A Musician’s Guide to the Best & Worst Restaurant Food in America
- Woody Moran
- Apr 4, 2009
- 2 min read
Most people don’t realize that one of the major downsides to playing music is that many times we are forced by time constraints of the gig to eat out at national chains and fast food restaurants much more often than we would really care to admit. You try to eat healthy and sometimes you are lucky and the venue has a kitchen that actually serves pretty good food, or if you’ve moved into the big time you can stipulate in your contract rider what you would like to have backstage in the way of food & drink (only blue M&M’s please). So it was with some interest that I came across this article from the authors of Eat This, Not That, which rated some of our “favorite places”.
First up are America’s Unhealthiest Restaurants.
There were some real surprises for me on this list. click here for the full article including survival strategy for each (if you are outvoted by the rest of the band and find yourself at one of these places anyway.)1. Baskin-Robbins (D+)2. Carls Jr (D+)3. Dennys (D+)4. Dairy Queen (D+)5. Ruby Tuesday (D+)6. Chili’s (D)7. Uno Chicago Grill (D)8. Chevy’s (D)9. On The Border (D-)10. Romano’s Macaroni Grill (D-)11. Baja Fresh (D-)12. Applebees’s, IHOP, Outback, TGI Fridays (F – none of these restaurants will release nutritional information on their dishes.)
Now let’s check out America’s Healthiest Restaurants.
Yes there were some surprises here as well, but of course you have to have the intestinal fortitude to Order the healthy food. click here for the full article, again including survival tips.1. Chick-fil-A (A-)2. Subway (A-)3. Jamba Juice (A-)4. Au Bon Pain (A-)5. Boston Market (B+)6. Cici’s Pizza Buffet (B+)7. McDonald’s (B+)8. Taco Bell (B+)9. Wendy’s (B+)
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As a touring musician always hunting for a decent meal on the road, I totally relate to Woody Moran’s take on restaurant roulette. Fast food often becomes the only option, which makes knowing where to eat—and what to avoid—so valuable. Surprisingly, McDonald’s scored a solid B+ for healthier choices, and I’ve seen improvements firsthand. They’re also proactive in gathering diner feedback through MCDVoice – Take Survey @ www.mcdvoice.com (Free Sandwich). I recently shared my meal experience using the receipt code, and got rewarded with a free sandwich! Sites like McDTalks keep loyal fans updated on how McDonald’s leverages real-time feedback to elevate service.