X-Chow 7: Wendy's Frescata Turkey and Swiss Sandwich
I am the type of person that likes to help out his friends. When a friend has a book for sale, I buy it*. (You should too, by the way.) When a friend wants to spend two hours talking about his dating experiences, I listen. And when a friend tells me that he wants to see another X-Chow food review despite the fact he's the only one who reads them or finds them remotely entertaining, then by golly, I do it.
The problem with many fast-food restaurants is that they try to be too many things to too many people, and the more complacent the restaurant is with the place it occupies in the American consciousness, the more likely it is to suck at most of those things. Anyone whose had a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish or Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich recently can tell you that. And between the diet crazes some people are on and the consumer advocacy groups that think people who eat at fast-food joints have the collective IQ of seaweed, most restaurants have added some supposedly healthier options. I mean, Taco Bell added a Chicken Caesar burrito, for God's sake! Okay, it's not really that much healthier than anything else on the menu, but it's the impression it gives, you know?
Wendy's has fallen into the trap that other less-appreciated restaurants like Arby's and some Dunkin' Donuts (?!) have by introducing deli sandwiches to their menus. It's not they make these sandwiches badly, it's just that you already have plenty of national sandwich restaurants like Subway, Quizno's, Jimmy John's, Blimpie (if you can still find one), Schlotzsky's, not to mention multitude of local restaurants every metropolitan area larger than Burlington, Vermont is bound to have. Hell, your average seven-year-old could put together a tasty, if potentially messy, sandwich with the right ingredients. So if you can go to a restaurant that specializes in sandwiches for one, pick one up while you shop in a grocery store, stop by a convenience store while you're getting gas for your car and grab one, or have a second-grader make one for you, what reason is there to eat a deli sandwich at a fast-food place that's better known for making square hamburgers?
Wendy's Frescata sandwiches can be made with two types of meat, turkey and Black Forest ham, with Swiss cheese on either or pesto and red peppers on the turkey. The club sandwich includes both types of meat but foregoes the cheese for two slices of bacon. Whether it is because they are new on the menu or because it was the particular Wendy's I went to, each of the four sandwiches were $3.49 or $4.99 as a combo. This is too much to pay for a glorified cold-cut sandwich in my book, but since all sliced meat sandwiches as stupidly expensive, and many significantly more than $3.49, I have to let this slide.
The Turkey and Swiss sandwich I ate, beside the obvious, had Romaine lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I wanted to replace the Romaine since I never have almost always hated any type of lettuce but iceberg on my sandwiches, but, funny this, it turns out Wendy's knew what they were doing. The meat and cheese were nice, thick, and quite good, the bread (which is Italian, though they don't describe it as such) was perfectly soft on the inside and almost perfectly crusty on the outside. The tomato was excellent and tasted fresh, and the lettuce, yes, the lettuce was great. It wasn't too thick or wilted like Romaine or green leaf lettuce tends to be on sandwiches, but fresh and, I have to admit, exceptional on the sandwich. The only problem I had with the sandwich is that there was a bit too much mayo on it, but there are so many worse things you can do to a sandwich than that, and, really, that's kind of nitpicking, isn't it?
There is one other problem, though. Like I mentioned before, there are tons of places to get a good sandwich. I have a Subway and an Arby's closer to me and a local sub shop called Lincoln's about the same distance away. In fact, there are a couple of delis and a bakery within a mile of my apartment as well, so if I wanted to make a similar sandwich myself, I could. But if you are feeling lazy and want to have something you'll really enjoy, go try a Frescata sandwich. You'll be glad you did. Just don't go too far out of your way for one. 5 out of 5.
* I recognize that this means I will have to buy one of Rodney's (aka gamescribe) books as well. I don't mind, but as I don't role play, I'll do that when he's written a novel. So get on it, Rodney. :-)
The problem with many fast-food restaurants is that they try to be too many things to too many people, and the more complacent the restaurant is with the place it occupies in the American consciousness, the more likely it is to suck at most of those things. Anyone whose had a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish or Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich recently can tell you that. And between the diet crazes some people are on and the consumer advocacy groups that think people who eat at fast-food joints have the collective IQ of seaweed, most restaurants have added some supposedly healthier options. I mean, Taco Bell added a Chicken Caesar burrito, for God's sake! Okay, it's not really that much healthier than anything else on the menu, but it's the impression it gives, you know?
Wendy's has fallen into the trap that other less-appreciated restaurants like Arby's and some Dunkin' Donuts (?!) have by introducing deli sandwiches to their menus. It's not they make these sandwiches badly, it's just that you already have plenty of national sandwich restaurants like Subway, Quizno's, Jimmy John's, Blimpie (if you can still find one), Schlotzsky's, not to mention multitude of local restaurants every metropolitan area larger than Burlington, Vermont is bound to have. Hell, your average seven-year-old could put together a tasty, if potentially messy, sandwich with the right ingredients. So if you can go to a restaurant that specializes in sandwiches for one, pick one up while you shop in a grocery store, stop by a convenience store while you're getting gas for your car and grab one, or have a second-grader make one for you, what reason is there to eat a deli sandwich at a fast-food place that's better known for making square hamburgers?
Wendy's Frescata sandwiches can be made with two types of meat, turkey and Black Forest ham, with Swiss cheese on either or pesto and red peppers on the turkey. The club sandwich includes both types of meat but foregoes the cheese for two slices of bacon. Whether it is because they are new on the menu or because it was the particular Wendy's I went to, each of the four sandwiches were $3.49 or $4.99 as a combo. This is too much to pay for a glorified cold-cut sandwich in my book, but since all sliced meat sandwiches as stupidly expensive, and many significantly more than $3.49, I have to let this slide.
The Turkey and Swiss sandwich I ate, beside the obvious, had Romaine lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I wanted to replace the Romaine since I never have almost always hated any type of lettuce but iceberg on my sandwiches, but, funny this, it turns out Wendy's knew what they were doing. The meat and cheese were nice, thick, and quite good, the bread (which is Italian, though they don't describe it as such) was perfectly soft on the inside and almost perfectly crusty on the outside. The tomato was excellent and tasted fresh, and the lettuce, yes, the lettuce was great. It wasn't too thick or wilted like Romaine or green leaf lettuce tends to be on sandwiches, but fresh and, I have to admit, exceptional on the sandwich. The only problem I had with the sandwich is that there was a bit too much mayo on it, but there are so many worse things you can do to a sandwich than that, and, really, that's kind of nitpicking, isn't it?
There is one other problem, though. Like I mentioned before, there are tons of places to get a good sandwich. I have a Subway and an Arby's closer to me and a local sub shop called Lincoln's about the same distance away. In fact, there are a couple of delis and a bakery within a mile of my apartment as well, so if I wanted to make a similar sandwich myself, I could. But if you are feeling lazy and want to have something you'll really enjoy, go try a Frescata sandwich. You'll be glad you did. Just don't go too far out of your way for one. 5 out of 5.
* I recognize that this means I will have to buy one of Rodney's (aka gamescribe) books as well. I don't mind, but as I don't role play, I'll do that when he's written a novel. So get on it, Rodney. :-)