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Lost and Found: Your Dining Pleasure

Aug 26, 2011

Buzzwords for our time: Low sodium; calorie counts; good cholesterol/bad cholesterol; high fructose corn syrup; gluten-free. When did eating right become such a grind? And what’s become of the pleasure of simply enjoying food?

With all the news coverage, government legislation, nutrition watch-dogging and often-conflicting scientific reports, many consumers are confused about what’s healthy—feeling guilty and exhausted by efforts to find a healthy way of life. And many people equate healthy eating with more expense and less flavor. It seems like we’re losing all the fun.

Fortunately, amid the recent rush to add healthier options to menus, some operators have found a way to keep the pleasure principles intact:

A preview of a not-fried-chicken LYFE Kitchen menu item debuted at a 'forkraising' event Thursday in Palo Alto. Credit: Aaron Selverston

LYFE Kitchen. The meaning of LYFE—Love Your Food Everyday—says it all. Set to open this fall in Palo Alto, the first in a planned new chain of quick-casual restaurants will showcase a menu offering great-tasting food that is convenient, affordable and good for you—and good for the communities it serves. Chefs Art Smith and Tal Ronnen (known for their comfort food and vegetarian cuisine, respectively) have developed a menu that champions flavor, but no item contains more than 600 calories.

• Solbar. Michelin-starred chef Brandon Sharp has nothing against meat; he’d just rather work with all the beautiful fresh produce abounding in the Napa Valley. But it’s entirely your choice: Every menu is divided into “healthy lighter dishes to nourish your soul,” and “hearty cuisine to comfort your body.” All that and local, seasonal ingredients make for what Cooking Light magazine recently called some of the tastiest “light-conscious” food in the country.

True Food Kitchen. With four locations in Arizona and California, True Food offers a globally inspired menu that’s true to Dr. Andrew Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet & Food Pyramid. By integrating whole foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals with principles of flavor, freshness, variety, quality, nutrition and balance, TFK executive chef Michael Stebner aims for signature menu items that customers can enjoy as well as feel good about eating.

Need help balancing the pleasures of food with consumer demand for healthier offerings? Contact Synergy Restaurant Consultants.