Arby's venison sandwich sells out

Venison fans, if you were planning on making an Arby's run this weekend, you're out of luck. The fast-food chain's dabble into the deer-hunting demographic sold out in 15 minutes at the one Twin Cities outlet — in St. Louis Park — where it was available.

"The PR storm preceding it exceeded our expectations," said John Kelly, Arby's senior vice president of operations for the West region.

Kelly arrived at 9:30 a.m. for the restaurant's 10 o'clock opening. "And there were people lined up," he said. "The parking lot was full." I found a parking spot in a nearby lot at 10:05. One of the customers in line ahead of me was trying to buy four sandwiches. No can do: The limit was two.

By the time my order arrived a few minutes later, the polite man working the cash register was breaking the bad news to customers: No more venison. The restaurant's allotment of 70 sandwiches had sold out.

Would I order another? Probably not. Then again, venison isn't my thing. It was a generous portion of farm-raised meat, cooked to a juicy medium-rare.

I'd been expecting a shaved-meat sandwich, along the lines of Arby's roast beef sandwiches, but no. It was a chop. Venison is a notoriously lean meat, and I was expecting a fairly tough texture, but it wasn't, landing somewhere on the continuum between Salisbury steak and brisket. Not bad.

The predominant flavor — at least at first — was the peppery/sweet punch of Arby's Sauce. But underneath? The unmistakable gaminess of deer meat.

Will there be a repeat performance? Probably.

"I don't know that there's a supply the size that's big enough for us," Kelly said. "We went to places that have the most hunters per capita. We might do it for a specific regional market, say, Minnesota-Michigan-Pennsylvania-Ohio. But we're also getting responses from people saying, 'We hunt in North Carolina, too.' There are hunters everywhere."