Battle of the Bulge

With the battle of the bulge on, Ruby Tuesday’s has gone and taken a pre-emptive strike against the fries. By  adding a “Health Option” to the menu, shown in maroon and black, the restaurant has broken new ground in the kitchen. According to manager Danielle De la Bastide, it has increased their lunchtime crowds considerably. “What Ruby Tuesday’s International realised is that a lot more people are health conscious,” said De la Bastide. “They didn’t want to go the Atkins way or eat  ‘diet food’,” she said, noting that customers  wanted good food along with the option of  keeping  their carbohydrate count lower. With over  30 new menu items to create their own low carb dishes, customers might stand a chance at trimming their love handles. When the restaurant opened in February 2002, it offered a standard menu, consisting of barbecued pork ribs, burgers and fries and shrimp along with chicken and fish.

However, it always offered an extensive salad bar as an option for vegeterians, consisting of 32-odd vegetables, including green vegetables, mixed salads, pasta salads, potato salads and fruit. It was only last month that the low carb dishes made their debut, De la Bastide said. She said as part of the Ruby Tuesday’s franchise, the local restaurant was obligated to carry the same menu that was offered  in any other restaurants worldwide. “We have created these new dishes giving the customer an option to have something low carb,” she said. Chef Leader Curtis Saunders, who has been at the restaurant since it opened,  insists that all of the meals offered are healthy. In fact, if food is to be fried, it’s done in canola oil, he noted. “The canola oil contains half the cholesterol of lard, which a lot of other franchises use,” Saunders said. “With lard, you have to melt it down until it become liquid, then it takes a while for you to heat it up. With canola, it’s pure and in liquid form, so you can use it immediately.”

Canola oil is a monosaturated oil which contains no trans fats and is the lowest in saturated fats of all available oils today. It’s also a great source of Omega 3 fatty acid, an essential nutrient that plays an important role in heart and brain health. As in any other restaurant, Ruby Tuesday’s aims to offer a square meal that includes vegetables, protein (meat) and carbohydrates. But with these new menu choices,  they hope to lure those who not only want a tasty meal but low calories as well. Low carb meal choices include their Chopped Steak, Low Carb Catch (a cajun-seasoned white fish fillet) and the Grilled Cajun Chicken. Tasty indeed. Said De la Bastide, “As they say, carbohydrates turn into sugars, and we have people that watch their sugar intake as well, so we are helping to lower that.”

A customer can change a basic meal by substituting a low carb side dish to suit their tastes. For example, their Church Street Chicken™, which consists of grilled chicken with saut?ed mushrooms, bacon and melted Swiss cheese, is served with broccoli and a rice pilaf. On the menu, it says, “Make it LOW CARB by substituting creamy mashed cauliflower for rice pilaf.” They also offer a low carb selection of wraps. “None of our items has MSG so you can close your eyes and order. If you don’t want an item a certain way, we can change it. You don’t want salad dressing on your fish and want lemon juice instead? No problem.

And guests shouldn’t worry about not knowing what goes into a dish, because each member of our staff knows about the low carb meals we prepare and can answer any questions and advise you on what to have.” “We went through a thorough training session with them, to ensure they know what it’s all about, so they can help you to make an informed choice,” said Saunders. And the cost? “I would say that it’s not that bad for a restaurant of our type and environment like this. It’s a good buy and what you get, no matter what you have, you can never finish it all.” Low carb is on the market and people are really, really becoming more health conscious now. But we wanted to be the first on the bandwagon,” De la Bastide said.