Acceptable Fast Food

I've always been a Wendy's proponent... a small chili, side salad, and a frosty is my go-to when I have to resort to fast food. It's honestly one of the few things I can get from the standard chains which include everything from Applebees and Cracker Barrel to TGI Fridays and Bob Evans. I have constantly turned up my nose at many fast food options that I'm unfamiliar with, including Chick-fil-A.

For you west coasters, this franchise is ubiquitous throughout the midwest and the south. It's in malls, airports, free standing restaurants, and roadside plazas. I see teachers in certain areas coming in with their breakfast bags from Chick-fil-A rather than McDonald's or Dunkin Donuts. Yet, I had avoided it like the plague. The oddly anti-french spelling of the chain, it's popularity with teachers, and the general fast-food nature of it scared me away. Turns out, it's actually one of the best options out there when you're in a crunch and don't want Panera.

I had a wrap--it was grilled chicken, non-iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, carrot shreds, cabbage, and a little cheese wrapped in a multi-grain flatbread. It was simple food at it's best, and it felt decently healthy... although at 410 calories and 12 grams of fat, that certainly wasn't actually the case. Is it strange to anyone else that "grilled" chicken can actually be fattier than fried? Or that flatbread wraps are worse than buns?

The good news was that it tasted pretty darn good, and filled me up. So maybe my prejudices against certain chains need to end.