Here’s my regular dilemma: I’m traveling through an airport around dinner time. I’m not in Atlanta or Dulles (you win the food game, ATL and IAD!). I could grab a grilled chicken sandwich from a fast food restaurant, but I really want dinner. A sit down, waste time while waiting on a delayed flight dinner.
Chicago O’Hare Terminal 3 isn’t my friend. While Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless gets a lot of good press, there’s no known nutrition info and I’m sure those crusty tortas would throw me way over my carbs.
Choices: Chilis. Macaroni Grill. Wolfgang Puck. Last night, I decided to look into Macaroni Grill because I’ve had so much luck with Olive Garden in the past. It can’t be that different, right?
Wrong.
Every salad on their menu has at least 45 grams of fat. Feeling like grilled chicken? There’s a whopping 145 grams of fat in the Chicken Under a Brick. Wow! Even their “Healthy living” options have more than 25g of fat.
There’s no way this is accurate, right?
YOUR BEST BETS // Sodium counts aside (because those are sky-high, as is the case with most prepared foods), there are a few options that you can probably make fit:
- Salads, skip the cheese, dressing on the side. It’s that dressing that’s going to pile on the fats. Add chicken or shrimp (cooked “dry” – no oil) for extra protein. The Steak & Greens and Bibb & Blue salads both look fantastic.
- Grilled Steak and Potatoes. At 26g of fat, it’s a little hard to fit for me, but at least I know most of the fat comes from the 5oz sirloin and not how it’s cooked.
- Pollo Caprese. This was my choice for dinner. A grilled chicken breast with a side of pasta topped with tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella.
- Kid’s Spaghetti with Pomodoro Sauce. When I’m ordering to-go, I’ll often get a soup or salad + a kid’s pasta. Fewer carbs, almost no fat, and still a little indulgent.
The full nutrition breakdown for Macaroni Grill menu items comes from their website.