Place: Subway
Item: Chicken Parmesan
Price: $3.95 for 6-inch
In the pre-toaster era, the hottest things on Subway’s cold-cuts assembly
line were the jalapeno peppers. But now that the country’s biggest restaurant
chain has adopted the “fresh toasted” mantra, Subway is turning
up the heat.
Which brings us to the new Subway version of the Chicken Parmesan sandwich,
marketed as a warm, still bubbling 6 inches (or 12) of Italian comfort food.
We Lunch Guys have liked the other new hot sandwiches, but did this one leave
us cold?
Chris: Tom, there’s nothing wrong with this sandwich
-- there’s something wrong with me. I took a chomp out of this toasty
Chicken Parmesan and I felt ... nothing. Another bite, another blank non-reaction.
Have I eaten so many lunches I’ve become an emotionless automoton --
not a Lunch Guy, but a Lunch Robot?
Seriously, a Chicken Parmesan should have stirred something in me. Maybe I
could say the marinara sauce was too robust or too bland. Maybe the chicken
was too chewy or too skimpy. But instead, nothing stands out good or bad.
I have in my head what a Chicken Parmesan sub should taste like, and this
was it. No surprises, except that the chicken was actually two triangular
chicken strips possibly stolen from a gulag. The sort-of-husky sauce seemed
like the best Ragu has to offer in a too-small dollop (I honestly didn’t
spill a
they should picture two small chicken fingers with some
spaghetti sauce and melted white cheese lost in an oversized sub roll. I’m
much happier with one of Subway’s classics. The Chicken Parmesan should
be proof to Subway that you can’t just throw anything on a “freshly
baked” roll and have it be a good sandwich.
Chris: Exactly. My recommendation for Subway: Either do a
classic like this really well or put a signature twist on it. Inspire me with
a chicken filet breaded in Italian herbs. Reinvent this as a B.M.T. Parmesan.
Do something to make me say to our lunch friends and millions of readers,
“You have GOT to try this new sandwich!” Because right now I’m
saying, “Eh.”
Tom: I can’t think of a single reason to get this sandwich,
not because it’s bad, but because there are so many better ones. I could
eat Subway 30 days in a row and not order this. That’s not to say you
shouldn’t go to Subway. On Sunday, Oct. 23 it is donating 5 percent
of the day’s sales to the Red Cross for hurricane relief. Now that I
think about it, my junior high did cool fund raisers like this too.
Rating: 3 sporks (out of 5)
Food facts: 6” on Italian breadm, Calories: 510 (33%
from fat), Fat: 19g, Sat. Fat: 6g, Carbos: 64g, Protein: 25g, Sodium: 1530mg
E-mail The Lunch Guys:
tomandchris@thelunchguys.com
single drop, and usually half my Subway toppings plop onto the wrapper).
The lukewarm provolone could have used another 20 seconds in the toaster to
actually get crispily bubbly. Still, if your town doesn’t have a “Little
Italy” neighborhood but it does have 47 Subways, this will satisfy your
Chicken Parmesan-craving stomach, if not your soul.
Tom: Relax, Chris, it’s not you. This item couldn’t
elicit a reaction from Jared. Subway’s Chicken Parmesan has all the
personality of a pencil eraser. You can’t even spruce it up with condiments
because putting the usual lettuce, tomato, pickles, etc. on top of marinara
sauce just doesn’t seem right. And for our readers who attended Benjamin
Franklin Junior High in Valparaiso, Indiana, this sandwich will be nothing
new. Our cafeteria served this very item every other Wednesday in the late
’70s. While eating it I was having flashbacks about getting ready for
a math test. Nostalgia notwithstanding, the problem with this sandwich is
that it sounds great, looks great and smells great…but it just isn’t
that great. I think we both were swept away with the romance of the perfect
Italian lunch. So our readers don’t fall into that trap,
