Which is The Best Fast Food Fish Sandwich?
Lent season is in full swing as of this week, and for those of you who observe the holiday, it probably has you thinking about your daily eating habits a bit more than normal.
Avoiding meat is not as hard as it used to be thanks to the burgeoning plant-based food industry, which allows you to order everything from an Impossible Whopper to Panda Express’ Orange “chicken.”
But if you prefer to focus on fish for your no-meat Fridays because it’s what you’ve always done, or because you really enjoy any excuse to eat a solid fish sandwich delightfully doused in tartar sauce, it’s absolutely understandable.
You have more options than ever to choose from this year if you need to grab lunch at the drive-thru. So let’s take a look at a few of them now.
The good old Filet-O-Fish.
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You Won’t Have To Go Fishing For Options
Of course, when people think of fishy fast food sandwiches, the Filet-O-Fish is usually top of mind.
After all, it was one of the first ones to appear in the wild, debuting in 1962 after struggling McDonald’s (MCD) – Get McDonald’s Corporation Report franchise owner Lou Groen pitched the idea to upper management after noticing a competing restaurant offering them nearby.
Despite management not being so sure about Groen’s idea, they decided to give it a try, pitting its performance up against another sandwich idea with a slice of pineapple replacing a typical patty.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, people felt like something was missing from the latter, and the fish sandwich won the battle.
Today, it remains a top-selling menu item, with its highest sales being during March because of Lent. So McDonalds has Lou to thank for that (as well as fine commercials such as this).
If you’ve had enough Filet-O-Fish to last you a lifetime, you can also roll over to a few other places for newer offerings.
Popeyes (QSR) – Get Restaurant Brands International Inc Report just launched its Cajun Flounder Fish sandwich last week, which you can order regular or spicy (although if you choose to go the spicy route, some Twitter folks say you should proceed with caution).
Wendy’s (WEN) – Get Wendy’s Company Report also announced has a Crispy Panko Fish sandwich, which is a wild-caught Alaskan Pollock fillet breaded with panko and topped with American cheese and dill tartar sauce.
Wendy’s used cod in its previous fish sandwiches, but shifted to pollock because it’s reportedly from the world’s largest sustainable fishery and isn’t overfished, which is very thoughtful indeed.
Del Taco (TACO) – Get Del Taco Restaurants, Inc. Report also has some fish offerings for the season, including a Samuel Adams Boston Lager-battered crispy Alaskan pollock taco with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo and a “secret sauce.” Order the burrito version to have house-made guacamole added to the mix.
Other chains you can find fish sandwiches at include Burger King (QSR) – Get Restaurant Brands International Inc Report, Long John Silver’s (YUM) – Get Yum! Brands, Inc. Report, Whataburger, Jack in the Box (JBX) , Culver’s, Arby’s … the list is a long one.
If only Lou Groen could have known what shockwaves his once far-out fish sandwich idea would send out into the industry.
