Lunch with the Press: Subway's

By KIM POINDEXTER

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS April 02, 2008 01:18 pm

— In a world where the moniker “fast food” has become synonymous with “junk food,” a sandwich or salad from Subway offers a healthy alternative.
Subway is also an inexpensive choice – especially through April, when foot-long subs are $5 apiece. And with the variety of items on the menu, you could easily avoid eating the same thing twice in a month, even if you dined there daily.
There are two Subway locations in Tahlequah – on Downing and on Muskogee – and one in Hulbert. All three generally offer the same menus, although one might be out of a certain type of bread at a given moment. My favorite is the roasted garlic, although the honey oat is another good choice. My husband leans toward the more traditional Italian; my son prefers something with herbs and cheese.
The best thing about Subway (other than the specials and meal deals) is the fact that many of the 6-inch sandwiches contain less than 7 grams of fat. This is important for folks who are on the Alli diet, like myself. Even a foot-long sub of this type will fit the bill – with all the trimmings except cheese, and a fat-free dressing. (I always tell ‘em to put my cheese on my husband’s sandwich, and they readily comply.)
The local Subways have just about any deli-type meat except pastrami and corned beef. A favorite among the dieting crowd is the club, which features ham, beef and turkey. I myself prefer the roasted chicken with fat-free ranch, although I also enjoy the sweet onion chicken teriyaki, with its delicious fat-free sweet onion dressing. My husband’s sandwich of choice is the Italian BMT, which contains generous portions of genoa salami, pepperoni and ham. I didn’t know what the BMT stood for until I checked the Web site: “biggest, meatiest, tastiest.” The Spicy Italian is another hubby pick; it’s the BMT without the ham.
Although it can vary, the local Subways stock three to five cheese – provolone, cheddar, swiss, pepper jack and the popular white American are most common. As for condiments, you can choose from lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers, red onions, black olives, spinach and four kinds of pepper: black, bell, banana or jalapeno. And there are enough full-flavor and fat-free dressings to satisfy any taste.
If you want something on the side, you can get chips (Miss Vickie’s jalapeno chips are tasty, but there are other brands, too), or if you’re eating light, Baked Lay’s or sliced apples. Add a drink – soda pop, bottled water or lemonade – and you have a meal. (Until recently, you could get strawberry soda pop at the fountain, but they discontinued it, probably because I was the only one drinking it.)
Subway is a great choice for lunch, but keep in mind the sandwiches are made fresh to order, so give it a little extra time, especially if there’s a line. You’ll get a meal that will fill you up, but won’t weight you down.