of on-site kids clubs and child-friendly programming has also made traveling with children easier and more enjoyable. But if hotels truly wish to earn the loyalty of traveling parents, the focus needs to shift slightly.

I expect more now

Those traditional family amenities are low-hanging fruit, and the properties paying the most attention to families know it.

The details that have come to matter most to me are much smaller: a hotel that asks what my daughter’s favorite snack is before we arrive, a staff member who remembers her name, or a housekeeper who tucks her favorite stuffy neatly into the made bed. These things aren’t particularly glamorous. Nor do they require big budgets. Instead, they remind me that true hospitality is about personalization and customization, across ages, and that the smallest details often say more about a hotel’s hospitality than its most expensive upgrades ever could.

For this traveling mom, attention is my new favorite amenity. Because at the end of the day, I didn’t stop caring about the palatial marble bathroom anchored by a vanity with his-and-hers sinks, I just also want there to be a step stool so my daughter can reach the faucet.