Phoenix Food Blog

By Wynter Holden

After visiting two reasonably healthful restaurants at Tempe Marketplace, I thought it would be fun to see how they compare in a Battle of the Bulge.

In one corner of the ring, we have Kabuki Japanese Restaurant, weighing in at a hefty couple of brightly-lit rooms and a full bar. This California chain has spread to the Southwest, offering sushi, tempura, teriyaki meats and family-style combos served in a cute wooden boat. Aww...

Kabuki's worthy adversary is none other than...Salad Creations, a design-your-own salad franchise which has locations throughout the US and in Dublin, Ireland and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Guests choose from a variety of salad fixings, which the "salad chefs" toss in the selected dressing and serve either in the metal mixing bowl or as a tortilla wrap.

Which restaurant's healthful meal will reign supreme?

By Wynter Holden

Could there have been a better weekend to have lunch outdoors in the beautiful, serene park-like oasis that is The Farm at South Mountain? I think not. The temperature was perfect, the setting lovely and the food amazingly fresh and tasty, as always.

If you're on a low-carb diet, or are a self-proclaimed "locavore" (foodie who prefers locally grown ingredients), The Farm Kitchen is great choice for you. Not only does The Farm grow some of their own produce on-site -- just walk around and you'll see folks tending the small crops -- but they also harvest incredibly delicious pecans from the rows of sheltering trees.

Salad with pecans, or Snickers bars? Hard choice...

The bad news? Pecans aren't exactly the best diet food. According to the USDA, they're about 753 calories per cup, with a whopping 78 grams of fat. I'd have to eat about five and a half Snickers bars to equal the amount of fat in a cup of pecans. Yeah, that's bad. But it gets better, I swear...

By Wynter Holden

So there I was, in the brand new Sign of the Whale restaurant at 1706 E. Warner in Tempe (in the old Voodoo Daddy's spot), when I was faced with a whale of a problem: guzzle down the high-calorie house special chowder and the fish & chips I was eyeing, or be good and try to find something non-fried and low-fat that I could stomach. Sigh. For you, dear readers, I sacrificed satiating my chowder jones and instead combed the menu for something less "fishy" -- at least, where calorie counts were concerned. Yes, the seafood-topped burger sounded scrumptious, but if I ate that way all the time, the restaurant's weird, drunk mascot wouldn't be the only whale in the place.

You can't go wrong with shrimp cocktail, which generally runs at about 200-300 calories including sauce. It's quick, it's light, and you can eat it with your fingers. So really, it's as satisfying as mozzarella sticks. Ok, now I'm lying, but it is a pretty decent starter. Sign of the Whale offers a peel-and-eat chilled shrimp platter with a baker's dozen of the little guys and a side of cocktail sauce, so I went for that. Technically, it's an appetizer, but you can always pair it with something else (like the cole slaw and pickles I snagged from my dining partner Mr. Y).

They say the slower you eat, the quicker you'll get full. And with having to peel these suckers and pull the little legs off (I'd get grossed out, but as my pseudo-vegetarian friend Miss M says, they're "sea bugs," so really it's no different than offing a cricket), this one's a real winner in that department. I was only halfway done by the time Mr. Y polished off his burger and chowder, and I was already getting a bit full. Yum...chowder. Diet column aside, next time I'm ordering the chowder.

Hell, I can always do some extra time on the treadmill to make up for it.

There aren't many places in town worse for dieters than the Indoor Swapmart near 27th Ave. & Camelback. Well, there's the state fair. Or the Heart Attack Grill. But a recent costume-hunting excursion to the 'Mart (don't even ask...you'd guffaw like a schoolyard bully at my geekiness) had me prowling for a lunch that wouldn't set me back three weeks on my weight loss goals -- or require that I down a triple-cocktail of antacid, Pepto and Imodium afterwards.

Ribs? Nice try. Tacos? Not unless there's a new "fatty, greasy, grade-D-but-edible meat" diet. Fry Bread? Seriously, you're killing me here.

The best I could do was Frenchie's Cafe (or possibly Frenchy's Cafe, as it was suffering from some sort of dual-signage crisis), a cute center-aisle booth with a couple of plastic tables and a wrought iron trellis out front. Honestly, I didn't hold out much hope for this one. I saw signs of a microwave oven and a grill press, but not much else in the way of cooking provisions. But, in the land of candy-coated taffy apples and puffy fried dough topped with grey, meat-like substance, this was the best shot I had. Sigh.

Color me surprised, but I found a new menu item on a handwritten card that actually sounded pretty tasty: grilled chicken panini with melted mozzarella, tomato and peppers. And it was a pretty decent little sammy for a place with no real kitchen to speak of. The bread was crispy, the white meat chicken tender and the green peppers still slightly crunchy.

