Dishers, I’m starting a new feature called the $5 Lunch. Once a week, I’ll go eat lunch somewhere for $5 and tell you about it. I’m also hoping you’ll give me suggestions on places to go. I’ll drive anywhere and try anything–it just has to be $5 (or close to that with tax).
This week, I went over to the Great American Hero on Lemmon Ave. I have a pile of work to do and wanted to go somewhere close to the office. I knew the Hero had reasonably priced sandwiches and the drive-through feature is also very appealing to me. Today, the cars were stacked five deep for the drive through, but the line moves fast. I was in line and out again in five minutes.
Unfortunately, not many of the full-sized heroes are under $5. I had my heart set on the Healthy Hero. I’m trying to eat less meat, and it sounded good, with cream cheese, olives, cucumbers, mushrooms, sprouts, monterey jack cheese, and whatever other veggies you want, for $4.95. Or so it said on the website. I got there and found out they raised the price of this sandwich to $5.25. Argh.
Sandwiches under $5 were PB&J, BLT, and a Veggie Delight, with no cheese (and that just won’t do). So I bent my own rules and got the Healthy Hero. As you can see, it’s very big. I added pickles, lettuce, onions, spicy mustard and oil and vinegar to it. Let’s put it this way: it’s very healthy tasting. The sprouts overwhelm the sandwich and I would get rid of those next time because I feel like I’m eating a grass sandwich. Also, this is a very messy thing to eat. The olives and cucumbers and lettuce fall out the moment you pick it up. They tend to be light-handed on the condiments, and I would have liked more spicy mustard and oil and vinny. But the sandwich is crunchy and light, and I can eat the entire thing, something I usually can’t do when I order turkey or ham or salami or whatever.
Overall: a decent, healthy sandwich for $5.25 that I won’t feel guilty about eating. Quick in-and-out due to the drive through (it’s quick inside too, since they have about 100 people working there). Efficient service. Another cheap lunch option is a half sandwich, which is half the price of the full-size plus $.50. So you could get a half of the Great American Hero (salami, ham, bologna, and provolone cheese) for $3.125, plus chips, and still have a good deal. Which is what I’ll do next time.
