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This past Monday was the first time I ever bought a cheeseburger at McDonald's. And probably my last.

But I did it for you. With McDonald's recent release of the McDouble, they now have three basic, sub-$2 cheeseburgers: the cheeseburger, McDouble (two patties with one slice of cheese), and double cheeseburger (two patties with two slices of cheese). Since it's AHT's job to document such a momentous occasion in McDonald's cheeseburger history, I went to the McDonald's a block away, got one of each burger, and took photos of and tasted each one.

Although we previously reported that the McDouble would be on the Dollar Menu, in Manhattan the cheeseburger appears on the Dollar Menu while the McDouble is $1.39 and the double cheeseburger is $1.49. Is it worth coughing up the extra dime for another slice of cheese? Yes. More details after the jump.

Cheeseburger

McDonald's cheeseburger is one of the saddest burgers I have ever touched in my life, perhaps only second to their hamburger. It felt so...dead. And I don't mean to imply that most burgers feel alive—I'm quite aware that they're inanimate objects—but something about this burger made me think "dead," "limp," and "sad."

It looked and tasted like sadness. Dry sadness. Let's move on.

McDouble

The McDouble is less sad. Two patties instead of one makes a big difference.

But it's still missing something...

Double Cheeseburger

It's missing the extra slice of cheese found in the double cheeseburger.

This was the clear winner in our panel of testers. Not that we'd necessarily recommend it, just that if you were wondering if it was worth getting over the single cheese sliced McDouble (only a 10¢ difference at our local McDonald's), we'd say yes. The semi-melted processed cheese helps balance out the dry patties. The McDouble doesn't seem to have much reason to exist except in places where it actually appears on the Dollar Menu.

If I ever go back to McDonald's though, I'll probably get a Filet-O-Fish.

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