I was a little confused by the 10-minute wait, especially when I kept watching my sandwich randomly move around to different parts of the booth. But considering that Frenchy's is the only decent option when I'm trolling the Swapmart for treasures, maybe it's just best that I don't know.

Dieters, beware! I'm about to reveal the greatest lie in dieting history. It's bigger than the DaVinci code. More annoying than Palin's "Troopergate" fiasco. Worse than imagined weapons of mass destruction. Are you ready? Here goes.

Salads are often the most fattening items on a restaurant's menu, especially when it's a Mexican restaurant.

I know what you're thinking. "Oh, God! Not salads! You're taking away my salad? What the hell am I going to eat now -- cilantro garnish and a side of beans?" But calm down, it's okay. Just hold on one sec, Loosie, and stop the high-pitched whining while I esplain a little.

Tortilla salads are a Mexican restaurant's way of assuaging our fat fears by pretending to offer something healthy. Wait. It's just a salad, right? Rice, lettuce, beans...healthful, no? Try adding mounds of cheddar cheese. Then shove two fistfuls of tortilla strips on top, add high-cal dressing and a delicious, but slightly greasy meat product.

Case in point: I recently ordered the award-winning Barbacoa Pork Salad at Cafe Rio in Gilbert. True, they use lard-free beans, fresh produce and lower-cal Cojito cheese instead of cheddar, but there are still a lot of diet destroyers in this "salad" served in a puffy white tortilla.

1. The size - I appreciate the value for the price, but seriously, do I need a salad larger than my head?
2. The barbacoa pork - Yes, the meat was tender and moist with a smoky sweetness. But I'm guessing that the sugar content in the sauce would rival some desserts.
3. The tortilla - When is a salad NOT a salad? When it's served in a giant flour tortilla that makes you want to wrap the whole thing up like a burrito.
4. Tortilla strips - One word: fried.

I'll offer two solutions to this little salad snag...

By Wynter Holden

After a visit to the lovely Phoenix Public Market last Saturday (where I scored some awesome tomato garlic pasta, plum spread and fresh-baked cinnamon bread), the hubby and I made a pit stop in the shopping plaza 3701 East Indian School Rd to peruse the pathetic linen selection at Tuesday Morning (guess that's why you should go on Tuesday, instead of waiting until the weekend, when the store's already been picked clean by shopping vultures).

We spotted Acacia Café, an unassuming little eatery in the corner of the plaza, flanked by a cozy outdoor patio sporting some rather sad-looking trees. Hey, why not? Dead foliage notwithstanding, we thought the place looked cute. I now thank the dieting gods we walked in, because this joint was heavenly.

I stood at the counter for about five minutes, perusing the mouthwatering selection of salads, grilled paninis and breakfast staples. Mmm...tuna salad? Veggie panini? Or maybe the waffles I was already salivating over? The guy behind the counter asked if he could help. I wiped the drool off my chin and told him I was looking for something healthy and I was leaning towards breakfast foods. "We can do egg whites only, or egg beaters, and all of our sausage is turkey sausage," he said. "And you can sub fruit for hash browns." Hot damn! I would've leapt over the counter and kissed him right there, but uh, my husband probably wouldn't have approved.

By Wynter Holden

I admit it. The name alone suckered me in. Every time I took one particular route home from work (or play), I passed a new-construction strip mall with a big, cartoon-y sign in the corner that read "Spicy Pickle," flanked by an animated icon of the tart-and-sour veggie. The little pickle beckoned, teasing me with its promise of a "spicier" sandwich sidekick. This weekend, I gave in.

Spicy Pickle's a great place to eat if you're on a diet. Sure, the cream soups are likely off-the-chart when it comes to calorie and fat counts, but the Pickle has three things dieter's adore.

1. salads - there's no shortage of them here
2. pickles - these little guys can be a dieter's best friend; more on that in a sec and
3. sandwiches - at this deli-style restaurant, you can literally design your own sandwich, sans cheese and fat-laden condiments

Now about the pickles...

By Wynter Holden

First, let me start by saying that if you're counting Weight Watchers points, avoiding carbs or (heaven forbid) taking Alli, just skip this blog. Don't read it. Shoo. Yes, I mean you.

Why? Because sometimes it's just about eating au naturel. No, I don't mean dining in the nude. I'm talking about scouring the menu at local sports bar Indigo Joe's (note: my friend Mr. Y's dining choice, NOT mine) for something remotely unprocessed to eat. No sliders or wings or mozzarella sticks, or any other "fried death" foodstuffs. No trans fats and heavy oils. Just plain ol', well, food.

By Wynter Holden

The first rule to dieting and still living in the real world (you know, where you actually go out to eat without your kitchen scale in tow) is to learn the “safe” hotspots in town and memorize them. That way, when your co-workers suggest lunch at Black Angus, you can casually steer them towards Ruby Tuesday and their low carb offerings. Or Applebee’s, whose menu provides handy Weight Watchers point counts.

