White Castle The nearest branch of this iconic burger joint resides in Orlando. If your travels have been limited to our neck of the woods, you may still be familiar with White Castle from the franchise’s freezer section sliders. Of course, any true connoisseur of fast food will tell you that these tasty little patties are best served straight off the flat-top. Credit: Photo via White Castle/Facebook

White Castle The nearest branch of this iconic burger joint resides in Orlando. If your travels have been limited to our neck of the woods, you may still be familiar with White Castle from the franchise’s freezer section sliders. Of course, any true connoisseur of fast food will tell you that these tasty little patties are best served straight off the flat-top. Credit: Photo via White Castle/Facebook
White Castle, the very same 98-year-old restaurant chain featured in the 2004 Harold & Kumar movie, could be coming to Orlando as soon as next year.

The chain let slip ahead of an announcement on Monday that it would open a store near Walt Disney World, reported Orlando Business Journal. 

They plan to occupy space in the new O-Town West development near Palm Parkway and Daryl Carter Boulevard. We've recently reported that hot dog chain Portillo’s will open its first Central Florida location in the same center. The new location is expected to open sometime next year. 

This is already big news in the fast-food industry, since the South has been a no-go zone for the chain for more than half a century. As anyone awake at 3 a.m. can tell you, Florida is Krystal territory.

White Castle states are in blue, Krystal states are in red, states with both are in purple Credit: Map via Wikimedia Commons

"It has been over 50 years since White Castle has had a Florida presence," said the restaurant with 375 locations in 13 states in a Friday press release.

The differences between the two chains are relatively minor, since both inhabit the very lowest rung of the fast-food hierarchy (just below Taco Bell, to be specific). Whereas White Castle calls their tiny steamed hamburgers "sliders," Krystal, just like an unoriginal Southern cousin, calls theirs "Krystals."

Both burgers have cheese, diced onions and a dill pickle slice, with only Krystal burgers sporting mustard. White Castle burgers famously have five holes punched through each patty, in order to steam dozens of them at once. White Castle also has a Beyond Meat version, and they offer three cheese options: American, jalapeño or smoked cheddar.

White Castle sliders tend to be around 10 cents cheaper, as well, but prices vary by location. A Krystal burger with cheese has 170 calories, eight grams of fat and 16 grams of carbs each. A White Castle slider with cheese has 160 calories, nine grams of fat and 14 grams of carbs. Both list eight grams of protein.

Both will make you sick the next morning. Seriously.

Want to know everything going on with Tampa Bay's food and drink scene? Sign up for our Bites newsletter.

This article appears in Nov 21-28, 2019.