[Odd errors in their use of quotation marks in the original - I fixed them but a few may have gotten by me. - gotbeer]

A is for Atkins at some restaurant chains

By Melissa Schorr, Oakland Tribune

Article Published: Sunday, February 22, 2004 - 7:16:15 AM PST

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Sto...1972244,00.html

ONE ORDER of spinach artichoke dip, a side of buffalo wings, one sizzling strip steak and a double cheeseburger. Oh, and hold the bun, please we're on a diet.

Pinch yourself. The flab may be real, but the scenario isn't just a dream.

Dieters heading out to a restaurant this weekend may find that several national restaurant chains, including T.G.I. Friday's, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Chili's Grill & Bar, are trying to tempt appetites and simultaneously fatten their own bottom lines by serving up dishes targeted to the weight-conscious.

Many of the chains are banking that brand name diet strategies will lure customers, with Friday's aligning itself with Atkins Nutritionals.

"Is it marketing? Yes," declares Palo Alto, Calif.-based nutritionist Jo Ann Hattner, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and author of "Help! My Underwear Is Shrinking."

"I think it's pretty obvious why they're doing it.'' On the plus side, she says, dieters can finally dine outside their homes without fearing they will fall off the wagon. "Many people on diets think, 'I can't go out, because I'm faced with choices not on my diet,' '' she said.

In truth, dining out can be dangerous to your diet.

Megan McCrory, a nutrition scientist at Tufts University in Boston, led a 1999 study which found that people who frequently ate out in restaurants were more likely to have higher body fat and weigh more. Those who ate out three times a week versus once a week consumed about a third more calories.

"The fact that more people are eating at restaurants than ever before is a major contributor to why more Americans are fatter than they used to be," she said.

To McCrory and other nutrition experts, who continually fret that nearly one third of Americans are now obese, these new menu items at restaurants are long overdue.

In an editorial that ran in September's Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Catherine Powers, director of curriculum at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, said that it was time for the restaurant industry to "step up to the plate." "Every food service operation should offer some healthful, delicious options," she wrote. She urged restaurants to experiment with vegetables, pick leaner cuts of meat, reduce portion sizes and offer a nutritional breakdown of their dishes.

"The casual dining segment would be remiss if it didn't try to meet those needs,'' agreed Judy Schumacher, a spokeswoman for T.G.I. Friday's. "This is answering that trend to have meals for those on a low-carbohydrate diet."

Though many of these restaurants say they welcome special requests, dieters may find the new menus make life easier.

"People don't have to do the thinking we do it for them,'' explained Steve Boizot, manager of Friday's in Oakland's Jack London Square.

These new partnerships are sure to heat up the already-contentious battle between advocates of low-carb versus low-fat diets.

At Friday's, the new menu insert touts nine dishes with the Atkins seal of approval, all containing only 5 to 17 grams of carbohydrates.

Some, like the Buffalo Wings (5 carbs, $7.19), required no adjustments. Other dishes, like the Chicken Caesar Salad (9 carbs, $8.99), were rejiggered to cut carbs by nixing the croutons and breadsticks. A few are totally new creations, like the Tuna Salad Wraps (14 carbs, $7.99).

National fast food chains are also chiming in, with Subway now serving two "Atkins-friendly" wraps and Hardee's, In-N-Out Burger, Burger King and Carl's Jr. all offering low-carb bunless burgers.

Livermore, Calif., resident Tony Cansino raves about the Carl's Jr. burger, which comes wrapped in lettuce. "You hardly miss the bun," said Cansino, who's already lost 8 pounds in eight days on an Atkins diet of pork rinds, Michelob Ultra beer and bunless burgers for lunch.

Chili's is decidedly not choosing sides in the diet wars. "We want to take a more balanced approach," said company spokesman Chris Barnes. Chili's new menu is pointedly called "It's Your Choice,'' and features both low-fat dishes from its decade-old "Guiltless Grill" and 14 new low-carb dishes including grilled salmon, buffalo wings and ribeye steak.

Although spokesmen for chains heavy on the pasta, like Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill, deny seeing a drop in sales, the restaurants spotlighting their new diet dishes say they have seen an increase in demand.

At P.F. Chang's, where a "Training Table Menu" aimed at athletes packages 14 dishes high in either carbs or proteins, the steamed salmon (51 grams of protein, $13.95) has spiked in sales.

Similarly, at Friday's, the Tuscan Spinach Dip (17 carbs, $7.99) served with raw veggies is "flying out of the kitchen," Schumacher says, while the traditional version served with chips has gone stale.

Other hot items include a sizzling New York strip steak platter (6 carbs, $16.99) and the Cheeseburger Cheeseburger platter (6 carbs, $7.99), containing two patties, no bun, a small salad and dressing.

"The reaction has been nothing but positive," said manager Boizot.

But some diners are still warming up to the idea.

On a recent lunch hour outside a T.G.I. Friday's in Pleasanton, Calif., patrons admitted they failed to notice the Atkins menu or didn't order from it.

"I should have but I didn't,'' groaned Livermore resident Patricia Maloney, who indulged on chicken strips during her lunch break from her Dublin-based human resources job.

Others were dubious they ever would.

"I don't like the Atkins diet,'' declared Trish Botell, a Castro Valley resident and Safeway employee. She and her fiance, Eric Tate, indulged in a French Dip sandwich and fries instead.