But not all restaurant chains are that obvious when it comes to offering healthy dishes. Take Keegan’s Grill & Taproom, for example. Last weekend, when faced with the choice between Sweet Tomatoes and Keegan’s, I was ashamed to admit I chose the latter. I mean what kind of serious dieter chooses a bar over a salad restaurant? Turns out, a wise one.

By Wynter Holden

I know what you're thinking. A dieting column about going to a Chinese buffet? I must be crazy, especially after my abysmal failure at Chino Bandido a few weeks back. But that's exactly why I chose the dreaded Chinese buffet.

To serious dieters, the buffet restaurant is like committing seppuku with a pair of chopsticks -- because you'll inevitably blow your diet to hell the second you walk in and see fried doughnuts, sesame chicken and honey walnut shrimp piled in never ending steam trays.

Hong Kong Gourmet Buffet in Ahwatukee is one of the local "Grand Dames" of Chinese buffets. It's a bit pricier than standard buffets, but definitely worth the few extra bucks for the addition of low-cal seafood items like crab legs, chilled shrimp and sea bass (you have to ask for it the last one, but it's always available at dinnertime).

See, my view is this: As a dieter, you should never choose to go to a Chinese buffet. BUT, at some point, your friends or co-workers will invite you along and somehow you'll have to survive without pigging out on hybridized Chino-American fried foodstuffs.

By Wynter Holden

Yes, you read the title right. If you haven't already heard of Chino Bandido -- or seen their mustachioed, sombrero-wearing panda mascot -- you might be a bit shocked, even offended. In this age of political correctness it's a miracle that such a place exists.

That being said, Chino Bandido is one of the coolest little hole-in-the wall eateries I've ever visited.

By Wynter Holden

Eating Asian food while on a diet can be a tricky proposition for an American diner. You'd think that Thai, Chinese and Japanese eats would automatically equal diet-friendly. I mean, proportionally (pun intended), how many overweight people live in these countries vs. the U.S.? Asian obesity rates have historically been very low. Well, until we introduced the "Big Mac" culture.

And therein lays the challenge. To appeal to American tastes, Asian restaurants have introduced fattening entrees that barely resemble their foreign counterparts. Orange chicken. Fried dumplings. Pad Thai smothered in peanut sauce. Yeah, can I have a side of thunder thighs with that? Thanks.

I admit it. I'm in love. It's what I like to call a "culinary crush"; when you find a new local restaurant that you become completely obsessed with. Every time you're hungry and don't have plans, you turn to your crush, where you always know you'll enjoy the experience.

My new crush is a small Hawaiian grill next to Chipotle and a sub place in a Southwest Phoenix strip mall. Called Rumbi Island Grill, the place hovers somewhere between traditional fast food joint and swankier order-at-the-counter restaurants like Sauce. Yes, Rumbi is a national chain (tsk, tsk), but if I avoided dining at strip malls or chains, in a month or two I'd be SOL with new restaurant choices over here in the West Valley.

Normally, I indulge in the pork platter with mac salad and rice. But if we're going to have a long-term relationship, I figure Rumbi needs to be supportive of my dieting endeavors. And sadly, my research indicates that a large scoop of macaroni salad like the one at Rumbi's can pack a whopping 600+ calories and 40 grams of fat! Ouch.

By Wynter Holden

In my notebook of odd dieting theories, I have one that's completely ridiculous. Not that the idea is bad, mind you. Just that executing this particular plan requires that I look like a complete fool in front of dozens of strangers. I knew I was going to test it sometime.

I didn't know that it was going to happen at my friend Mr. B's 29th birthday party, in front of his entire family. But I just couldn't help it. If there's one place in town that that requires some serious dieting creativity, it's the new Darcy McGee's Irish pub in the Tempe Marketplace. I mean, just one Guinness has about 200 calories. Add shepherd's pie and bread pudding to that and your diet goes up in flames...with whiskey sauce as the accelerant.

To their credit, Darcy's does have a handful of decent looking salads, even if they are loaded with fat-heavy bacon and cheese. But let's be real. If you go to an Irish pub, you're going to want real British Isles grub. Beer-braised beef boxty. Bangers and mash. So I looked over the menu and ordered exactly what I wanted: Chicken pie.

The menu described it as "diced chicken breast, broccoli and aged cheddar simmered in a bechamel sauce and topped with a savoury buttermilk biscuit." Oh, my! My stomach was already rumbling in approval when the pot pie bowl was placed in front of me.

That's when I pulled out my secret dieting weapon...

By Wynter Holden

I've never had the experience of simultaneously finding it incredibly easy and agonizingly difficult to stick to my diet. That is, until now. I hadn't been to the little cafe that opened up just south of MacAlpine's on 7th Street, so I scheduled an interview there last week.

