Low sodium dining out

Trying to help plan a family dinner out next week, and my dad was just put on a very sodium restricted diet. Where can we go?? Obviously we need a place with fresh food/veggies. Nothing too pricey.

Heather,

I've been told if you call ahead to a restaurant and explain the sodium restriction, the chef can give you some options.

Having said that, I have a very good friend with the same issues. She is able to enjoy the artichoke wrap thing at Lou Lou's. Other than that, she sticks mostly to grilled chicken and veggies.

I'm sure those in the biz will be able to help out more than I ... good luck!

Rebecca

Heather -

Any restaurant that prepares food to order should be able to make accomodations for your father. Places that grill, sautee or pan sear many of their offerings are good bets. There may be some items that are marinated, sauces or such that are prepared ahead that he would need to stay away from, but your server or the chef can lead him through that. Certainly a call ahead would help inform the staff of his dietary restriction.

Menus that offer items that require lengthy cooking are where you are more likely to have problems as they can not adjust what has been done to offer for example a 4 hour braised lamb leg.

We almost always ask about low sodium, and have found that long-simmering sauces (many Italian places) can be tough, and we don't go to Asian restaurants as much as we used to (tends to have a lot of salt in the sauces that for whatever reason can't be changed), but as reported earlier in any restaurant that cooks items from scratch we've had absolutely no problems (and in Italian restaurants we just don't order the long-simmering "gravies").

We explain to the waiter that we are on sodium restricted diets, and ask them to check for us what the chef would recommend. We're usually told certain dishes that aren't marinated (as reported earlier) and/or have fresh sauces, but normally at least half of most menus are open for us.

One word of warning: we didn't originally have the server ask the chef for recommendations, and occasionally ended up with a dish that the waiter suggested but that came with "hidden" salt; it really wasn't entirely the waiter's fault, as they only knew what they could see (the seasoning had been done via marinade, or overnight seasoning), but by asking the chef there are no problems.

We have not had to "call ahead". That is a question for those in the industry: would it be better if we do call ahead???

One other thing: in some restaurants we've been told not to order the steaks and/or chicken breasts or other plain broiled dishes, as (at least in one place) they are pre-seasoned, so be sure to ask.

This advice holds for better chains, also. The better chains (that do most cooking from scratch, from Cheesecake Factory to Longhorn Steakhouse type) can adjust cooking easily, and - being chains - already have processes in place for adapting to low-sodium servings. The lower-level chains (chili's, O'Charlie's, Olive Garden) tend to use more pre-packaged foods, and we've found it more difficult.

A final note: be careful of salads. One would think salads with fresh ingredients would be fine, but (1) homemade dressings can contain more salt than you'd think, and (2) while most ingredients have little salt, they add up rapidly. On the Today show yesterday they showed several restaurant salads with more sodium than a Domino's pizza (these were chain salads, one with grilled chicken, one with sauteed divers scallops, and one with fried chicken (no surprise on that one))!

Thanks everyone! I think the birthday girl has decided on North End Cafe! I will report back. Dinner isn't until tuesday.