Fat/Oil Free cuisine

This may seem like an odd or overly specific question, but we are taking friends out to dinner because they did something very kind for our daughter, and one of our friends cannot eat fats/oils. She suggested Pasta Bowl, as they have a fat free marinara. I like Pasta Bowl, but I wouldn't mind giving her options for places that she may not be aware of. Any recommendations on restaurants with tasty food that has significant fat / oils free cuisine? Thanks!

Ghareeb Nawaz!!!! I kid.

Maybe Smoque. She could get the smoked chicken. It's pretty lean and doubt there is much added oil/fat in the bbq sauce. Cole Slaw is vinegar based, but probably has a touch of oil.

I am having trouble understanding what this cuisine might be. How do you think that pasta has no fat content?

lougord99 wrote:I am having trouble understanding what this cuisine might be. How do you think that pasta has no fat content?

That was my thought exactly. Irregardless of how obnoxious it is to put out such a heavy demand, is it even possible? I've never heard of this, and you'd think nearly every potential diet has been floated to the mainstream.

We have a family friend who follows a very restrictive diet and we wanted to take him and his wife out for a nice dinner. I contacted the Bristol in advance and they were incredible about preparing food to his specifications. I cannot express how wonderful and accommodating the host and chef were (the chef visited our table to discuss his planned dishes with our friend). Our friends, who live in New York, were so impressed with the meal and still talk about it. We deliberately made our reservation a little early and on a Monday so that we weren't imposing on the kitchen at a busy time. They would likely be able to accommodate your friend's restrictions with advance notice/planning.

I have never worked in a restaurant kitchen, but I doubt anything in a restaurant is prepared without any fats/oils other than maybe steamed vegetables or a pasta requested dry, without a sauce.

This request reminds me of Cathy's acquaintance who insisted on veggie burgers at a picnic, but ate the beef burgers when the veggie burgers were gone .

Al Ehrhardt wrote:This request reminds me of Cathy's acquaintance who insisted on veggie burgers at a picnic, but ate the beef burgers when the veggie burgers were gone .

An opportunitarian!

=R=

There are some cardiac diets that advise eating very low fat. Dean Ornish used to (see "Eat More Weigh Less") though now his advice is a bit more nuanced.

The whole foods/plant-based way of eating espoused in "Forks Over Knives" does not use fat in cooking. Anything that needs to be sautéed is done with water. We did three weeks of this. Cooking without oil or fat was challenging. When dining out, we would eat vegan but allowed for fat or oil. We did not have the restriction mentioned in the OP.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:This request reminds me of Cathy's acquaintance who insisted on veggie burgers at a picnic, but ate the beef burgers when the veggie burgers were gone .

ronnie_suburban wrote:An opportunitarian!=R=

As a restaurant chef one occasionally has to remind oneself its called the Hospitality Industry.

A few years ago I had a customer at Barn & Co quiz me for ten-minutes as to the gluten free aspects of our menu. It just so happens there were a surprising number of gluten free items as the menu was meat centric and early on I worked with a line cook who was a celiac and went through the menu tweaking toward gluten free. For example instead of flour roux for our cheese sauce I used cornstarch as a thickening agent that way the nacho's were gluten free.

I take, as should all who feed the public, food allergies, medical issues, diet etc seriously but every once in a while you get snookered. The example which prompted this post was aforementioned customer who was extremely frustrating in her redundancy, I'd say something and her response was "are you sure?" multiple times.

Half hour after our conversation I walked though the dining room only to find her eating a burger w/bun and a side of mac & cheese. Worried, thinking she was a celiac, I pointed out these contained gluten, her response was " I know, I just felt like breaking my diet tonight" My immediate thought was why did you waste ten-minutes of my life. Its people like her that make it tough for those with actual issues to be taken seriously.

On the other hand there was a mom, dad and young son who came in with a printed card of what the child could eat and his medical issues. I would get a fresh sizzle platter, broil a plain burger under the salamander on the sizzle platter and cut a fresh whole avocado for him. They were happy, the kid was happy and full and they had a night out without worrying about their son getting sick.

Ronnie eloquently and humorously coins An opportunitarian! but they are the ones F'ing it up for people with actual issues.
</rant>

I have an actual answer to the OP's question–Amitabul

I'm not sure if all dishes are oil free, but many are advertised as such online and on the menu. And I'm 100% certain they would prepare most dishes on the menu for you this way. They cater to vegans but also those with very strict medical diets.