For sure, La Piccola Cucina is totally cute. It's tucked in a converted house with wood floors and tin ceilings; although it's hard to spot behind the large hedges and patio umbrellas shading the stone patio. They've got a decent selection of paninis, which sounded great, but my eyes went straight to the glass cabinet stocked with charcuterie-style meats, salads and veggies.

With the plate lunch/dinner, you get to choose one meat and two side dishes from the counter and they'll heat 'em up for you. I don't reheat food and I don't own a microwave (because I'm one of those pseudo-hippie nuts that secretly fear the radiation...shh, don't tell), so it was a little weird. But unless you're really anti-leftovers, it shouldn't faze you.

I sighed with relief when I looked over the choices.

By Wynter Holden

The rule in my house is that the person with the crappiest day gets to make the decision about what to do that evening. My roommate "A" finalized a bad breakup last Thursday, so dinner was definitely her call. My fingers were crossed for something healthy, and luckily, Miss A wanted to pound down some sushi.

So we piled in my little green Beetle and headed to Ichiban Sushi & Teppanyaki at 99th and McDowell in Tolleson. We didn't sit at one of the Teppanyaki cooktop tables, so I was limited to the regular menu. Unfortunately, the entree choices were pretty much meat drowned in teriyaki sauce or meat deep-fried in oil. Great! Either choice would bust my allowable fat intake for the day; maybe the whole week, if I had a combo.

Since I don't count grocery-store-bought California rolls as "real" sushi, I was technically a sushi virgin. Rice, vinegar and fish sounds super-healthy and low in calories, but you actually have to be careful with what roll you choose. Miss A recommended the tempura roll, but as far as I'm concerned, "tempura" must translate to "unhealthy and fattening" in Japanese.

So I tested one of my new dieting mantras: When in doubt, get an appetizer or two rather than a huge entree. Eating edamame first is always a helpful weight-management trick. At about 125 calories a serving, they're low in saturated fat, high in fiber and have more than twice your daily protein requirement. I ordered up some heart-healthy edamame, a small 4-pc steamed shrimp dumpling appetizer and one item from the sushi menu. I wasn't sure if I'd really bust my sushi cherry by ordering ebi (technically sashimi, not sushi) but I figured I'd give it a shot.

The shrimp shumai (dumplings) were a little briny, but salvageable drowned in soy sauce, and my first stab at sushi was decent. Altogether, it was a pretty decent meal. And it cheered up my poor friend Miss A. Sushi, and Japanese food in general, is a great choice for those trying to stick to a healthy diet regimen -- especially if you stick with boiled or steamed appetizers and sushi. Just steer clear of tempura anything, watch your salt intake (that soy sauce is a killer) and go light on the teriyaki.

by Wynter Holden

After last week's adventure into grannyville, I thought I'd venture into trendier territory this week. So when I suggested a mid-week trek to the upscale, chic Bombay Spice Indian bistro at 16th St. & Glendale in Phoenix, my roommates squealed and said, "hell, yeah!" Since my return to Phoenix, I've been craving some decent chicken curry, and I'd heard this place was awesome. Apparently, my roomies heard the same thing. Plus, one's a vegetarian, and I'm a slightly anemic carnivore, so finding someplace all of us can eat out comfortably together can be a challenge.

Since Michele Laudig's glowing review, few things have changed. The menu's still heathful fare with no butter, cream or heavy oil. What has changed is that the bistro's chefs have calculated calorie counts for nearly every entree and written them down in a three-ring binder which the manager let me take a peek at. A 55-calorie appetizer? 100-calorie entrees? Score!

By Wynter Holden

Sure, it's easy as fat-free pie to stick to your diet if you're at home weighing meat or eating entrees out of a box. Some dieters just give up altogether on eating out, but I say...screw that! So I'm looking for creative ways to help you stick to your diet while out on the town. In our culture, restaurants are about socializing, and I for one am not ready to become a reclusive old maid sitting at home with a cardboard dinner that makes an Army MRE look appealing.

How ironic then that I walked into The Tea Shoppe for brunch earlier this week. There I was, a rebellious tattooed thirtysomething in tight denim shorts and a low cut babydoll top, amongst lacy doilies, porcelain teacups and a dozen blue-haired women old enough to be my grandma. I thought about backing up slowly and walking out before the hostess saw me, but I'd skipped breakfast and my stomach was threatening to eat itself at this point.

The Tea Shoppe, 7005 N 58th Ave. in Glendale, is a quaint little eatery slash kitschy tea house; the kind of place Red Hat Society biddies drink Earl Grey and brag about their grandchildren. I sat alone at a tiny farmhouse table for two covered with a thick, faux lace tablecloth. Armed with camera and notebook, I was ready to test my first 'creative dieting' theory: It's hard to pig out when you're forced to be dainty.