A surprising number of you wrote to chastise me for telling my wife not to get the salad a few days ago. Evidently, you believe that salad is getting a bad rap.
First of all, I’m not claiming that salads are inherently bad. I was just saying it’s a mistake to always assume the salad is the safe choice in a restaurant. Case in point – Claim Jumper.
Name: Chopped Cobb Salad
Calories: 1829
Sodium (mg): 3104
Price: $13.50
Menu Description: “Grilled chicken, Danish bleu cheese crumbles, avocado, bacon, diced egg, tomatoes with homemade Danish bleu cheese dressing.”
Holy crap. Let’s try to get past the fact that the salad has almost a full day’s calories in it. Get a load of that sodium. It’s 1.5 to 2 times the recommended daily amount of sodium. I hope you weren’t planning on eating anything else today. Or tomorrow.
And, yes, Claim Jumper isn’t known for its healthy eating, but here’s the Widow Maker:
Name: The Widow Maker
Calories: 1594
Sodium (mg): 2920
Price: $10.95
Menu Description: “Applewood smoked bacon, hand-battered onion rings, avocado, double-thick Tillamook cheddar, mayo and red relish.”
Look at that thing. It’s named appropriately. And it’s less sodium and less calories than the salad.
Frightening.
