It’s game time. So, what happens when appetizers at America’s top sports bar chains face off calorie to calorie… and fat gram to fat gram? FatFighterTV digs in to see which game day grub scores the most unhealthy penalties.
First up - the calorie champ:
1.Champps Americana: Champps' Mile High Nachos w/Chicken scored 3600 calories and 224 grams of fat – Even I’m guilty of indulging in these, and I only shared them with one other person. I didn’t know they had as many calories as seven Quarter Pounders with Cheese. Yikes! Next time, I’ll invite more people!
FatFighterTV asked a Champps Americana spokesperson to comment on the Nachos’ first place ranking. “Our Nachos are an ideal item to share with 6-7 friends (easily),” says Rachel Phillips-Luther, Vice President- Marketing. “When you consider sharing that item with several friends, the calorie content per person is much more reasonable.”
*Second and third place high calorie honors both go to wings at The Greene Turtle:
2.The Greene Turtle: Smoky BBQ Boneless Wings – 25 of ‘em with Bleu Cheese dressing have 3180 calories and 199 grams of fat. They may be boneless, but they're still fried, and it shows in the huge amount of fat and calories.
3.The Greene Turtle: Smoky BBQ Chicken Wings – 25 wings with Bleu Cheese dressing have 2984 calories and 211 fat grams – as much fat as what you get in seven Big Macs. Seriously.
4. Buffalo Wild Wings: Parmesan Garlic Boneless Wings – 24 with Bleu Cheese dressing have 2872 calories and 222 grams of fat. Watch out if you’re winging it bone-free. The boneless wings rack up more calories than the traditional ones at both The Greene Turtle and BW3.
5. The Greene Turtle: Southern Chicken Sliders with Crab Imperial – Get the Double Play (2 four-packs) and you’ll get 2730 calories and 98 grams of fat. Eat too many of these fried chicken sliders and you may not be able to slide into your jeans!
6. Buffalo Wild Wings: Parmesan Garlic Wings – 24 with Bleu Cheese dressing add up to 2488 calories and 198 grams of fat. What? Wings made it on this list again???!
7. Ram Restaurant & Brewery: Ram Favorites Platter - 2464 calories, 48 grams of saturated fat. Potato Skins, Mozzarella Sticks, Mini Cheese Quesadilla, Calamari and Buffalo Tenders with a variety of sauces. Even if you share this sampler with a friend, you’re still getting a day and a half’s worth of saturated fat, based on recommendations from the American Heart Association.
8. Champps’ Sampler Platter - 2072 calories, 121 grams of fat. Mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, potato skins and Buffalo wings served with a variety of sauces. As fried as it gets.
9. Ram Restaurant & Brewery: BBQ Chicken Quesadilla - 2066 calories, 54 grams of saturated fat. You’d have to run at a pace of six MPH for two hours just to burn off the calories from this mega meal. (based on someone who weighs 140 pounds)
10. Fox and Hound Pub & Grille: Grand Champion Wings/Hot Sauce - 1960 calories, 164 grams of fat – What’s up with all the wings on this list? Someone cry fowl!
Doing this research got me thinking – Why is it that we like to eat this kind of food when we watch sports, anyway? And while it’s nice to share appetizers, knowing that you’re going to share can make it more tempting to order more than one. Think of all the fat and calories you’re adding you when you do that.
Oh, and while we were at it, FatFighterTV also compiled a list of the 10 Football Not-As-Fatties – appetizers with the fewest calories from the same sports bar chains, just in case you would rather order the lesser evils.
Information Unknown
FatFighterTV contacted two other top sports bars. Damon’s Grill told us its nutrition information was not yet available but “please know we have placed this on our marketing plan as a high priority for our current fiscal year.”
Not Playing Ball
ESPN Zone said, “Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with accurate nutritional information about our menu items. Much of that information depends on the condiments that we liberally add, along with the accompaniments that guests select.” Hmmm… the other sports bars use condiments and they didn’t have a problem coming up with the information.
How we did it
FatFighterTV determined the top sports bar chains based on information from Restaurants & Institutions' 2009 Casual Dining rankings based on food and beverage sales. The nutrition information for both The Greene Turtle and Champps Americana was available online at each restaurant’s website. We contacted the other three sports bars as an average customer to see how quickly we could get the information. All of them – Fox and Hound Pub & Grille, Ram Restaurant & Brewery, and Buffalo Wild Wings – responded promptly. This report is based only on information available at the time of publication. Menus may vary by location.
*Calories for an order of 25 boneless wings with bleu cheese dressing at The Greene Turtle range from 2649-3180, depending on the sauce. For the traditional wings, they range from 2452-2984.
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[top photo credit: iStockPhoto]
