A List of Safe Restaurants

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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby pnwgirl » Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:56 pm

I was just checking out the nutritional information on the Claim Jumper web site: http://www.claimjumper.com/menu_nutriti ... ation.aspx

Their baked potatoes are fat free, but have 4357mg of sodium! How is that even possible? Luckily I didn't eat the skin when we were there the other week. They do have a great produce bar with plenty of plain ingredients and bottles of balsamic vinegar. Their corn cob and asparagus sides would also be suitable.
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby pnwgirl » Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:06 pm

pnwgirl wrote:I was just checking out the nutritional information on the Claim Jumper web site: http://www.claimjumper.com/menu_nutriti ... ation.aspx

Their baked potatoes are fat free, but have 4357mg of sodium! How is that even possible? Luckily I didn't eat the skin when we were there the other week. They do have a great produce bar with plenty of plain ingredients and bottles of balsamic vinegar. Their corn cob and asparagus sides would also be suitable.


Actually, I'm not even sure now if the potatoes are fat free. It says 0 g of saturated fat. I guess that means there could be unsaturated fat. How deceptive! The calories are 440. They are really huge potatoes, but not sure if a huge potato would have that many calories without oil.
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby pnwgirl » Mon Jun 28, 2010 3:21 pm

I sometimes have the Perfect Oatmeal at Starbucks. I was having it with a bit of the brown sugar and dried fruit toppings but then I saw that the dried fruit has some oil added. The oatmeal itself has some salt added (105mg).

http://www.starbucks.com/menu/food/hot- ... dZone=9999
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby nancyo » Mon Jun 28, 2010 4:39 pm

FYI I think the Chin Chin restaurants mentioned earlier are only in CA, not Atlanta.

http://www.chinchin.com/menu-mushu.php
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby chrisv » Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:13 pm

Outback Steakhouse-- Sweet Potato ordered plain as a side. Baked potato ordered plain as a side, the skin has oil and salt.

Local to Denver area, Tokyo Joe's. Order the Veggie Bowl with brown rice, it is not posted on the menu, but is a standard order. You have a choice of veggies or can take the standard 5. The teriyaki sauce is fat-free but sweet and can be ordered on the side. Oyako sauce is beef based. http://www.tokyojoes.com

Downtown Denver Watercourse Foods is vegetarian. There is a create-your-own salad with a lot of options. Other than that I think the menu choices have oil. They would probably take special orders. http://www.watercoursefoods.com

A caution on Sweet Tomatoes pasta, they pre-cook it and then coat it with oil so they can dump it out and re-heat without sticking.
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Chicago, IL

Postby petero » Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:19 pm

Chicago, IL: Miss Asia, 434 W. Diversey.
Steamed brown rice, steamed mixed vegetables (expertly cooked). Also very accommodating with other dishes.

http://missasiacuisine.com/
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby ETeSelle » Tue Jun 29, 2010 2:22 pm

chrisv wrote:Downtown Denver Watercourse Foods is vegetarian. There is a create-your-own salad with a lot of options. Other than that I think the menu choices have oil. They would probably take special orders. http://www.watercoursefoods.com

OMG this is my FAVORITE RESTAURANT IN THE WHOLE WORLD. <sigh> Thank GOD I don't live in Denver b/c I would eat there all the time and it's FAR from low-fat, LOL.
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby Chumly » Tue Jun 29, 2010 3:10 pm

nancyo wrote:FYI I think the Chin Chin restaurants mentioned earlier are only in CA, not Atlanta.

http://www.chinchin.com/menu-mushu.php


Hi Nancy,

Apparently there is a different Chin Chin restaurant chain in Atlanta. Here is the website:
http://www.chinchinonline.com/
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Re: Cleveland, Ohio area

Postby afreespirit » Tue Jun 29, 2010 9:03 pm

landog wrote:I think that some of the sauces are high in sodium. My wife had swollen joints after the last time we went there, and she says she gets that from salt (anyone else, or is she just strange?).

We just celebrated our 17th anniversary there tonight

Dog, I have an extreme and fairly immediate reaction in my joints to even a little sodium, so no, your wife is not just strange! or maybe we both are ? <kidding> :lol: I have been struggling of late to eliminate as much sodium as possible from my diet and it is paying off in the form of less pain in my knees. I am pretty sure it is related to increased sodium=increased water retention=increased pain.

