Restaurant Roulette

T.G.I. Friday's has Atkins. Applebee's has Weight Watchers. Ruby Tuesday has Smart Eating. Are chain restaurants trying to stem the obesity epidemic?

Applebee's

Bob Evans

Don't bet on it. Most of their menus are still brimming with fatty burgers, fries, ribs, fried chicken fingers, and nachos. But if Aunt Ethel won't go to Bob Evans because she's on a low-carb diet, Bob doesn't want the family to drive to Ruby Tuesday instead.

The good news is that many light and low-carb dishes are healthier than what's on the rest of the menu. Who could complain about salads or grilled chicken or seafood served with broccoli, zucchini, sugar snap peas, or fresh fruit instead of potatoes, rice, and dinner rolls?

The bad news is that hiding among the healthier items on the low-carb menus are Buffalo wings, steaks, burgers, and pork chops, sometimes covered with cheese. And some menus print only those nutrients--like carbs or fiber--that look good.

In fact, missing numbers--for bad fat or sodium--are often high. And even low-fat dishes like grilled chicken or bean soup are usually swimming in sodium.

That's why we have only a handful of Best Bites. They're not smothered in salt and they have less bad fat (saturated or trans), more vegetables or fruit, and fewer calories than typical restaurant dishes. Better Bites are better than what's on the regular menu, but have missing or excessive sodium levels.

Here's the scoop on light and low-carb menus at some of the top chain restaurants. Most of the numbers come from the menus or the companies' Web sites. When critical numbers were missing (T.G.I. Friday's Atkins dishes and three Olive Garden entrees), we had samples analyzed by an independent lab.

Applebee's

How convenient to have calories, fat, and fiber listed right on the menu (okay, at least on the Weight Watchers portion).

So you know before you order that the Tango Chicken Sandwich delivers 370 calories and 8 grams of fiber, for example. And while sodium numbers would help, at least you can decide whether to spend 340 calories on the Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa or 170 calories on the Grilled Shrimp Skewer Salad. And you can mull over whether the Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake or Berry Lemon Cheesecake is worth 230 calories.

The Weight Watchers menu slashes calories.

For example:

■ Tortilla Chicken Melt, made with reduced-fat mozzarella and cheddar and vegetables in a whole-wheat tortilla with non-fat ranch dressing, has about half the 900 calories (and less than a quarter of the 60 grams of fat) of the cheese quesadillas with sour cream and guacamole you'd get at a typical Mexican restaurant.

■ Sizzling Chicken Skillet, with its veggies, non-fat ranch dressing, and whole-wheat tortillas, has less than half the 840 calories--and a sixth of the 24 grams of fat--of the chicken fajitas at most Mexican restaurants (without even counting the fajitas'sour cream, guacamole, beans, and rice).

■ Teriyaki Shrimp Skewers, served with rice pilaf and vegetables, has just 260 calories-- about half as much as the shrimp scampi with rice and veggies at a typical seafood restaurant.

Bottom line: everything on the menu gets a Better Bite. But nothing gets a Best Bite because the chain doesn't disclose sodium.

Bob Evans

Bob is trying to please everyone. Carb cutters get Low-Carb Choices and fat cutters get Lighter Fare Choices. Most are decent. Unfortunately, you can't tell by looking at the menu, which gives only one number (carbs or fat) per item.

The chain's Web site discloses calories, saturated fat, and sodium. Too bad those numbers aren't on the menu.

Low-Carb: Go for the good entrees (Grilled Chicken or Salmon) and good sides (broccoli or Garden Salad with light dressing, for example) and your meal stays at 500 to 600 calories and just 5 grams of sat fat (a quarter of a day's worth).

But pair the chicken or salmon with a Specialty Side Salad (with its bacon and cheese) plus buttermilk ranch or bleu cheese dressing and the calories jump by some 200 while the sat fat more than doubles.

Worse yet are the bad entrees. The Cobb Salad (made with egg, bacon, and cheese) dressed with buttermilk ranch hits 950 calories and 25 grams of sat fat-- more than a day's worth. If you use the light ranch dressing you'll knock off only 50 calories.

