With shorter days and colder nights, is it really necessary to eat all that broccoli and spinach? Well, in my high-fiber, low-fat, obsessive compulsive world, yes, but for the normal folk, autumn demands hearty food that sticks to your ribs. Who cares what's going on with your waistline, when it's hidden beneath bulky sweaters and coats, right? While hearty food should mean healthy soups and stews, many seek the comfort of a loaf of high carb bread ( me ) , extra cakes and cookies ( me again ) or fast food ( no thank you ) . This year, the fast food chains are introducing new ways to eat unhealthy, and some decidedly non-fast food restaurants are following their lead.
No drive-thru for Katie
Katie Couric won't be getting any free coupons from Burger King. On a recent episode of the Today Show, Couric and fellow anchor Matt Lauer taste tested new offerings from fast-food chains with weatherman Al Roker. When Couric took a bite of Burger King's popular and relatively healthy veggie burger, she grimaced, and said, "That tastes burned." The segment host quickly pointed out that what she was tasting was the much-hyped flame-broiled taste, but she simply stated, "I don't like that." Couric declined much of the rest of the food. But Al Roker liked just about everything.
Old McDonald had a farm
And on this farm, he had some burgers. Burger King isn't the only fast-food chain to expand their offerings beyond hamburgers. In a bid to shore up their diminishing market share, McDonald's is limiting the number of stores they'll open per year, attempting to improve customer service, and experimenting with salad offerings to compete with the popular options at Wendy's. Just remember that ordering a salad isn't necessarily such a healthy option, when that salad comes from Wendy's. By the time you add the nuts, the dressing, and all the other extras, your light salad lunch is up to 36 grams of fat. Stick with those 6 grams of fat sandwiches at Subway if you've just got to have fast food.
There's got to be something better than this--McDonald's isn't the only chain hoping to lure in customers with items that go well beyond the usual burger fare. Coming soon to a drive-thru near you are deep-fried peanut butter and jelly nuggets. Similar to a Chicken McNugget, these mini sandwiches are exactly what nobody's asking for. Along the same lines, the mad scientists hiding in fast-food kitchens across the nation are cooking up morning items for those who are tired of oatmeal for breakfast. McD's will feature a breakfast sandwich that replaces the bread with two pancakes embossed with the Mc Donald's logo. The pancakes surround a syrup-injected sausage patty, and you'll never want Wheaties again. That's the theory, anyway. Not to be outdone, a California chain will offer the breakfast version of a corndog. This morning snack-on-a-stick puts pancake batter around a sausage and then deep fries the whole thing. Just like Mom used to make.
The deep fryer
goes haute cuisine
You may be tsk-tsking the fast-food chains and their fat customers, but before you become too self-righteous, exactly what are you ordering for dessert in the latest trendoid restaurant? Last year, made-in-the-kitchen-fresh donuts were a retro fave at expensive and hip joints. This year, they've been replaced by a deep-fried Twinkie. Cut on a diagonal, with one half resting gently atop the other, surrounded by a ring of berry coulis, and topped with a few raspberries, you'd hardly suspect that this fried delight first gained popularity at county fairs--and at a much lower price.
I'm a little bit country
Amazingly, other food trends are making their way to the cities from the hinterlands. Unsurprisingly, however, they are just as unhealthy and unseemly as those deep-fried Twinkies. First up is another county fair creation, a deep-fried Snickers candy bar. Why? That seems to be the first question that pops into the heads of anyone who still has most of their own teeth and lives with indoor plumbing. The next question usually turns out to be, however, "Where can I get one?" A new trend is born. Maybe it's the rectangle shape, like a fried cheese stick, or, I suppose, a Twinkie, that led to the inevitable deep-fried candy bar, but exactly what deviant thoughts were going through the head of the person who invented deep-fried macaroni and cheese? While still an exclusive of summer fairs, this brand-new delicacy is sure to be found under "Starters" at River North restaurants any day now.
A more respectable donut
Beignets are fried dough puffs sprinkled with powdered sugar, and best enjoyed with a cup of strong coffee. A chain named Crescent City Beignets came to Chicago with high hopes a couple of years ago. Those hopes didn't pan out, however, and the chain's outlets in the Windy City are no more. From now on Chicagoans will just have to get their fried dough the old-fashioned way, with a good old donut. Near pandemonium struck a few weeks ago, when Krispy Kreme representatives landed on the corners of LaSalle and Van Buren to hand out free hats and donuts in honor of the opening of their first Loop store. Pedestrians were happy to get the donuts, and thrilled to get the caps, which made perfect baskets for those who carted away a half dozen or more.
