Epicurious vs. Zagat on Fast Food [Subway Hell]

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/epi ... gs-474492/

But we at Epicurious beg to differ [with Zagat]. Below we present our own analyses of some of Zagat's key findings.

TOP RATED AMONG MEGA CHAINS (more than 5,000 U.S. locations):

TOP FOOD
1. Wendy's [WINNER]
2. Subway
3. KFC
4. Taco Bell
5. Pizza Hut

Epicurious analysis: We like Subway for the simple reason that it bakes its own bread and lets you see the sandwichmakers making meals in front of your eyes. You can see the quality of the sliced meats, cheeses, and produce. So if the tomatoes look under-ripe, you can skip them. Plus, tacos, pizzas, fried chicken, and burgers can be greasy. Sandwiches, unless drenched in vinegar and oil, should not have this problem.

I think this earns seebee the right to go pelt both Epicurious and Zagat headquarters with congealed turkey loaf.

Santander wrote:http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/epicurious-differs-with-zagat-surveys-fast-food-findings-474492/

Epicurious analysis: We like Subway for the simple reason that it bakes its own bread and lets you see the sandwichmakers making meals in front of your eyes. You can see the quality of the sliced meats, cheeses, and produce. So if the tomatoes look under-ripe, you can skip them. Plus, tacos, pizzas, fried chicken, and burgers can be greasy. Sandwiches, unless drenched in vinegar and oil, should not have this problem.

I think this earns seebee the right to go pelt both Epicurious and Zagat headquarters with congealed turkey loaf.

I would pay to watch that.

While eating a $5 foot-long, of course (Italian BMT on Italian Herb & Cheese bread...mmmmmm).

Epicurious analysis: We like Subway for the simple reason that it bakes its own bread and lets you see the sandwichmakers making meals in front of your eyes. You can see the quality of the sliced meats, cheeses, and produce....

I can also see the credibility of Epicurious degrading right before my eyes.

I object to the phrase "bake their own bread" when it really means "par bake someone elses bread made by an outside supplier"

I object to the use of the term "meat" when they mean "the food at Subway"

This brings to mind a line from one of Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels/stories which I can only paraphrase because I can't remember which title it's from:

"The label said, '100% genuine pre-war Scotch whiskey.' He was trying to count the number of probable lies in the sentence and had already reached 6 when..."

I object to increasing discussion of non-food (and purported-food) issues as well as non-issues
(but I'd pay to watch too)

Mike G wrote:I object to the use of the term "meat" when they mean "the food at Subway"

I object to the use of the words "the food at Subway" when they mean "Soylant Green".

stevez wrote:

Mike G wrote:I object to the use of the term "meat" when they mean "the food at Subway"

I object to the use of the words "the food at Subway" when they mean "Soylant Green".

That's your opinion - but I think that taste varies from person to person

sazerac wrote:

stevez wrote:

Mike G wrote:I object to the use of the term "meat" when they mean "the food at Subway"

I object to the use of the words "the food at Subway" when they mean "Soylant Green".

That's your opinion - but I think that taste varies from person to person

That's true, diversity is very important.

It gives Subway's Soylent Salami a nice, multi-cultural flavor.

sazerac wrote:

stevez wrote:

Mike G wrote:I object to the use of the term "meat" when they mean "the food at Subway"

I object to the use of the words "the food at Subway" when they mean "Soylant Green".

That's your opinion - but I think that taste varies from person to person

And that tells me all I need to know about you.

I have to admit, I really like Subway for their slogan - "Subway ... Eat Fresh." It takes a lot of guts for a chain to encourage people to eat elsewhere.

oh, cool! the bash subway thread. i wish they would've titled it appropriately, i'd have been here earlier.

has anyone else noticed that the smell of subway's bread when it's baking is very similar to....puke?

i don't feel that i'm exaggerating. i LOVE the smell of baking bread. i always want to like it when i smell the subway bread smell. i used to walk by one of their exhaust outtakes on my way to work every day and every day i smelled the bread baking smell....puke.

Sometimes I can be a bit of a non-adventurous eater. I have not eaten anything from Subway in about 7 years. No. I did not eat at the named Subway in the article. It just stopped me dead in my tracks. I am sure I have eaten at other places with similar problems, but right now I don't know about it. Here you go-- http://tinyurl.com/nby4oj

Yes, I know this breaks my rule about food being the safest thing to be adventurous about because if you don't like it you just spit it out.

Wow...I guess I'd better make sure all my immunizations are up to date before I order my next $5 foot-long

Khaopaat wrote:Wow...I guess I'd better make sure all my immunizations are up to date before I order my next $5 foot-long

Actually anytime anyone says the word Subway, and they aren't talking about transportation, I get a chill & I am sure I have a non-poker face for the grimace. I know, just call me scaredy cat.

And that tells me all I need to know about you.

Hehehehe...I predict that this quote is going to live here forever!

On the Grand Scale of things, I'd risk (and have risked) contracting hep downing oysters and Jax at Acme Oyster House; but I'd not risk it (and never have) eating something (? ANYthing) at Subway.

That's my principle and I'm stickin' to it...

Geo

Geo wrote:On the Grand Scale of things, I'd risk (and have risked) contracting hep downing oysters and Jax at Acme Oyster House; but I'd not risk it (and never have) eating something (? ANYthing) at Subway.

That's my principle and I'm stickin' to it...