And the Pork Chops make the Cobb Salad look good. Each of the two chops is equal to a McDonald's Quarter Pounder. With a Specialty Side Salad (with bleu cheese dressing) and green beans with ham, you're talking 1,350 calories, 27 grams of sat fat, and an astounding 3,260 mg of sodium (well over an entire day's limit).

Lighter Fare:

For a light lunch, the Fruit & Yogurt Plate (it's on the breakfast menu) or a Pick Two Combo like Classic Bean Soup and Garden Salad with light dressing can keep the calories under 450. Each "freshly baked roll" adds another 200 calories and 270 mg of sodium.

For dinner, your best bet is the Grilled Chicken. As long as you get it with a Garden Salad with light dressing and broccoli or fresh fruit, you'll beat anything else on the Lighter Fare menu.

For example, the Vegetable Stir-Fry has plenty of vegetables, but it's also got plenty of white rice. The Grilled Chicken Sandwich comes with a salad instead of French fries, but the chicken is sitting in a white bun. And while you can get the Turkey Breast with salad and broccoli, it also comes with a baked potato (not great if you skip the skin).

Don't get us wrong, though. Compared to Bob Evans's (or anyone else's) regular menu, Bob's Lighter Fare wins hands down.

Chili's

Chili's Guiltless Grill aims to cut fat (that's the only number the menu discloses). In addition to the Tomato Basil Pasta, your choices boil down to grilled chicken, grilled chicken, or grilled chicken.

You can get it stuffed in a Guiltless Grill Pita (with pico de gallo, lettuce, and low-fat ranch dressing) with a generous side of fiber-rich black beans. You can get it in a Guiltless Chicken Platter (with rice, corn on the cob, and veggies with Parmesan cheese). Or you can get it in a Guiltless Chicken Sandwich (with no-fat honey mustard dressing, lettuce, pickle, and tomato) with black beans and veggies with Parmesan on the side.

At just over 500 calories apiece, they're a bargain compared to the platters at most Tex-Mex restaurants, which typically start at 1,000 calories (thanks to rice, beans, sour cream, and guacamole alongside tacos, burritos, or fajitas).

Olive Garden

For years, the Garden Fare items on Olive Garden's menu have offered lower-fat pasta dishes for the health-conscious. Now the chain also offers two bits of advice for carb counters: "Savor one of our grilled entrees with fresh vegetables in place of potatoes" and "Enjoy our pasta entrees with whole wheat linguine."

No argument here. Both suggestions will produce a healthier meal. So what if the "whole wheat" pasta is only part whole-wheat? You're better off with some whole grain than none. Just keep in mind that substituting vegetables for potatoes doesn't automatically turn the chain's grilled entrees into flawless meals.

The Tuscan T-Bone, for example, has 580 calories and 16 grams of bad (saturated-plus-trans) fat. You're better off with the surprisingly lean Pork Filettino (with only 340 calories and 3 grams of harmful fat) or the Salmon Piccata (with 440 calories and its heart-healthy omega-3 fats). Bonus: each has just 420 mg of sodium.

Calories for the pasta dinner portions range from 510 (for the Linguine alla Marinara) to 740 (for the Shrimp Primavera). The Chicken Giardino and Capellini Pomodoro both clock in at 610 calories.

But you can shave roughly 200 calories off any pasta dish by ordering a lunch portion (any time of day). That leaves some room for the unlimited salad (get the dressing on the side) or the bean-packed Minestrone Soup. The breadsticks, which are brushed with butter and garlic salt, may not be worth 140 calories a pop.

Red Lobster

Seafood isn't automatically healthy. Red Lobster's regular menu has its share of 2,000-calorie battered-and-fried seafood platters (which include French fries, just in case you haven't had your fill of trans-fat-laden shortening).

But Red's LightHouse Selections make it easy to "indulge without compromising taste or your diet." The menu lists calories, carbs, total fat, and (for side dishes) fiber, so you can see what each appetizer, entree, side dish, condiment, and beverage will mean to your waist (though not to your arteries or blood pressure).

■ Sides. The broccoli has 60 fat-free calories. In contrast, the other sides--buttered vegetables, a baked potato with pico de gallo topping (marinated chopped tomato), or wild rice pilaf--have 150 to 200 calories.

