The other night I ate out at Applebee’s. I haven’t been there in quite a while so when I opened up their menu I was surprised to see all the new meals they were offering from the Food Network’s Tyler Florence.

I decided to give the Bruschetta Burger a try, even though it’s probably 1000 calories (not that I could find out since Applebee’s doesn’t put the nutrition info on their website).

Here’s how Applebee’s describes it:

This 100% Angus burger is juicy, robust—and like no other. It’s crowned with a zesty pesto sauce and fresh bruschetta mix, and set on thick wedges of mozzarella. Served between grilled foccacia bread for a delicious crunch and crispy garlic fries sprinkled with shaved Parmesan complete this classic.

It was absolutely delicious! If this is the direction that Applebee’s is going to head with their menu (instead of chicken strips and ribs) then I might just stop by a little more often.

Update (4/30/07): In the five months since I posted this entry I’ve gotten quite a few e-mails from people telling me that they too wished Applebees would post nutritional information for all of their products on their website. While Applebees reasoning of using multiple vendors does make some sense, how much of a variation can there really be? If you use the same weight and grade of beef shouldn’t it be about the same nationwide? To find out I decided to contact Applebees and ask them if I could have “ballpark figures” for the Bruschetta Burger. Applebee’s response was that at this time they only have fat, fiber and calorie details for items on their Weight Watchers menu, though they do hope to have more nutritional information available at a later date.

Since I still have no idea about the health value of the Bruschetta Burger I offer this simple advice: If you’re on a diet, watching calories or trying to cut down on cholesterol, I’d avoid the burger. If you’re not very concerned about the nutritional value and just want a good tasting burger, go for it!