Happy anniversary to you!
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby DianeR » Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:45 pm

I thought I would post what California Pizza Kitchen just emailed me (I thought I had the answer before, but apparently there is a twist):

"The White Dough and Honey Wheat with Whole Grain Dough served at California Pizza Kitchen contain Soybean Oil in the preparation. Our Thin Crust Neapolitan Dough does not contain any oil in the preparation. All pizza dough however, is lightly sprayed with olive oil to prevent sticking during the heating process however you are welcome to request your pizza dough prepared without the spray of olive oil to accommodate your dietary restrictions."

Remember what I said before about needed to sub in nonoiled veggies if you get their veggie pizza! This isn't whole grain, but it gives us something to get in our mall anyway ...
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby DianeR » Sun Jul 04, 2010 8:01 am

I emailed CPK to check on whether there is fat in their pizza sauce (and to check on the sodium content of the crust and sauce) but haven't received a response yet. If I do, I will post.

I promised to update you all once we went to Rasika. We did last night and it was fabulous. We talked to our waiter, the waiter talked to the manager, the manager talked to the chef, and then the manager came and told us which of their vegetarian items could be made without oil, nuts, etc. We split two appetizers and three side dish size items, plus ordered plain basmati rice (no oil) and an order of roti. It was some of the best food I've ever eaten.

The only thing lacking was dessert. We rarely have it but it seemed like such a special night. We walked over to Jaleo's and had a dessert wine. (I used to love Jaleo's but they put olive oil in everything and will make no changes.)

Our waiter really understood. It turned out he had just experienced some CVD issues of his own. He was at the beginning stages of changing his diet. So we told him how we had lower fat vegan before, but the little stuff obviously added up and we had to do more and be completely strict. He was very interested in that, and in how we liked our food. A possible convert? One can hope.

Fairly recently we went to Indique again. The chef remembered us. He made us spicy chickpeas without oil. We had to stick to the roti because their rice contains a little oil. They slipped up and gave us salads with vinagrette on the side (prepared by the chef's assistant, perhaps?), so we simply ate the salad by itself.
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby lydia » Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:07 am

Thai In Madison WI:
Lao Laan-Xang restaurant
Excellent choices on menu and willing to cook without oil. Vegetables are very fresh and spices great. gets Good reviews. Rice is white but no oil.
















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...Lao Laan-Xang RestaurantAddress:‎
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby PamW » Sun Jul 04, 2010 8:53 pm

Sacramento, CA and other places in California, Texas and Washington state:

Fresh Choice (called Zoopa in TX)
Buffet. Good selection of McDougall-friendly items; salad bar with large selection of fresh veggies, plain tofu, plain beans, etc., several vinegars on salad bar, also one or two fatfree vegan salad dressings; baked potatoes and baked yams; soup; fresh fruit. Not all items are McD-friendly, but good news is that vegan items (VV), lowfat items (LF) and fatfree (FF) items clearly identified; each composed salad, soup, baked good, etc, have all ingredients identified in the product label above the serving bowl. So start by looking for the items that are VV and FF (or LF), and then look at specific ingredients to make sure no oil. Baked potatoes are plain. Baked sweet potatoes are plain (I asked the guy who baked them :nod: ), just wrapped in foil and baked. They usually have one McD-friendly soup daily (most days). Their menu changes every couple of weeks, and they post their menus on their website.

Warning: Baked goods (pizza, muffins, breads) are NOT McD-friendly, nor is frozen non-dairy dessert.

Here is the link to their website so you can read nutritionals and find locations: http://www.freshchoice.com/no_redirect.html

They also post their ingredients and labels on web page. For example, here is the label for the Garden Marinara, which they have most days and tastes great on a baked potato: http://www.freshchoice.com/Content/images/Pop_up_Garden_marinara_oct_09.gif

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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby vman » Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:49 pm

Chicken Out in the DC area. Believe it or not, Chicken Out, obviously a chicken place, has some really good McDougall friendly options. Make your own salad with plenty of great options, I made mine a mexican salad with salsa instead of dressing. They have fat free dressings, but I don't trust those to have no oil unless I can see the ingredients list, so I just go with salsa. Also brown rice, mashed sweet potato, and a few other sides with no oil or butter, etc. Staff is very friendly at the McLean location and happy to accommodate, and I get a strange sense of accomplishment building an excellent McDougall meal in a Chicken place.

I see a number of people mentioning fat free dressings and other menu items at other restaurants, but I wouldn't count on those being entirely oil free unless you get to see the actual ingredient list. As we all know, even 100% fat oil spray is fat free if you count the servings portion the way the government allows.
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Re: A List of Safe Restaurants

Postby Jackie J » Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:27 pm

California Chicken Cafe: garden veggie salad and steamed squash -- other things on menu are not McDougall but salad and squash are always fresh.
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