Pulled Pork Predicament

I ended up at Wendy's for lunch today, since the lines at Chipotle and Lenny's were way too long and I needed food really quickly after fasting all day for some medical tests. I debated what to get since they no longer had the smoked gouda chicken sandwich I liked last month. Normally in this situation I'd go with some combination of nuggets or chili or salad or chicken sandwiches (my go-to items), but I was really drawn in by the pulled pork sandwich. I'm always tempted by limited edition sandwiches.

I didn't remember much of the Wendy's ads about the sandwich other than the fact that they now offered pulled pork, but I figured it would be your standard pulled pork sandwich - pork, slaw, sauce, bun. A look at the website description confirmed that. According to their official description, this "hickory-smoked BBQ pulled pork" sandwich contains "tender slow-cooked pork, topped with crunchy slaw and your choice of three barbeque sauces - sweet, smoky or spicy. All served on a toasted brioche bun." Yup, sounded like your typical pulled pork sandwich.

A very non-threatening looking pulled pork sandwich

I pulled off the soft bun, excited to take a picture of what was beneath the bread, and then just froze, staring blankly at what lay before me. It was probably my empty stomach causing my brain to work slower, but I saw little pieces of broccoli florets mixed into the slaw. My heart sank because I can't eat broccoli. (Digestive issues, not saying more than that.) Why on earth would they put a broccoli slaw on the sandwich? And if they were going to do it, why would they not say something right up front about it? What part of "crunchy slaw" makes someone think that it's going to be broccoli and not cabbage? If you're going to use broccoli slaw, then just say broccoli slaw in the damn description! I felt so duped. (Let me be clear, this is not a criticism of the store I went to. I put this on the marketing people who wrote the stupid description in the first place.)

Is that broccoli slaw?!?!

In my slow processing, I pondered what parts of the slaw I could possibly eat, since the entire reason I got the pulled pork sandwich and not the pulled pork fries (which I didn't even know they had until I walked in the door - were they even in the ad?) was because I wanted vegetables to offset all the meat. Finally, it occurred to me that I couldn't eat any of it, since it was likely all made of broccoli stem and other broccoli matter. Unlike the promo photo, I didn't see much red cabbage or carrots in there at all. I had to scoop all of it off and pick through all the pork to find any pieces that got mixed in, which meant a fair amount of pork also went into the trash. What a waste of food and money.

I hate wasting food but what else was I going to do with all that slaw?

Thank goodness I had also ordered one of those value size chicken nuggets (a guilty pleasure I often tack on) so I had something to eat while laboring away at the sandwich. The nuggets were fine as always, but the sandwich was a complete disappointment. It wasn't just the slaw, although I can't evaluate the sandwich as a complete product because I couldn't eat the slaw. The pulled pork was fine, but I can't really muster up any excitement about it. Most of the flavor came from the BBQ sauce they added on to it (I went with smoky). The bread, even though it's supposed to be brioche like the smoked gouda chicken, was not very good (and I like brioche). Maybe this isn't as noticeable when you eat it with the slaw, but I got well-acquainted with the bun while eating my empty sandwich and it was kind of crumbly and flavorless and dry. 

Best part of my lunch

I had such buyer's remorse. I should have gone with my initial instinct which was the pulled pork fries, since they don't have any slaw (just onions), with nuggets and chili. (I didn't because that sounded incredibly unhealthy.) My entire walk to the bike station and my entire bike ride down to Chelsea, all I could think about were better uses for my $7 than this meal at Wendy's. A cemita, or a falafel wrap, or a bagel sandwich. Thankfully Trader Joe's (my next stop) was sampling their new quinoa cowboy veggie burgers (which are in the freezer) with cowboy caviar salsa, and it was so good that it (at least temporarily) lifted my spirits and made me forget all about the pulled pork debacle until I got home and had time to write about it. 

So, just a PSA for people who can't eat or don't like broccoli - "crunchy slaw" means broccoli slaw on the pulled pork sandwich and pulled pork cheeseburger at Wendy's. I will keep that in mind any time in the future that Wendy's puts a slaw on anything, and will probably now take a second look at every cole slaw because I can't trust anyone with all this broccoli slaw floating around and masquerading as plain cole slaw. Thanks for the life lesson, Wendy's.