By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Oct 15, 2021 at 2:46 PM

’Tis Dining Month, the tastiest time of year! This means we’re dishing up fun and fascinating food content throughout October. Dig in, Milwaukee!

An April Fools' joke turned into a fresh, delicious, squeaky reality on Friday as Culver's unleashed its "curderburger" onto the world. 

For those who missed the backstory, here's the skinny. (Well, that's definitely the closest the word "skinny" is getting to this cheesy monstrosity.) Back in April, as a prank, Culver's revealed a new menu item: the curderburger, aka a giant fried cheese curd in between two buns. It was ridiculous, it was absurd, it was heart-grabbingly terrifying ... and it needed to become real ASAP. The heart wants what it wants – and in this case, for Culver's fans, what it wants is lots of cheese and heart palpitations. 

Months later, Culver's revealed that – but really this time – the curderbuger was coming to locations nationwide, though with two caveats. For one, the real-life curderburger wasn't just the lonely cheese meteorite on a bun that we saw on April Fools' Day, but a full-on burger topped with a butterburger patty, lettuce, mayo, tomato, pickles, onion and, of course, a giant hockey disc of fried cheese curd, hovering over top of it all like the giant alien spaceship from "Independence Day" waiting to explode your arteries. And second, it would only be available in very limited quantities for just one day – Friday, Oct. 15, AKA National Cheese Curd Day (naturally). 

So, as proper Wisconsinites, Lori and I ventured to our nearest Culver's to chow down on this curd-pocalypse for a FoodCrush Live taste test. (I was the first, and only, person in line to order inside the fast food shop when it opened – somehow both my greatest achievement and my greatest embarrassment.) Would curd be the word this Friday afternoon? Or would this curderburger be more of a turd? Tune in and see:

Huh, who could've guessed putting a giant gooey piece of fried cheese on a burger would be a good idea?

Indeed, the curderbuger pretty much lived up to the viral hype, delivering essentially an even more deluxe version of a deluxe Culver's burger. All the typical ingredients were tasty and held their own (I highly suggest keeping the onions on no matter what, as the sharp flavor and bite really helps balance the fatty bomb of the burger) while the much ballyhooed curd puck was the perfect upgrade from your usual slab of American cheese, melty, gooey and stretchy with the crusty fried outer layer providing some bonus texture and crunch. It may have started as a joke, but the real curderbuger is seriously tasty fast food delight. 

The curderburger is available in limited supply at Culver's everywhere today only – though, unfortunately, by the time you're reading this, many Culver's locations may have already sold out of the limited edition eat, so get on it fast while you can. But honestly, we'd be amazed if the curderburger didn't eventually claim a regular spot on the menu – or at least when National Cheese Curd Day rolls back around next year ... 

For more taste tests – including our ongoing search for the city's best fried chicken – check out this link to more FoodCrush Live videos. And for more cheese curd goodness, check out Lori's list of 10 crave-worthy curds around town

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.