Since NI posted in restaurants has been a topic of (sometimes controversial) conversation… I thought you might be interested to know that I’m now living it.

It seems that back last September, our govern-ator signed a billed which, according to this press release, “will put calorie counts on chain restaurant menus and menu boards.”

http://www.cspinet.org/new/200809301.html

However, I first heard about the new law in June or July on a local radio talk show. The talk show host said that all of the NI seems to be posted in such a way that you see it as you are leaving the restaurant. You MIGHT notice the NI poster and can assess your damage, and think, “OMG what have I done?!?!?!” after you have ordered and eaten. He said that he ordered a bagel and then was shocked to discover that it was 500 calories, as he was leaving the store.

Since that time, I’ve been in the Starbucks in our local Safeway supermarket… and only saw a sign that says, “NI info available upon request”.

And at a Chipoltle, it was exactly as I heard on the radio. The NI was indeed posted around the corner after you pay and are getting a seat. If you were doing take-out… you’d literally never see it.

I just got back from vacation, so we ate out more than usual…. And while driving we hit an Applebee’s, a Burger King, a Denny’s, and Baskin Robbins.

Applebee’s has there NI in the same book as the dessert menu… so we didn’t see it until after we had ordered and were reading the drink and dessert menu to kill time, waiting for our food.

Applebee’s has a fine print disclaimer saying something like, “Here is the NI that they are forcing us to give you… but your mileage may vary. You may get different ingredients or a different portion size than we say you are getting”. The serving size on the NI is listed in grams… which makes it pretty much useless for the average American.

My dh got a steak and mashed potatoes. I think that the calories listed for the Mashed Potatoes was 300something. I tasted them. They weren’t non-fat and I’m guessing that they were made at the Applebee’s food factory with manufacturing cream and a good amount of fat.

I’m guessing that 300ish calories of restaurant mashed potatoes is about half a cup? Maybe 3/4 cup? At any rate, while I was sitting in the restaurant… I completely forgot that 28 grams is 1 oz… and to do the math on his portion size. My dh had about 1.5 to 2 cups of mashed potatoes on his plate, but I’m not sure since I’m not (yet) taking measuring cups or food scale in the car on vacation with us.

Burger King had their NI posted up next to the Serve Yourself Drink Machine. IF it were physically possible to cram your head into the 5” between the wall and the machine… a person could read the poster. However, for the average human… not possible.

Denny’s had their NI on the table. It looks EXACTLY like the PDF file online. The service was initially really bad and we were sitting for quite a while and the NI info was easy to find… so we read it for a while. And then we ordered like we normally order.

I had a veg omelet with egg white instead of egg, hash browns, and toast.

Much of the Denny’s menu is TECHNICALLY accurate. For example, they list 4 oz of egg whites as 50 calories. However, I don’t know anybody who orders a half cup of raw egg whites. And I’ve cooked THOUSANDS of restaurant egg orders… and if you order egg whites… you should add 200-400 calories of oil/fat.

I didn't see "oil - 120 calories TBS" any place on the menu.

They also don't say how many calories in the egg yolks... so if you have an egg white omlet, you don't know if you should subtract 1,2 or 4 egg yolks.

The NI says that the hash browns were 210 calories… however, I’d hard pressed to make a serving that size of hash browns at home for 210 calories… so I’m VERY skeptical. They also looked brown and crunchy, like maybe they had been fried.

The Denny’s NI says that toast WITH margarine is 130 calories a slice. I always forget to order it with margarine on the side (and the NI doesn‘t list just dry toast)… so mine came buttered. I have a LOT of experience spreading butter on toast and I’m SURE that there was 1-2 TBS of margarine on the toast. Probably 2 TBS… since 1 TBS had melted into the toast and 1 TBS of margarine was still on the toast. So, I find it interesting that Denny’s dietitians calculated the bread AND margarine adds up to 130 calories. I think that my toast was more like 250-290 a slice.

OH! And good news! Denny’s margarine is Transfat free… at least according to the NI.

Baskin Robbins NI was easy to find. It was a 8x12“ poster on the wall across from the counter. However, it had the weirdest NI posted. It is NOTHING like the website. It looked sort of like this:

Premium Ice Cream:
Chocolate, 4 oz, 260 calories

Sherbets:
Daiquiri Ice, 4 oz, 130 calories

Drinks:
Chocolate shake, small, 630 calories

At Baskin Robbins 31 flavor, they had the NI posted for 5 or 6 items. This didn’t bother me too much, since I figure all of the ice creams are 260ish calories for 4 oz. And all of the Sherbets are 130 calories. But they literally had calories listed for about 5 items.

Up on the menu board, with the prices… it said:

Kids size - 2 oz
1 single scoop - 4 oz

My kid and I decided we would share a scoop of NY Cheesecake Ice Cream. Perhaps, because counter person had seen me reading the NI, OR perhaps I was just oozing, “Last ice cream of our vacation and we are on our way home and I’m getting on a scale tomorrow” OR she saw me talking to my 17 year old, 6’2” “kid”… she knowing I have a “child”, she asked, “A child’s scoop?”.

I was actually thinking of a grown up scoop, but said, “OK…” to the kiddie portion.

Like putting butter on toast… I have LOTS and LOTS of experience dishing up ice cream on a food scale… and I KNOW that was no 2 oz scoop. It was at least 4 oz. However, it might be more… since I know what 4 oz of ice cream looks like in our bowls at home. No way, did ds and I share 2 oz of ice cream. More likely, he got 3-4 oz. And I got 1-2 oz. But, like I said, I didn’t have my food scale with us.

I haven’t done any drive thru… so I don’t know how the NI is being handled there. But thus far, in my 6 chain restaurant experiences… I’ve not seen the NI posted with prices, like I picture in MY head.

The only time that the NI helped us get a better choice (I think…) was when the Baskin Robbins ice cream scoop girl asked, “Kid’s scoop?” So, I guess she saved me 200-300 calories… maybe. Or, more accurately, she saved ds 200-300 calories. But he can eat 4000 a day…

Other wise, we all ordered and ate like we always do.