■ Better than butter. The menu lets you compare the butter's 180 calories (and 21 grams of fat, 15 of them probably saturated) to a 70-calorie, fat-free serving of cocktail sauce.

■ Half portions. The menu offers a half portion of the salmon, rainbow trout, or tilapia. That cuts the calories to under 300 (not counting the sides).

■ Extras. The Cheddar Bay Biscuits run you 160 calories each. A glass of wine is about 140 calories. Can you afford them?

Ruby Tuesday

Most of Ruby Tuesday's Smart Eating dishes trounce the rest of the menu (see "Regular Ruby"). Here are some of Smart Eating's best and worst:

■ Soups. Ruby drops the cheese and croutons from its 550-calorie Baked French Onion Soup to come up with a 200-calorie Smart Eating version. And the White Chicken Chili has a third fewer calories and half the fat of a typical order of beef chili. Both beat the Low-Carb Broccoli & Cheese Soup, which probably delivers at least half a day's saturated fat.

■ Appetizers. The Spicy Buffalo Wings may be low-carb, but they're not low-cal. How do 1,090 calories--or even half that much--fit into your diet plan? The Low-Carb chicken Quesadilla is served on a whole-wheat tortilla, but that won't keep its 670 calories from sticking to your ribs. And it has triple the fat of Applebee's Tortilla Chicken Melt.

■ Wraps. Ruby's Low-Carb Wraps are a steal. The Roasted Turkey beats the Grilled Chicken and Chicken Caesar because the turkey has no cheese. But all three are nestled in whole-wheat tortillas and have 300 to 400 calories (including dressing)--a fraction of the 600 to 1,300 in Ruby's (and most other chains') regular sandwiches. What's more, each wrap comes with a Spring Mix Salad with light balsamic vinaigrette instead of fries.

■ Salads. Ruby has four Low-Carb salads--Spring Chicken, Chicken Caesar, Peppercorn Salmon Caesar, and Chicken Cobb. Steer clear of the Cobb unless you want 920 calories' worth of cheese, bacon, eggs, and dressing coating your lettuce (and your waist). The rest are Better Bites, but you can cut the sat fat in the Spring Chicken if you skip the bleu cheese crumbles. And you'll lose some of the 500-to-660 calories in either of the Caesars if you get the dressing on the side (and use less).

■ Entrees. The Peppercorn Mushroom Sirloin, Smothered Sirloin Tips, Ruby's Ribeye, Blackened Ribeye, and Bayou Surf & Turf have 910 to 1,160 calories. That includes the veggies and mashed cauliflower that come with all of Ruby's Low-Carb and Smart Eating meals (but not the 100-calorie melted Steak Butter, which comes on the side with some steaks). And the Low-Carb New Orleans Seafood (smothered in Alfredo sauce) and Low-Carb Church Street Chicken (covered with a thick layer of cheese and bacon strips) each has 800 calories.

In contrast, the Grilled BBQ Chicken, Low-Carb Oven-Roasted Turkey Dinner, Petite or Top Sirloin, "Eat Your Vegetables" Platter, Low-Carb Peppercorn Salmon, honey Dijon Chicken, and Low-Carb Creole Catch keep the calories around 500 to 600.

You can cut the calories and sat fat in any entree by replacing the mashed cauliflower (made with butter, cream, and cheese) with the delicious sauteed zucchini or sugar snap peas. The baked beans, broccoli, brown rice and black beans, and cole slaw won't cut many calories, but they trim the sat fat at no cost to your taste buds.

■ Desserts. Ruby's Low-Carb Cheesecake and Low-Carb Chocolate Lava Cake have fewer calories (400 to 630) than the usual 1,000-calorie dessert extravaganza. But with somewhere between half a day's and a whole day's sat fat, they're nowhere near healthy. In contrast, most people can afford the 210 calories in Ruby's Blueberry D'Lite. It's a dessert, not a meal-breaker.

Regular Ruby You gotta give Ruby Tuesday credit. It's the only chain that has the nerve to disclose-- in a booklet on every table--calories, fat, "net carbs," and fiber for all of its items.