Geo

If Jax is drinking alcohol then I would think a dose or several of those would counter any bacteria or virus

leek wrote:

sazerac wrote:

stevez wrote:
I object to the use of the words "the food at Subway" when they mean "Soylant Green".

That's your opinion - but I think that taste varies from person to person

(italics, emphasis added)

And that tells me all I need to know about you.

yes, yes, my jokes and I are often not in good taste - what can I say, I grew up on a steady diet of SF.

I'm not a Subway "hayta" -- but I won't go out of my way to go there. I'm rather shocked at Zagat and Epicurious' rating their service as excellent. The last few times I've been in a Subway, I feel like I'm trying to get an immigrant cabbie to take me from the city to the suburbs: there's a decided unwillingness to understand a word I'm saying. How hard is "no mayo, extra peppers" to understand?

elakin wrote:has anyone else noticed that the smell of subway's bread when it's baking is very similar to....puke?.

Yep.

The smell of the bread in Subway is nauseating.

The smell of Subway bread is worse than Hitler.

Just wanted to get in on the hyperbole. That was fun!

Anyhoo, there really is a very odd, potent sort of smell when Subway bakes bread. While I won't pull out the worst of my vitriol when describing it (with a straight face, anyway) - that's reserved for stuff like the constant sewer smell wafting out of the manholes at Canal & Monroe, the stale urine smell associated with every underground L platform & station elevator, the stench of fresh manure emanating from the landscaping along Riverside Plaza a couple of weeks ago - it's certainly a far cry from the delicious bread-baking smell that surrounds any real bakery.

I really need to quit eating there...not because I think it's gross, but because the bastards that own the one in the Ogilvie station food court started excluding the Italian BMT from the $5 foot-long deal. May they get locked in a small room full of the smell of their own bread baking

Khaopaat wrote:I really need to quit eating there...not because I think it's gross, but because the bastards that own the one in the Ogilvie station food court started excluding the Italian BMT from the $5 foot-long deal. May they get locked in a small room full of the smell of their own bread baking

We eat at Subway far more often than I'd care to admit, because sometimes Sparky wants fast food and he'll take it as an option (right now, I'll do anything to avoid Burger King or McDonalds) The BMT thing is my personal pet peeve.

Subway is on a very short list of places at which I absolutely refuse to eat. The bread is gross and the meat is grosser. I'd rather eat a $5 foot than a $5 footlong.

Kennyz wrote:Subway is on a very short list of places at which I absolutely refuse to eat. The bread is gross and the meat is grosser. I'd rather eat a $5 foot than a $5 footlong.

It appears I might be cursed with an unrefined palate - I don't find Subway's meat to be all that different than any other crappy, store-brand, pre-packaged cold cuts.

Actually, a bit of Google-fu reveals that that's exactly what it is - its largest meat supplier (West Liberty Foods, LLC, owned by the Iowa Turkey Growers Cooperative) used to crank out Oscar Meyer cold cuts, and before that Louis Rich turkey. Not jamon Iberico by any means, but certainly not Soylent Green.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a crazy Subway evangelist or anything (I believe that job is taken by some guy named Jared)...while I mildly enjoy my weekly Italian BMT lunch, when I eat it I can't help but sigh a bit, and think to myself, "I gotta find some new lunch options." But the vehement Subway hating, while so many nutritionally-worse fast food outlets are left unscathed, does take me by surprise a bit...I mean, its items aren't oily, most of its items have no trans fats, and you can load them up with (surprisingly fresh-looking and -tasting, for a fast food outlet) veggies.

You know those food pills the Jetsons popped in lieu of eating? That's how I view Subway...bland, inoffensive, utilitarian "12-inch carbon-based nutrition module". But I'd love to hear what it is about Subway that makes it, compared to just about every other fast food chain, or so it seems judging by the many comments on here, the devil.

Not trying to stir the pot or anything (like I said, I don't hate Subway, but I don't love it...I "nothing" it, I guess)...just having a convo

Khaopaat, you are attempting to inject a bit of reality and perspective into this thread. That never goes down easily.

My view is the same as yours. When you are stuck somewhere with a handful of chains and not much else, Subway is fine.

If we're talking national chains, I'd eat at (in order) Popeye's, Wendy's, McDonald's, Burger King, Arby's, Chipotle . . . (I'm sure there's others) . . . Quizno's, then Subway. Personally speaking, I would never select bad bread + slimy cold cuts + bad everything else over, say, a McDonald's burger which, while nasty in and of itself, is more satisfying than some product that is marketed to get you to choke it down under the name of "healthy." In other words, if I'm faced with a group of national chains that includes a Subway, ten out of ten times, I won't choose Subway.

* Edited to add Popeye's, which I forgot about.

I don't find Subway's meat to be all that different than any other crappy, store-brand, pre-packaged cold cuts.

Precisely. And why I won't go there. From the embalming table to your mouth!

When you are stuck somewhere with a handful of chains and not much else, Subway is fine.

I'm trying hard to imagine the hellish food court in which Subway would be the best choice. It would certainly have a Sbarro's and an Auntie Anne's pretzels, and maybe a Dippin' Dots machine, but I'd take my chances on the Chinese place offering free samples of bourbon chicken, or The Great Steak & Potato Fry Co., before I'd have Subway. And if there was a Popeye's, I'd be all over that.

Mike,
proud non-eater of Subway since a trip to Grand Cayman in 1991, though I have been to Quizno's this millennium, thanks to a Little Gym class