When searching for healthy restaurants in Boston, one place kept coming up: B.Good. According to the story on their website,
“Our plan is simple – fill the void. Serve “real” food. You know, the foods we all love, like burgers, salads, chicken sandwiches, and fries. The difference? Our food is better for you because we use the healthiest ingredients and cooking methods. And our food tastes better because we take the time to make it right – homemade & fresh each day. After all, we all love fast food but hate the way it makes us feel – sick and unhealthy. At b.good, you’ll feel good about what you’re eating and good about yourself for eating here.”
B.Good publicizes all their nutritional info, both on their website and on the menu at their restaurant. After my frustration with restaurants that don’t do this, B.Good is a godsend!
I decided to be careful earlier today about what I ate because I wanted to save some calories for their fries, which had received a bit of acclaim on various restaurant review websites. B.Good doesn’t advertise these as seasoned fries, but they kind of are. I love seasoned fries, and while I wouldn’t say that these were as flavorful as seasoned fries, they were still nicely flavored. Unfortunately, the texture just didn’t compare to regular fried fries. Surprising, because I’ve baked fries at home before and never really paid much attention to the texture difference; these were just kind of soggy.
As for the burger, I opted for a special that they didn’t have listed on their website: the maple apple turkey burger (I forget the real name but it was something like that). The nutritional info was right on the little card that announced the special, which meant I could change my mind after my planning and still know what I was getting (I hate when I pick something out according to a restaurant’s info on the web, and then I get there and see a special that looks good but I have no idea how bad it is for me). The only thing was, it came with bacon and was supposed to be 535 calories. That was a bit higher than I wanted, so I asked the cashier how much bacon went on it, and she said three pieces. I figured that was a good amount of bacon that could give me some calorie savings, so I requested it without bacon. When I got back to my hotel, I looked up bacon on Daily Plate, and it’s 109 calories for three pieces, so I subtracted to get 426 calories for the burger. Makes sense, because that’s exactly what the regular turkey burger B.Good sells is.
The bun was whole wheat, and it was really good – toasted and fresh. The burger itself was pretty juicy, but it was completely overwhelmed by the spicy mustard/maple sauce that they dumped on. The sauce was really oozing out the sides, which made it feel a lot more fattening/heavy than it actually was. At about 426 calories, this was a lot healthier than most restaurant burgers, but the sauce made it taste like it was just as unhealthy. The apple slices would have added a nice flavor, but again, they were so overwhelmed by the sauce.
Overall, I wasn’t that impressed by B.Good. Like Knowfat, they may use fresher, better ingredients, but the nutritional values really aren’t that much better. To compare:
3 oz fries at B.Good – 285 cals, 5g fat
2.6 oz fries at McDonalds – 250 cals, 13g fat
Turkey burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard at B.Good – 426 cals, 13g fat
Big Mac with sauce, lettuce, pickles, and onion (no cheese) – 490 cals, 25g fat
So basically, you cut the fat in half, but the calories are pretty similar. And yet, you’re paying quadruple the price! Burgers are $5.95 at B.Good compared to two bucks at McDonalds. The food didn’t taste that much fresher or better, so I see it just kind of as fast food in a nicer setting.
2/5 stars – I’d eat at B.Good again if a friend suggested it, but wouldn’t go out seeking it. I suppose it’s nice to have another option for food near my hotel that provides full nutrition information, but this isn’t really something I’d crave or wish was in New York. Disappointing!