Saturated fat and sodium are missing, though. (So is trans fat, but now that Ruby has switched to non-hydrogenated canola oil, trans is less of a problem.) And the numbers for the appetizers omit any sauces or dressings and assume that you'll only eat a quarter of what's served. The chain also gives numbers for 1 ounce of salad dressing, even though the entree salads come with 3 ounces. Even so, it takes guts to print numbers like these:

■ Appetizers. A full order (with sauce or dressing) of Fried Cheese, Southwestern Spring Rolls, or Spicy Honey BBQ Chicken Tenders will set you back around 700 calories. The Spicy Buffalo Chicken Tenders up the ante to over 900, while the Spinach Dip (1,150, including chips), Loaded Cheese Fries (1,160), and Queso Dip (1,270, with chips) are off the charts.

■ Burgers. Most burgers have about 1,000 calories. Exceptions: the Classic, Veggie, and Turkey Club Burgers have "only" about 800 calories, while the Colossal Burger has 1,680. Add 185 calories for the fries that come with every burger and another 185 for every "free refill upon request."

■ Sandwiches. Expect 1,000 calories in the Hickory Chicken, Crispy Chicken Club, or Signature Fish Sandwich (that includes the obligatory fries). An Ultimate Roasted Turkey BLT with fries will cost you 1,300 calories, while a Panini with fries can hit 1,500. At 600 calories, Ruby's Chicken Sandwich is a relative bargain...unless you pump it up to 900 calories by eating the fries and Smoky Honey Dijon Sauce.

■ Platters & Pastas. Whether it's Smoky Mountain Chicken, Louisiana Fried Shrimp, or Original Chicken Tenders, platters hover around 1,000 calories (without dressings or sauces). Most pastas also come with around 1,000 calories, except for the Pasta Marinara (670) and the Chicken Parmesan (nearly 1,500). The Garlic Toast tacks on another 220 calories.

■ Desserts. The Candy Bar Ice Cream Pie doesn't sound low in calories. And, at 830, it isn't. Ruby's Brownie (crowned with ice cream and chocolate sauce) squeezes 1,000 calories onto your plate (and into your fat cells). At least Ruby's customers know the true cost of their dinner. Too bad other chains aren't honest enough to divulge theirs.

T.G.I. Friday's

Limit your carbs, not your lifestyle," says the Atkins section of T.G.I. Friday's menu. Dieters are sure to perk up at the sight of Buffalo Wings, a Sizzling New York Strip steak with Bleu Cheese, or New York Cheesecake. But the "Atkins Net Carbs"--the only number listed next to each item--doesn't tell the whole story.

Take the Buffalo Wings with dressing. They may have only 5 net carbs, but they look no different than Ruby Tuesday's or any other chain's wings, which probably means a whopping 1,000 calories and 80 grams of fat (more than a day's worth) per platter.

Other dishes from the Atkins menu, which we sent to an independent lab for analysis, show (once again) how badly dieters need nutrition numbers on menus.

First comes the Tuscan Spinach Dip with vegetables. The veggies are a nice touch. But they don't make up for 590 calories, 25 grams (more than a day's worth) of bad fat, and 1,300 mg of sodium...in an appetizer.

Not surprisingly, the Bunless Burgers are the worst entree. They may have only 6 net carbs, but all the other numbers--860 calories, 23 grams of harmful fat, and 1,430 mg of sodium--add up to a net disaster. The Sizzling NY Strip steak with Bleu Cheese comes with broccoli, but it also comes with 18 grams of damaging fat.

Chicken may seem like a safe bet, but--thanks to the melted cheese--the Sizzling Chicken with Broccoli is essentially the Sizzling NY Strip steak with a day's worth of sodium (2,480 mg). And the even-saltier Chicken La Boca stuffs your boca (Spanish for mouth) with 13 grams of bad fat and 2,730 mg of sodium.

Luckily, Friday's offers one salad and two seafood dishes that should appeal to anyone watching their weight. You can probably slash half the 12 grams of harmful fat from the salad (Grilled Buffalo Chicken) if you skip the cheese.

As for the seafood: the Fire Roasted Salmon served over roasted vegetables is low in sodium and delivers a good dose of healthy omega-3 fats, while the Key West Grouper with roasted vegetables has just 300 calories and 4 grams of bad fat. Carbs, shmarbs. You can't beat those numbers.