Friday, May 17, 2013

Chick-fil-a - New Cobb Salad!

I know it's just a fast food restaurant, but I was super excited when Chick-fil-a moved into my neighborhood a year or so ago.  Their food tastes fresher than at your typical fast food chain.  I'm originally from the mid-west, and Chick-fil-a was something I grew up eating, but until recently in L.A., it wasn't available.

I started my new Chick-fil-a addiction with the nuggets.  I love the sauces, especially the Buffalo, Honey Mustard, and Chick-fil-a sauces.  My husband loves the Honey Roasted BBQ which they keep behind the counter and you have to request.  My husband's favorite is the Spicy Deluxe sandwich.  I like spicy food a lot, and if they made spicy nuggets, I'd get those, but I always choose nuggets over a sandwich or even over chicken strips because I like having more pieces to dip in the sauces!

My mom turned me on to the Southwest salad.  I was skeptical about getting a salad at a sandwich place, but I loved the corn salsa stuff on it, and the grilled chicken tasted really fresh and delicious.  Actually, I gave up meat for Lent this year, and I got the Southwest salad without chicken and with extra corn salsa instead.  I didn't miss the chicken.  The salad's that good.  I always get it with the Fat Free Honey Mustard dressing, and my mom always gets Ranch dressing.

Cobb Salad
So, for lunch today my husband and I went through the Chick-fil-a drive-thru, and we totally knew what we wanted.  I reminded my husband to order 2 Southwest salads, one with Honey Mustard dressing and one with Ranch for me and my mom plus whatever he wanted.  Imagine our surprise when the lady at the other end of the speaker said that they no longer make the Southwest salad and that they've changed up their menu.  There was no one in line at the drive-thru when we got there, but a line started forming behind us as we went through a series of questions including: Why don't they make the Southwest salad anymore?  (I don't remember the answer, probably just that they decided to try some new things.)  What salads do you have?  (Cobb, Asian, Market)  What's on the salads?

Finally, I decided to go with 2 Cobb salads instead of the Southwest salads.  They sounded the most similar since they include corn, tomatoes and cheese.  They also include chopped eggs, bacon, and chopped up chicken nuggets instead of grilled chicken.  Nuggets instead of grilled chicken means more calories, but they sounded really good.  I was hopeful that this would be a sufficient replacement to the Southwest salad, but I wasn't sure.  I ordered the usual dressings, Honey Mustard and Ranch, but they also threw in a few new ones for us to try, Berry Balsamic Vinaigrette and Avocado Lime Ranch.
4-Piece Chicken Strips and Spicy Deluxe Sandwich

My husband ordered his new usual: the Spicy Deluxe sandwich and a 4-count of Chicken Strips.  Basically, instead of getting a meal that comes with waffle fries (which are good in their own right), he gets 2 non-meals and extra chicken.  Of course, his order was uninterrupted and as good as always.

The verdict on the new Cobb salad?  I like it!  I basically wolfed it down.  It was so good.  I love the combination of the nuggets with the bacon, egg, cheese, etc.  I also really like that the nuggets are pre-chopped on the salad.  I used to spend a good 5 minutes cutting up my grilled chicken on the Southwest salad.  This is easier, and it doesn't hurt that everything is made fresh.  They actually asked us to pull around to the front of the restaurant because they were making some fresh nuggets for our salads.  I love that.  They walked our order out to our car.  I choose quality over quick any day.

Cobb Salad
I stuck to the Fat Free Honey Mustard dressing.  The Avocado Lime Ranch had 3 times as many calories as my usual, and that's not worth it.  I actually didn't even taste it.  My mom tasted it and said it didn't taste that much different from the regular Ranch, so she stuck to her usual as well.

My mom also really liked the Cobb salad, but she thought it'd be even better if it had spicy chicken on it instead of the regular chicken.  I agree!  Chick-fil-a, if you're reading this, we like your new Cobb salad, but how about a salad with spicy chicken on it?  And, how about spicy chicken nuggets?  And, even though the Cobb is good, I'd like it if you'd bring back the Southwest salad.  I'd still get that from time to time!

Happy eating!



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