If you're ringing in 2013 with a goal to lose weight, you're not alone. And if you're not looking forward to sticking to it, you've come to the right place. We asked a few local restaurants for some alternative options to traditionally calorie-packed plates, proving the road to a slimmer waistline doesn't have to mean fad diets and rice cakes.
Raw foods might not sound appealing, but the chefs at the Greenhouse Tavern use fresh, locally grown ingredients to create healthy salads you'll want to eat. "You want to alleviate heavy dressings and replace them with lighter vinaigrettes," explains executive chef Brian Goodman. Extra-virgin olive oil and a house-made vinaigrette create a much lighter dressing, and the salad itself is made from celery leaves, radishes, walnut tahini and apples from Rittman Orchards in Doylestown. "We do very little to the apple and leave it unadulterated to showcase its flavor," says Goodman.
This dessert is surprisingly sweet but still healthy. Layers of lemon lavender cake and chantilly cream make up the base, but the secret to the dish's success is using fresh fruit. "Frozen fruits have a higher water content," says Aaron Hervey, Crave's co-owner and head chef. "Not only do they not taste as fresh, but they can water things down as well." Hervey avoids tossing the strawberries, blueberries and peaches in sugar and lets the fruit flavors stand on their own.
Instead of using artificial sweeteners, this cocktail gets natural sugars from a pear reduction, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and a house-made rosemary ginger syrup created from locally grown ginger. "If you were to get a vodka martini, it's all vodka, and that's a lot of calories," says Todd Thompson, director of operations and creator of the cocktail menu at Fire. While this cocktail uses Plymouth Gin as an ingredient, it also uses Dolin dry vermouth, which is low in alcohol — and lower in calories.
Swapping out steak for a leaner cut of meat is a good start, but Soho Kitchen and Bar's chef and owner, Nolan Konkoski, challenges diners to give seafood a try. His farm-raised rainbow trout is folded over crab stuffing made from crab meat, lemon juice, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, peppers and onions. Baked and served with a cauliflower puree, slow-roasted tomatoes and salsa verde, this dish is full of flavor — not starch. "Rainbow trout is leaner and less fatty," Konkoski says. "It is by far one of the healthier fish you can eat."
