some lou. restaurants posting caloric information signs

I'm very much in favor of this new trend, and I'm glad that the local government is actually providing money for these services. I'm trying to lose weight (again, I was down to 185lbs before last Christmas and a couple of months with various injuries/illnesses), and having this information is really helpful when it comes time to making decisions. Granted, I still make bad eating decisions, but I know I can have one good meal a day and eat light for the other meals and still come under my calorie goal.

Lunch tomorrow? OK. How about you adjust portion size / price and if we want the same thing for lunch tomorrow we can order a second one to go?

I've never been in the business, so I have no real numbers on this, but I imagine that the food itself (the ingredients) makes up only a relatively small portion of the price of any given dish. The rest goes into other costs - rent, equipment, staff wages, etc. So decreasing the portion size wouldn't have a proportional effect on the price of the dish - i.e., if a restaurant made a dish 30% smaller, they couldn't charge 30% less and keep the same profit margin. The price would only go down 10% or whatever. (Just making these numbers up). And, conversely, making dishes larger is a cheap way to make customers feel they're getting their money's worth.

Like I said, I could be totally off on this, but it makes sense to me.

Don't you do the doggie bag thing, though, Lonnie? We use it aggressively and sometimes get two or even three meals out of a restaurant investment. Seems like a sane approach to supersizing, to me. Let them supersize the meal but not my tummy.

I'm glad it works for you and clearly many other as well. For me, I seldom take leftovers as I typically don't like to eat the same dish more than once every few days. It just seems to me it would be more fair to ALL patrons to serve single meal portions and let each customer decide if they want to order another to take home.

And, conversely, making dishes larger is a cheap way to make customers feel they're getting their money's worth.

You make my point well, thanks. Cheap indeed. My wife and get small treats from Coco's Chocolate Cafe once in a while. We pay a premium for small amounts of high quality. We could definitely pig out till we're sick on Hershey bars for what we spend on a given trip there.

Here's the full list

Interesting to note that very few/none of the more "serious" local indies are on the list. I wonder if there's a backstory on that.

I agree...interesting and a bit disappointing.

I wonder if Madi could provide some insight, from the Seviche perspective, since she shared the health dept email?

DD

Here's the full list

Interesting to note that very few/none of the more "serious" local indies are on the list. I wonder if there's a backstory on that.

I agree...interesting and a bit disappointing.
I wonder if Madi could provide some insight, from the Seviche perspective, since she shared the health dept email?
DD

Derrick,
Here's my guess as a former owner: it's largely about specials and constantly changing menus. To do a calorie count requires a static menu, as food portions have to be analyzed in an off-site lab ( which can take weeks). For our fine indies who change their menus frequently, this is impossible to do, as specials are rarely planned much ahead and very expensive to implement ( those lab tests aren't cheap and I wouldn't expect Metro to cover constant changes). Does that help with some insight?
Deb

Derrick,
Here's my guess as a former owner: it's largely about specials and constantly changing menus. To do a calorie count requires a static menu, as food portions have to be analyzed in an off-site lab ( which can take weeks). For our fine indies who change their menus frequently, this is impossible to do, as specials are rarely planned much ahead and very expensive to implement ( those lab tests aren't cheap and I wouldn't expect Metro to cover constant changes). Does that help with some insight?
Deb

What Deb said. Our menu is constantly changing depending on seasonality, availability, and of course the chef's whim. Even with our "signature" dishes that stay on our menu throughout the year we use what is seasonally available in preparing them. We order seafood every day based on what is considered sustainable by the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch (which is updated regularly and constantly changing), and vegetables based on what the farmers have harvested. One dish may be made basically the same but with different fish, or vegetables, or garnish each time.

Even if it was feasible for us to analyze an individual dish, I do not think that listing caloric information on the menu is necessarily in line with our business model. In our market (fine dining/upscale casual) dining is about the luxury of food, not necessarily the sustenance of it. That being said, we have nothing to hide: anyone who is interested in the ingredients and preparation of our food can always ask. And in that case, no ma'am, I would not recommend the foie gras.

Deb and Madi, thanks for your responses. They certainly provide insight and enough info for this guy.

Before Madi's reply, I would have agreed and disagreed with Deb. I've been ordering churascos de argentina for years now...winter spring summer and fall. However, sometimes that dish is paired with asparagus, sauted greens, potatoes, etc. So I can clearly see keeping caloric info accurate, with ever-changing offerings based on seasonality and availability, could certainly be a challenge.

While I still think that posting calories is extremely valuable to the consumer, I can also see that it truly doesn't "fit" with what many restaurants are doing.

Is it bad that I am now craving a nice piece of skirt steak and some chimichurri...regardless of the calorie count?!?!?!

Thanks. DD