Restaurant Confidential by Michael F. Jacobson

Author:Michael F. Jacobson [F. Jacobson, Michael and G. Hurley, RD, Jayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780761178866
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Published: 2013-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

What Is Fresh Mex?

As burritos seem to get bigger and too many entrées rely on the deep-fat fryer to make us happy, there’s one trend in Mexican cooking that we’d like to encourage—Health Mex or Fresh Mex. It’s slowly but surely lightening things up on Mexican menus.

Chevys, for example, offers a departure from the usual creamy, meaty, cheese-laden choices. It features a variety of grilled fajitas, like the traditional favorites made with chicken, shrimp, and steak, and sometimes offers more inventive ones with portobello mushrooms and salmon. Acapulco now offers several entrées on its Healthy Dining Preparation menus, like Enchiladas Rancheras, Garden Tostada, and Tacos la Carbon. At El Torito the lite menu features dishes like Chicken Quesadilla Lite, Sonora Burrito Lite, and Chicken Fajita Lite.

The trend toward downsizing calories on Mexican menus appears strongest on the West Coast, especially in the fast-food segment. Rubio’s Baja Grill, a popular California-based chain with restaurants in the Southwest and Northwest, has a Health Mex menu of chicken and grilled fish tacos and burritos that the company claims range from just 3 to 13 grams of fat. Nearly half the menu at Una Mas, a northern-California chain, meets the American Heart Association’s guidelines that limit dishes to less than 30 percent of their calories from fat. The chain also offers to substitute whole wheat for regular tortillas at no extra charge.

We welcome those steps forward on the nutrition front, but our wish list for a Mexican menu makeover doesn’t stop with grilled fish and more veggies. We’re still waiting for restaurants to routinely offer the reduced-fat sour cream, nonfried beans, and baked tortilla chips that consumers can so readily buy at a supermarket but can’t order off a restaurant menu. In the meantime, Health Mex is a great step in the right direction.

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