Restaurant Nutrition–P. F. Chang's

Friday night, before it started to snow, we decided to go out for dinner.  Because, you know, if we’re looking at being stuck in the house all weekend, our first thought is to get out while we can.  (I actually spent all Friday afternoon at the local bookstore, alternately writing and people-watching–just to get a good dose of being out in the world.)

So did we go somewhere quick and easy, stick close to home, just to be on the safe side?  No.  Of course not.  We’re not nearly that sensible.  I decided I needed some hand lotion from Anthropologie.  Could I buy lotion at the Target that’s five minutes from my house?  Of course.  Did I?  Nah.  Instead we drove 25 minutes to the mall that has an Anthropologie.  We went to P.F Chang’s–there was a 45 minute wait.  Did we (sensibly) decide to go somewhere a little less crowded?  Hey–in for a penny, in for a pound, right?  Why be sensible at that point?  We sat in the vestibule of the restaurant, playing with our respective devices, until it started snowing.  Then we just sat and watched the flakes collect on the grass, the cars, the . . . parking lot.

It wasn’t until the food came that I sort of thought about the fact that we had a half hour drive ahead of us, and the view from the restaurant window was looking increasingly white.  I ate fast.  Lee ate fast.  We urged Delaney to eat faster–she (being the most sensible person in the family) asked for a to-go box.

Did we hop in the car and head home, thankful that we had been sensible enough to cut our jaunt short?  No.  OF COURSE NOT.  We went to the mall.  That was, after all, the whole point of driving that far to begin with.  I needed that divine rose-scented lotion.  If I’m going to be stuck at home for several days, my hands are going to be soft and fragrant.  It’s all about priorities, people.

Well, to make a long story short, I got my lotion.  Lee is still giving me a bit of a hard time about the whole adventure–he was not very happy when traffic slowed to a slippery crawl as we made our way home.  The 25-minute drive took nearly an hour; cars were spinning out into ditches and embankments.  We passed several accidents and lots of police and emergency vehicles.

But my skin–it’s lovely.

The point of this long and dull tale is this:  P. F. Chang’s (a large national chain, in case you’re not familiar with it) was the perfect place for us, under those circumstances.  You know how sometimes you just have to get out of the house, but it’s more about the emotional pick-me-up than the food?  Or how sometimes you’re just too exhausted to cook, but you don’t want to go eat something that’ll clog up your arteries or make you feel bad?

You need to have some tried-and-true places you can go to at those moments, where you know exactly what you’re getting, and you can easily make a sensible, satisfying choice.  That, my friends, is when big chain restaurants are really useful. I love a hole-in-the-wall, locally-owned, off-the-beaten-path independent as much as anyone does, but there’s one excellent thing about the big chains:  nutrition information.

Most (not all, but most) big national chains have websites that list at least the calorie content of their dishes; some go even further, with a breakdown of fat and nutrients, as well.  Get familiar with those websites!  Fast food places, Starbucks, steakhouses–know what you’re putting in your body!

While we were sitting in the vestibule, waiting for our table, Lee used his iPhone (I could’ve used my Blackberry, but I was busy tweeting) to pull up the P. F. Chang’s nutrition page, and we decided, before we were even seated, what we were going to order.  Temptation eliminated.  He had a marinated sea bass (which was really tasty), and I had a cup of hot and sour soup, and an order of pan-fried vegetable dumplings.

My dinner was about 350 calories.  Not bad for an evening out.

A person could make a list–spend half an hour on the internet, check the websites for all your favorite restaurants, and write down a reasonable order at each place.  Then when it’s 7:30 on Tuesday and you just need to get everyone fed already, you can whip out your list and order yourself something sensible, without feeling like you’ve gone off the rails entirely.

But don’t ask me about driving in snow–clearly, I don’t have very good judgment in that department.