While I try to avoid generalities, one I do use is that the less processed food is, the healthier it likely is as well.
That’s why sushi has become an even larger part of my diet than it was before my two stents were put in to unclog my arteries.
Nutritionists do raise a red flag about eating a lot of white rice, but sushi can be found with brown rice and there’s also sashimi which is sushi’s rice-less cousin. But sushi can get expensive.
So I was excited to try a Chicago sushi lunch spot that sells sushi by the pound ($1.25 an ounce) rather than the piece. Grain & Sea is a very neat-looking spot with an almost limitless sushi buffet.
You walk the food line, taking whichever you want and have it all weighed at the end of the line.
Chicago is in the midst of its annual restaurant week, a time when local restaurants offer specially priced menus to draw people in on cold winter days and nights. It’s a good time to try new places but can you find healthy offerings? Well, sort of.
Restaurant food is notoriously high in salt, fat and sugar. So you need to be picky, and also know you’ll likely go off your healthy menu more than once.
My oyster-appetizer.
My wife and I so far have gone to two restaurants, Pescadero, a suburban seafood place; and Big Jones, a Cajun restaurant in Chicago. We also plan a trip to L Woods, another suburban spot, since we live in the suburbs.
Seafood dishes tend to be healthier per se, assuming they aren’t loaded with sauces heavy in fat and salt.
I opted for the oysters to start my Pescadero meal, they’re served raw, so aren’t mucked up with salt or fat. I had the octopus for my main course. It was grilled and wonderfully tasty, if you love octopus as I do.
Restaurant menus are notoriously filled with high-salt, high-fat, high-sugar offerings. If you’re trying to lower your consumption of those that evil threesome, you need to do your research before eating out. That’s why we have an entire page of this blog devoted to eating away from home.
Halibut on a carrot puree at a restaurant in Milwaukee which is, sadly, no longer there. What was the salt content? We asked for it without salt added.
Are people doing their research? A recent study by foodservice supplier US Foods shows a large chunk of the population is checking menus before going out, for a variety of reasons.
The study found 83% of people eating out review menus from home before going to a restaurant, and of those, 50% decide what they’ll order before setting foot in the restaurant.
Also encouraging, from a health standpoint, 58% say nutritional value information impacts their ordering, although here portion size and calorie content seems to be the major concern.
More people need to be checking salt content, it’s the most dangerous in most restaurant options.
US Foods gathered this data by surveying 1,003 people last September, reflecting the demographic makeup of the general American population.
Food trucks have been hot for years but in my Chicago suburb, Evanston, early restrictions limited them largely to one Mexican food truck that shows up at all the the local festivals, and which always seemed a bit overpriced to me.
But that changed dramatically in recent weeks when not one, but two food trucks featuring classic East Coast lobster rolls came to town. Full disclosure, I love lobster. My wife and I honeymooned in Maine back in 2007, primarily for the lobster, which we had several times a day at the rock bottom prices it sells for there.
Yet, getting lobster in the Midwest can be of a hit or miss proposition. The ubiquitous Red Lobster, for example, has the blandest lobster I ever tasted. We never go there. More likely, we buy our own and boil or grill it at home.
So I was really excited to see two lobster trucks posting on Facebook about their planned stops here in Evanston. Neither was cheap, $25 from Happy Lobster, $23 for a lobster roll from Cousins, but I tried them both and a clear winner emerged — Cousins Maine Lobster.
The other, Happy Lobster, didn’t really serve a traditional Maine lobster roll. It used a hamburger bun-type bun. A real lobster roll uses a hot dog bun-like split roll, toasted. Anyone from New England, or anyone who grew up in New York and went to Nedick’s knows what those are.
You can see the difference in the photos below:
Cousins also had just the right hint of mayo, although that too is a departure from traditional rolls which can have lobster meat swimming in mayo.
The staff at Cousins also was much friendly. Setting up in a local microbrewery parking lot, they were giving out shirts, hats and other freebies and talking to people as they walked up.
Happy Lobster’s truck parked at a local hospital during lunchtime and, although it encouraged online ordering ahead, did not have my order ready when I showed up on time. Several of its customers were forced to stand around in the rain waiting for their orders.
Is lobster heart-healthy? It is high in cholesterol content, once thought to be harmful, but thinking has changed on that. It also is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which these days are considered heart-healthy.
So if you see a Cousin’s truck coming to your town, give it a try, I highly recommend it.
The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal 