Eating healthy when dining out is getting easier

July 30, 2008

CNN.com

By Stacey Colino

In the dining room's soft amber glow, dozens of patrons peruse the menu at Rock Creek restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland. From a health standpoint, making a smart choice is easy.

 Whether it's the slow-cooked salmon with sesame seeds, warm bok choy salad, and miso mustard dressing or the jumbo lump crab cakes with celeriac-apple slaw and lemon-caper aioli, each meal contains 600 or fewer calories -- nearly half the amount found in a typical restaurant entree.

"We offer what you're supposed to eat -- proper portions, great flavor-and we use fresh, local ingredients as much as possible," says co-owner Tom Williams, who, with partner Judith Hammerschmidt, opened Rock Creek two years ago. The pair worked with Cynthia Payne Moore, R.D., a Baltimore, Maryland-based dietitian, to obtain nutritional analyses for every item on the menu, and they adjust recipes to avoid unnecessary fat and determine portion sizes.

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