What You Get When You Order An 'Unwich' At Jimmy John's

We've covered the subject of Jimmy John's regularly here on The Takeout, whether it's through sandwich reviews (bring back The Frenchie Sandwich, cowards!) to its more recent-ish forays into wraps. More specifically, Jimmy John's Firecracker Wrap, which we reviewed. The sandwich chain's menu has evolved through the years, mostly through the additions of new items, but one thing we haven't mentioned in the past is one of Jimmy John's quieter long-time mainstays, the Unwich.

The Unwich is simply any one of Jimmy John's sandwiches made without bread or a tortilla. Instead of bread, the Unwich uses a leafy lettuce wrap to hold all the fillings together. If this is your first time hearing of an Unwich, it's likely because you're not monitoring your bread consumption, whether to manage your blood sugar levels, avoid gluten while dining out, keep your carb count restricted, or simply minimize your calorie count. I've had a few Unwiches in the past when I wanted a lighter option for lunch at Jimmy John's, and they function pretty well for what they are. But your experience might vary, since a whole sandwich's worth of filling in lettuce can get a little unruly if it's not wrapped tightly enough.

Above all, Jimmy John's Unwich is marketing itself as a low-carb option, with any Unwich containing 10 grams of carbs or less — and a minimum 32% calorie reduction by ditching the bread. While other sandwich chains don't always offer lettuce wraps, many of them do have low-carb options built into the menu, like Subway. Subway's got a few low- to no-carb options on its menu, including salads and its admittedly ridiculously named "No Bready Bowls", which are simply any of its sandwich fillings tossed straight into a bowl for you. I'm actually not entirely sure how that's different from a salad aside from maybe the lack of a dressing (if you don't ask for one), but hey, I don't make the rules.

Chicago-based Portillo's also has no-carb options in the form of its Beef Bowls, which is simply a serving of its Italian beef sandwich filling and its variations in a bowl; sans any bread. Then there's In-N-Out Burger, which has a not-so-secret way of ordering a burger in the manner of 'Protein Style', which gives you the modification of subbing a bun with a lettuce wrap. Shake Shack has a lettuce wrap option as well. But it's notable that most burger giants, like McDonald's and Burger King, don't really have a default no-carb option; you have to custom order a burger without a bun in those places.