Dining Out with Dr. Atkins

OK, so I didn't really go out to dinner with Dr. Atkins.  After all, the man has been "unavailable" for years.  But, I do take Dr. Atkins's nutritional approach (ANA) with me every time I walk through the doors of a restaurant.  When treating yourself to a restaurant meal, you need to choose the type of restaurant carefully.  I chose the Genghis Grill.  In fact, I've chosen it twice in as many days.  Tonight, we asked how long they'd been open--10 days.  I have a new favorite restaurant on my (very short) favorite restaurant list.

We got there just before 5PM--and there was already a wait for tables.  Luckily for us, it was only 10 minutes.  We got seated and they explained the process.  They call it a 5-Step process.  First, you choose your protein--I heard one of the waiters saying that there were 14 protein choices.  I saw cubed meat--steak, chicken, turkey, & pork, marinated meat--fish & steak, crab meat, calamari, scallops, tofu, and shrimp.  Is that 14?  I guess I missed something.  Who cares?  Yesterday, I tried the marinated steak and the fish (lime/garlic/cilantro marinade).  Tonight, I stuck to the fish.

After you put your protein into the little metal bowl, you choose the seasoning.  There were 10 or 12 choices of different spices and spice blends.  I chose the hot ones!  I liked the labels--all the spice and sauce labels specified if they used gluten, seafood, or nuts in the preparation.

Next came the veggies.  Whoo-hoo!  There were mixed veggies (several kinds) and lonesome veggies.  I chose low-carb veggies--broccoli, cabbage, jalapenos, and mushrooms.

Next came the herbs and garnishes--cilantro, celery, pineapple, spinach, salsa, and baby corn (to name just a few).  I chose cilantro and spinach.

When you've got your bowl the way you want, you choose your sauce (or sauces).  Taking a small condiment cup, you choose your sauce and ladle it in.  The only sauce they had without wheat, sugar, honey, corn, or seafood was roasted tomato.  I chose the roasted tomato sauce.

Finally, you choose your starch--noodles (two kinds) or rice (brown, steamed white, or fried).  I skipped that stage, of course!  Once you've made your choices, you hand over your bowls to the cook.  Don't forget to tell him/her if you have any allergies--so that your food doesn't get mixed up with someone else's seafood!

The person at the counter takes down any allergies or special requests, gives you a number for your table, and you take a seat.

This is what the main grill looks like.  Our food was cooked on a smaller grill in the back--one used for people with allergies.

It doesn't take long before someone brings your cooked food to the table.  I like things hot, so the waitress brought me a bottle of Sriracha sauce.  Yummy!  I sprinkled a little soy sauce on top of the Sriracha and mixed it into my bowl.  Talk about delicious!

As you can see, the veggies cook down a LOT.  My bowl had about 1 cup of food by the time they finished cooking.  (This is the perfect illustration of why we weigh our food before cooking so that our carb-counts are accurate.)  I did not count the carbs in this bowl, but I made sure that the broccoli was the veggie with the highest carb-count in my bowl.  

Volley's Notes:
I am so happy that this restaurant opened in my town!  We used to drive across town for a Mongolian grill meal.  It is perfect for people following the ANA.  One thing I noticed both times we were in the restaurant was the number of people who were extremely obese--chowing down on rice and noodles.  I felt sad for them.  After all, they could have eaten a bowl of steak and cabbage with all the flavor that they were enjoying with their starchy poison--without adding to their weight problem.

Happy eating!