And the food is actually full-flavored, restorative, and certain dishes are even quite spicy. I dated a vegan once and this place was a godsend, since I enjoyed it too. I first ate kimchi pancakes there.

Its hard to entertain folks with these issues, as a caterer and career chef, I've seen a lot. And I especially sympathize with those trying to host restricted diet folks.

What about Renga Tei? There’s lots on the menu for the table to eat, and, other than the fat naturally found in fish, sushi is not made with any oil or fat.

Jefe wrote:I have an actual answer to the OP's question–Amitabul

I'm not sure if all dishes are oil free, but many are advertised as such online and on the menu. And I'm 100% certain they would prepare most dishes on the menu for you this way. They cater to vegans but also those with very strict medical diets.

And the food is actually full-flavored, restorative, and certain dishes are even quite spicy. I dated a vegan once and this place was a godsend, since I enjoyed it too. I first ate kimchi pancakes there.

A nice option. I didn't recall Bill's menu specifying dishes that were oil free. Good catch. And I'm sure he would try to accommodate other dishes if possible. His personal focus is a plant based diet, but has many gluten free options for those looking for gluten free.

To add to the thread drift and pile on to Cathy's/Ronnie's/Gary's comments, I do have a problem when cooking for an omnivore and plant based crowd. Sides are usually not a problem coming from an Italian family who cooked anticipating everyone will bring several unannounced guests. If I have guests and do not have leftovers, in my mind, someone wanted more, but there wasn't any extra... My problem is making plant based mains and people (mainly family) who bitch about not eating animal products, now all grabbing the plant based before my hosting family goes through the line after all of our guests.

I'm wondering if the guest cannot eat naturally-occurring fats (of which sashimi/sushi has plenty), or added fats, such as oil. This would greatly help. Thanks.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:My problem is making plant based mains and people (mainly family) who bitch about not eating animal products, now all grabbing the plant based before my hosting family goes through the line after all of our guests.

At the grill party last week, there were a few people who were curious about the veg/vegan burgers. We clearly stated, they could sample them once the veg/vegan people had taken their food.

In your case, keep something back in the kitchen knowing what is likely to happen.

As for no leftovers, I have the same reaction of not serving enough. I once went to a dinner where the couple hosting did portion control. I left dying for a hamburger.

Regards,
Cathy2

Alice and Friends has some no oil options.

http://aliceandfriendsvegankitchen.com/entrees/

We have a family member who is vegan, so whenever I bring something I do a vegan dish. For Thanksgiving one year I did two stuffing dishes, and the vegan one was labelled such - almost no one ate it. I thought it was delicious, but no one wanted to try something labelled VEGAN - as if it would contain rocks or something, instead of just not containing animal products.

leek wrote:We have a family member who is vegan, so whenever I bring something I do a vegan dish. For Thanksgiving one year I did two stuffing dishes, and the vegan one was labelled such - almost no one ate it. I thought it was delicious, but no one wanted to try something labelled VEGAN - as if it would contain rocks or something, instead of just not containing animal products.

We have seen the same phenomenon. Our youngest daughter has eaten a vegetarian, then plant based diet for years. For almost three years, our whole immediate family has eaten a plant based diet, and I am the only one to occasionally stray if I really want something.

My family has hosted more family gatherings than others, for over 30 years, and we always got compliments on our meals. Since cooking plant based dishes, they are shunned as if they contained rocks, or poison. The dishes that we make, especially if guests are over, are not some weird hippy dishes, just good food that happens to not contain animal products. Even my Italian family won't eat my pastas any longer. It not that unusual to have a meatless pasta, and we always have fresh parmesan for guest to add to theirs. All of a sudden its as if we are the worst cooks in the world. For some reason our friends are always more open and enjoy themselves.

IMO, almost every plant based restaurant has a diner food menu, with a big reliance on plant based meats, so people think all vegan food is fake meat sandwiches. We need more restaurants like Green Zebra, that made creative food, but just left out the animal products.

I think you're better off considering one or more chef-driven restaurants (such as the example above of the Bristol) and calling them in advance to ask them how they can accommodate this request. They should be able to tell you which specific menu items they recommend, and what they can do to adjust their recipes to minimize the use of fats and oils. Or a place may tell you that they can't accommodate such a request, but I bet most places are happy to do so. After all, this is not an uncommon request. Lots of people have fat-restricted diets. Nor is it difficult to prepare foods with little or no fat. Think of poaching fish (or even grilling fish, with only the slightest amount of fat to keep it from sticking) along with steaming vegetables.

Let us know what you find out, where you go, and how it turns out. Good luck!