Great menu finds at local austin restaurants Summer 2010
I am always being asked by my patients what they can order when eating out to keep them losing weight and to help with maintaning. I have a couple of suggestions I have recently discovered at some local Austin favorite restaurants. Almost all of my choices below reflect the one rule about eating out that I usually follow, and recommend to my patients: Stick to meat (or tofu) and vegetables. It’s the starches (rice, bread, pasta, chips, etc) that contribute most to that expanding waistline and middle bulge(not to mention high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease). One glass of wine has less calories (130-150) than a typical portion of starch at a restaurant (closer to 200 or more at 1 cup+). Nevertheless, try to stick to 2-3 alcoholic beverages per week or less.
Z Tejas:
I was so impressed the last time I visited Z Tejas and discovered the “500 calorie Menu”. Both Dr. Boehm and I tried a selection. I had the Grilled Chicken breast, and she had the Grilled Salmon, each came with a side of steamed vegetables. These were NOT bland meals! They were moist, deliciously seasoned and perfectly satisfying. The vegetables were also fantastically seasoned, not overdone or too crunchy. I raved for weeks about them to my friends and patients (and am still raving). I must admit I was dreading our business dinner there as I remembered most of the meals were extremely heavy in calories. But we came away saying we would love to return for those delcious and healthy choices. Save your “extra calories” for a glass of wine or light beer, or even the Ahi tuna appetizer and an iced tea if you’re particulary hungry! Skip the frozen margaritas (loaded with sugar and calories) and other fruity drinks.
Shady Grove:
Try the Thai Chicken Salad. But you MUST tweak the order a bit. It comes with peanuts and crispy noodles on top. Have them leave those off. Then, it comes with TWO dressings, a peanut dressing (loaded with sugar and fat) and a Thai dressing(oil and vinegar based, slightly spicy, delicious). Skip the peanut dressing all together, and order the Thai dressing on the side. Put no more than 2 tablespoons of the dressing on yourself. The chicken is marinated and very good, and the salad was incredibly fresh and delicious. The salad and a glass of white wine made for a perfect summer dinner on the outside patio!
Eddie V’s:
Hong Kong Style Sea Bass with a side of either asparagus or broccoli. Absolutely melts in your mouth! Pair that with a glass of white or red wine and you have a truely delectable dinner.
Freddie’s
This is a hard one, but it’s a great place to take kids because they can play on the playscape outside. I always get their grilled fish tacos, and put everything into one tortilla, throw the other one away. The sauce is delicious. Have it with a glass of iced tea with Splenda and lemon you have a great Saturday lunch.
Phil’s Icehouse
This place is really tough. Pretty much no healthy choices, but again is great for kids because of the playground. So what I do is split a hamburger (or cheeseburger) with my 5 year old daughter, and get one order of fries for myself and my 2 kids to split (ask them to hold the fries on one of the kids meals). This way, I eatly only 3 or 4 french fries total. If I know I’m going here, I usually have a protein shake BEFORE I go, that way, I’m not very hungry when I get there.
House Pizza
This is one pizza place my husband and I can agree on. My husband loves pizza, I try to avoid it. But House Pizza (on Airport Blvd) has some fantastic salads. I always order dressing on the side, add no more than 2 tablespoons. Eat this BEFORE you try any pizza, if at all. Although I usually try not to eat the pizza, I don’t always do that. One strategy I have, is to wait until there is only ONE PIECE LEFT. That way, if I finish one piece, there’s no more to tempt me.
Quality Seafood
A great Cajun seafood restaurant on Airport Blvd with lots of wild caught fish dishes. Skip the Po Boys and fried things. I ordered a wild caught salmon fillet with broccoli side, a wild caught Gulf Snapper with corn on the cob, and split these 2 dishes between myself and my 2 kids (ages 5 and 6). I also got one side of corn bread and sliced 2 pieces off for each of my kids. There was a ton left over which I threw away. It was delicious, my kids loved it, and we had plenty of left overs for lunch the next day!
Titaya’s Thai Cuisine
This is a great spot for lunch on N. Lamar just south of Koenig Lane, but they are busy during the week. I have been searching for a great Thai place since I moved to Austin in 2001, and had not found one until I went to Titaya’s. I had a tofu dish sauteed with vegetables in a light brown sauce (number 16 on the lunch menu I think). I ordered mine WITHOUT the rice, and it was very filling and super flavorful. Again, I chose to have my meal with a glass of white wine (don’t worry, I didn’t have to go back to work that day!)
More to come!
Amanda Dupont, MD
