How bad is Applebee's??

Not really sure how to start or finish this entry. I always had a bit of disdain for the big chain fast-food restaurants that pretend not to be fast-food. So this will apply to TGI, Outback, Ruby, Chilis, and a host of others. A few months ago I downloaded all of the nutrition guides from these places to show exactly how bad the food is for you. Turns out that almost every meal or appetizer was worse than ANYTHING from McD, BK, or Wendy's. So I already knew that.

Wendy's advertises that their chicken is actually real, and it didn't occur to me that some other places (see title of this entry) use something called "SmartServe Chicken" from Sysco. On Sysco's website this explains that they "form" it, which makes it cheaper and more controlled portions. If you have ever had chicken that tasted like plastic or was foamy, this is what you are eating. I guess my problem here is spending 11 bucks on an entree that was microwaved and cost them less than a buck to produce. For 11 bucks, I could take the family to Wendy's and get 2 ACTUAL chicken sandwiches, plus fries and drinks.

Anyways, in addition, I should give a silver medal to the kids meals, because this is where the real shame is. Kids do not know better, and parents are powerless to do anything about it. For a mere 5 bucks you get a fully microwaved, low-nutrition, high-salt meal that was manufactured by Sysco, probably in China. Oh yeh, and getting the actual numbers? Applebees and others do not have to disclose this the way the big actual fast-food chains have to.

We used to make fun of Fridays a long time ago by saying we were going to "go get some crappy food and watered-down drinks." Never knew how true this was. Next time I am going straight to Wendy's.