Bennigan's lunch

Want a sit-down lunch with good service and decent (if calorie-laden) food? You might want to try Bennigan's, just East of the AC exit off of 63 South. They usually have great lunch specials--such as all their 1/2 pound burgers (all but one of the burger types) and the Monte Cristo for $5 each. They come with yummy fries too.

Those are the good things, along with generally prompt service and, at least at the moment, very little in the way of crowds. The food is generally pretty good, some of it excellent, though I found my bacon cheeseburger pita today to be strangely tasteless; the beef tasted like, well, I can't say because it really was without flavor.

I do cherish a secret love for the Monte Cristo, a deep fried turkey, ham and cheese sandwich that probably has at least 4,000 calories in it (and no, I'm not joking). Of course I don't really know how many calories it has, because Bennigan's does not give out nutritional information on their website.

Which brings me to the not-so-good stuff.

There's nothing that irks me more than a major food chain that refuses to put their menu's nutritional information on their website or otherwise have it easily accessible. Yes, I realize that much, or perhaps even all, of their menu is going to be high fat and high calorie. So what? That's not going to keep me from eating there and enjoying it at least occasionally. But give me the tools to keep my diet on track please. Let me know what I'm eating, so I can adjust other meals (or in the case of the Monte Cristo, either eat 1/4 of it and take the rest home or fast for 3 days after...). Some of the chains are absurdly secretive about their nutrition information, and so far I haven't found Bennigan's info anywhere, including on Calorie King, and that's the only site that shows the info on Quiznos and TGI Fridays; two other notoriously cagey restaurants.

I can see why it would be a burden to local restaurants to research and post the nutritional content of their menu. But big major chains? You know they've got the information, they just don't want you to know. Which burns my butt.

Okay, off soapbox, especially since it's not the local franchise's fault that the parent company is behind the times. If you aren't concerned about calorie intake try Bennigan's. I'd avoid the burgers based on today's experience, but I'll try a follow-up later. In the meantime, they have several salads, other sandwiches and, of course, dinner entrees. Prices in the mid-range ($10-$15 per person, unless you do one of the $5 lunch specials, which with a soda and tax comes to a bit more than $7)

Dish to try: The wickedly wonderful Monte Cristo

//Robin