E A T I N G O U T S U R V I V A L G U I D E Sandwich, Soup,&Salad Smarts A G U I D E T O Q U I C K -C A F É M E N U S BY JAYNE HURLEY & BONNIE LIEBMAN Twenty years ago, a quick lunch meant a burger and fries or pizza or fried chicken or your own peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. Today, just about every street corner has a café-style restaurant that offers what the industry calls “fast casual” food. There you’ll fi nd a mix of soups, salads, and sandwiches (along with sweets, breads, and other bakery items) that have never seen the inside of a deep-fat fryer. But watch out: on many menus you’ll also fi nd a minefi eld of white fl our, saturated fat, and salt. (In fact, sodium was so hard to dodge that we gave up on trying to award any Best Bites.) Here’s how to sidestep the worst offenders at three “fast casuals”: Panera, Au Bon Pain, and Corner Bakery. Many of our tips will work at other restaurants, too. Information compiled by Melissa Pryputniewicz and Amy Ramsay. Panera Bread, a comfy café with freeWi-Fi, has 1,388 locations nationwide. Likem most chains, its menu has Panera puts calories rightonth losers, but here’s one difference: calories right on the menu board. Bravo! winners and loser What’s more, the company’s online “Nutrition Calculator” tells you the calories, sodium, saturated fat, protein, and other nutrients in each item in your sandwich or salad, so you can see what happens if you, say, leave out the croutons or get the Whole Grain instead of the Tomato Basil bread. As at any “fast-casual” restaurant, most dishes on Panera’s menu need some work, especially in the salt department. That’s true whether you get a full sandwich, a soup, a salad, or a “You Pick Two,” which means any two of the following: a half-salad, a half-sandwich, or an 8 oz. cup of soup. Soups. Panera’s low-fat soups (like Black Bean and Chicken Noodle) have a reasonable 100 to 200 calories per 12 oz. bowl. Others (like Broccoli Cheddar and Baked Potato) hover around 300 calories, thanks to the cheese and cream, which also donate about half a day’s saturated fat to your arteries. (Note: The 12 oz. bowl is larger than the 8 oz. cup you get with a “You Pick Two” meal. Our chart lists only full-size soups, sandwiches, and salads.) What’s more, most of Panera’s soups range from high to really high in sodium (1,000 to 2,000 milligrams per bowl). And many people order their soup with a 200-calorie baguette (400 mg of sodium) or a 590-calorie bread-bowl (1,210 mg of sodium). If you’re stuck on soup, at least stick to the “You Pick Two” (8 oz.) cup. O U T S U R V I V A L G U I D E Sandwich, Soup,&Salad Smarts A G U I D E T O Q U I C K - C A F É M E N U S BY JAYNE HURLEY & BONNIE LIEBMAN Twenty years ago, a quick lunch meant a burger and fries or pizza or fried chicken or your own peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. Today, just about every street corner has a café-style restaurant that offers what the industry calls “fast casual” food. There you’ll fi nd a mix of soups, salads, and sandwiches (along with sweets, breads, and other bakery items) that have never seen the inside of a deep-fat fryer. But watch out: on many menus you’ll also fi nd a minefi eld of white fl our, saturated fat, and salt. (In fact, sodium was so hard to dodge that we gave up on trying to award any Best Bites.) Here’s how to sidestep the worst offenders at three “fast casuals”: Panera, Au Bon Pain, and Corner Bakery. Many of our tips will work at other restaurants, too. Information compiled by Melissa Pryputniewicz and Amy Ramsay. Panera Bread, a comfy café with freeWi-Fi, has 1,388 locations nationwide. Likem most chains, its menu has Panera puts calories rightonth losers, but here’s one difference: calories right on the menu board. Bravo! winners and loser What’s more, the company’s online “Nutrition Calculator” tells you the calories, sodium, saturated fat, protein, and other nutrients in each item in your sandwich or salad, so you can see what happens if you, say, leave out the croutons or get the Whole Grain instead of the Tomato Basil bread. As at any “fast-casual” restaurant, most dishes on Panera’s menu need some work, especially in the salt department. That’s true whether you get a full sandwich, a soup, a salad, or a “You Pick Two,” which means any two of the following: a half-salad, a half-sandwich, or an 8 oz. cup of soup. Soups. Panera’s low-fat soups (like Black Bean and Chicken Noodle) have a reasonable 100 to 200 calories per 12 oz. bowl. Others (like Broccoli Cheddar and Baked Potato) hover around 300 calories, thanks to the cheese and cream, which also donate about half a day’s saturated fat to your arteries. (Note: The 12 oz. bowl is larger than the 8 oz. cup you get with a “You Pick Two” meal. Our chart lists only full-size soups, sandwiches, and salads.) What’s more, most of Panera’s soups range from high to really high in sodium (1,000 to 2,000 milligrams per bowl). And many people order their soup with a 200-calorie baguette (400 mg of sodium) or a 590-calorie bread-bowl (1,210 mg of sodium). If you’re stuck on soup, at least stick to the “You Pick Two” (8 oz.) cup. Sandwiches. Sandwiches. A few sandwiches—like the Smoked Turkey Breast, Mediterranean Veg-gie, Tuna Salad, and Napa Almond Chicken Salad—are fairly low in saturated fat. But, like any Panera sandwich, they still will run you about 600 to 1,000 calories and 1,200 to 3,000 mg (one-to two-days’ worth) of sodium. The bread accounts for about half the calories and at least a third of the sodium. Sandwiches with ham or smoked turkey are likely to have more than 2,000 mg of sodium. Solution: get a salad. Second best: try a “You Pick Two” with half a salad (see below) and half a sandwich. For your half sandwich, try the Napa Almond Chicken Salad, Mediterranean Veggie, or Tuna Salad on a delicious fresh-baked (partly) Whole Grain Loaf bread. That will keep the half-sandwich’s sodium at a not-off-the-charts 700 mg or less. (Don’t even think about half a cheese-laden hot Panini.) Salads. Salads replace the sodium and calories in a sandwich’s white bread with vegetables that fi ll you up but not out. You can’t beat the Classic salad, a mix of fi eld greens and Romaine lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. It’s a perfect “You Pick Two” partner, with just 80 calories and 140 mg of sodium per half-salad. And most of the sodium comes from the 1½ tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette, so you might be able to get by with less. If all you want for lunch is a salad, a full-size Classic (with just 2 grams of protein and 170 calories) probably isn’t enough, even with a hunk of (partly) whole grain baguette. Instead, try customizing a salad like the Fuji Apple Chicken. It’s a mix of fi eld greens and Romaine with pecans, Gorgonzola, chicken, tomatoes, onions, and apple chips with a white balsamic vinaigrette. You can cut about a quarter of its 830 mg of sodium by holding either the Gorgonzola or the chicken and another 70 mg by switching from white to regular balsamic vinaigrette. That trims the sodium down to the mid-500s. And you can bring the sodium in a full-size Grilled Chicken Caesar from 820 mg to 500 mg by cutting the croutons. Panera’s full salads typically stay around A Classic Salad makes a good partner for any “You Pick Two.” 12 NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER ■ NOVEMBER 2010 500 calories or less with dressing. As with any dressing on any salad, order it on the side and try using half or less. Photos: © Michael Flippo/fotolia.com (top), Stephen Schmidt (bottom).
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Sandwich, Soup, & Salad Smarts
Jayne Hurley
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