Restaurants Catch The Dining-Light Wave
Impress your Bloomsday company this weekend by taking them out for a tasty, heart-healthy meal.
Walk into a restaurant participating in the “Lite ‘n Hearty” program and you’re handed a menu featuring enticing entrees with less than 30 percent of calories from fat. Your guests won’t walk out so stuffed they can’t run the race on Sunday.
Whatever the time of year, consumers increasingly want healthy food when they dine out.
“There was a big call for it, a lot of people asked about it,” Andy McCandless of Cyrus O’Leary’s says of the year-old program. “We decided to start getting healthy.”
Adds Stephanie Flaherty, manager of The Onion: “We have been very conscious (of healthy eating) for several years, and we thought of this as another neat way to educate the public about it.”
“Lite n’ Hearty” is organized through The Heart Institute of Spokane. Restaurants and caterers currently participating in the program include:
Ankeny’s; Au Croissant; Cafe Roma; Catered For You; City Lights at the Shilo Inn; Cyrus O’Leary’s; Europa Pizzaria & Bakery; Fitzbillie’s Bagel Inc.; Great Harvest Bread Co.
Harry O’s Wood Roasted Chicken; Hobart’s at Cavanaugh’s Fourth Avenue; Kenny Rogers’ Roasters; The Onion; Patsy Clark’s Mansion; Percy’s Eating & Drinking Establishment; Sandwich Gardens At The Institute; and Windows of the Seasons at Cavanaugh’s Inn at the Park.
Arby’s Roast Beef Restaurants and Pizza Rita Delivery are in the process of becoming involved.
Heart Institute dietitians Patty Seebeck and Jane Joseph are enthusiastic promoters of the program.
“Ideally, we would like to see all restaurants feature heart-healthy food,” Seebeck says.
Joseph works with Seebeck in helping restaurants revise their menu items.
“Cooking doesn’t suffer from taking out the fat,” says Joseph, adding that participating restaurants are very open to change.
Pasta is the food of choice for most Bloomsday runners. There’s a good variety of pasta dishes offered through the “Lite ‘n Hearty” program.
Cafe Roma’s offerings include Angel Hair Pasta with Seafood and Fettuccine Vegetariano, neither of which use oil. Fettuccine Spinach Salad and Fettuccine agli Scampi are also good choices.
Cyrus O’Leary’s “Lite ‘n Hearty” entrees include Fettuccine Alfredo and Marinara Primavera.
“The night before Bloomsday, we’re probably going to want to interest people in our fettuccine,” says Cyrus O’Leary’s McCandless. “We have a low-fat pasta, for those carbo-loaders.”
At The Onion, Flaherty recommends Stir Fry Noodles or a rice dish called Rhonda’s Stir Fry for the Bloomsday crowd. Both come with or without chicken, and in regular or light sizes, depending on your appetite.
Windows of the Seasons offers Pasta Primavera, Stir-fried Vegetables & Prawns and Rosemary Chicken.
You’ll find the “Lite ‘n Hearty” logo next to the Institute’s approved items on menus. Servers can provide “Nutrition Notes,” a breakdown of calories and fat content.