Review: Veselka, New York City

Notice anything missing?

Sometimes fate intervenes, and The Restaurant Dieter is helpless.

Growing up in ethnic Detroit, the foods of Eastern Europe were plentiful. Stuffed cabbage -- "pigs in a blanket" we called them -- were a staple. Only in adult life would I learn that others use the term to refer to that curious American cocktail party concoction of a Vienna sausage wrapped in biscuit dough.

Even though we were Italian, my mother learned to make these the real polish way from my Aunt Shirley. Done poorly, the meat-and-rice mixture inside is dense and hard, like an overcooked hamburger. But when they are done well, there's nothing better.

So I found myself in the East Village recently, after going to the gym, with no lunch and time to kill before the vintage shop opened. And right there, on the corner, was Veselka -- "Ukranian Soul Food in the Heart of the East Village." The rightness of this choice was only enhanced by discovering that The New York Times restaurant critic, Sam Sifton, had listed it among his 50 best.

I suppose one could work the menu and come up with something diet worthy -- homemade pea soup and a veggie burger, turkey burger or salad. Buy why, when you can rationalize that you just went to the gym and somehow deserve one of the "hearty combo plates." At $13.95 with soup and salad, it was a bargain by New York restaurant standards.

I devoured the thick and hearty pea soup, one of nine choices. It actually needed salt and pepper, a sure sign that it was fresh made rather than assembled from a cheap commercial base. The pierogi -- two meat and two potato -- were chewy and took well to the condiments provided -- shredded beet relish, caramelized onions, sour cream and applesauce.

The single stuffed cabbage, smothered in a mushroom gravy were melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. How wonderful? Did anyone notice that unlike my typical posts, this one has no photograph of the plate before the food was consumed. Hoovered that one up nicely, I thought.

But that's why they make the gym in the first place.

Review: Sibley Gardens, Trenton, MI

Visits to Wyandotte, MI, to spend time with Mom are bittersweet. It is a joy to see her laugh or to recall some glimmer of days gone by. Sometimes, she puts her face very close to mine, just so she can touch it to reaffirm that one of her babies really is there.

But I am no longer a baby at 53, and Mom is 84 and a stroke survivor of 13 years. Age and that disability have taken their toll. She is often quiet and confused, and her memories are uncertain. She is slipping away from me gradually. Like she grasps at my face, I grasp at the memories.

Restaurant meals on these trips are less about adhering to a low-fat diet. Instead, they're chosen as a link to the past. Sibley Gardens in Trenton, MI, was one of those choices. In my youth, it was a restaurant for special occasions, such as dinner out with my confirmation sponsor.

On a recent fall evening, with the sun already set, the glowing neon sign seemed a chimera. It stood out, almost ghostly in the darkness of the surrounding area. Across the street was the hulking ruins of McClouth Steel, a long closed victim of Detroit's decline. In its heyday, at this hour the second shift would have been setting in for a long night ahead, earning the factory paycheck that would allow them the occasional dinner at the restaurant across the street. Instead, there was a sad quiet.

Broiled Lake Superior Whitefish

Although a reputation for fine dining at reasonable prices has sustained the restaurant since 1935, it is perhaps telling that the website for "Downriver's Favorite Italian Steakhouse" touts its availability for funeral luncheons. A way of life certainly has died. Decades of global competition and economic and political policies have all but wiped out the working class.

At dinner, we grasped lustily at what remained of that time. Mom enjoyed Chicken Marsala for $16.95, which included soup or salad and a choice of potato, pasta or vegetable. All the finer restaurants of my youth arranged their menus so -- a la carte was something one learned about after college.

The menu is heavy on tradition. Chicken and veal can be had picante, marsala or parmesan. There's surf and turf, frog legs and a fried seafood platter. A pasta section includes a bolognese, an Alfredo, and, of course, meatballs or Italian sausage.

Fortunately, in a seafood menu updated to reflect today's tastes -- scallops in a citrus beurre blanc or coconut shrimp -- there was one standby that was perfect for The Restaurant Dieter: a broiled Lake Superior Whitefish. It arrived as requested, broiled with very little fat. But it tasted of fish -- fresh fish -- not something papered over with today's food trends.

With a salad and broccoli, it provided the perfect meal for Mother's little boy who isn't so little anymore. More important, though, it provided a connection to a past that seems to slip away every day.

Restaurant test marketing and obesity: making a killing in Columbus, Ohio

When restaurant companies are looking for a place to test new menu items, apparently they look with great favor on Columbus, Ohio. According to an article on the Business Insider website, Columbus offers the perfect environment because:

• It's a microcosm of the nation demographically. "There's a reason Middle America is called 'Middle America,'" a Wendy's spokesman is quoted as saying.
• It's a college town, home to Ohio State University, and students set trends
• It's generally young with a high disposable income.
• Advertising is affordable
• The media market is contained, so it's easier to measure results
• Major interstates 70 and 71 go through the city, bringing in visitors who might stop for fast food
• Nearly 20 fast food restaurants are headquartered there. These include White Castle, Wendy's and Bob Evans.
• It's employed, so people have money to spend
• Local tastes aren't too refined.

Isn't Columbus lucky?

Hardly.

Franklin County, Ohio, where Columbus is located, is among the most fattest counties in the state, with more than 30 percent of the adult population classified as obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Review: Copeland's of New Orleans, Atlanta

Lowfat but boring

A recent visit to Copeland's of New Orleans suggests it might be time to rethink this blog's subtitle. Maybe it should be: "Dieting and eating out shouldn't be so boring."

Copeland's is like a lot of restaurants. Stripped of their normal tools to satisfy diners -- fat, salt and sugar -- many restaurants have little appetizing to offer. So a dieter can technically eat there, but leave so unsatisfied that a bad food binge is only a fast food drive-thru away.

With three metro-Atlanta locations, Copeland's is a casual theme dinner house with a Cajun-Creole bent but something for everybody. Besides crawfish etouffee, the menu offers Buffalo this, Thai shrimp that, Caesar whatever and chicken parm. It leaves no pedestrian food trend untouched.

Such a menu pushes an experienced dieter immediately to the salads. With dressing on the side, perhaps somehow we'll survive.

Instead, the server recommended the fresh fish of the day, which in this case turned out to be a swordfish. It came, grilled or blackened, with two sides.

"Can I get that grilled with little to no oil or fat? With steamed broccoli and red beans and rice."

"Red beans and rice? That's not low fat," the server corrected. Give her credit for honesty.

"OK, make it a green salad. Dressing on the side."

Everything came as ordered. The thoughtful server even brought extra lemon wedges. A victory for The Restaurant Dieter, right?

Welcome to the law of unintended consequences. Everything was so bland and tasteless, so I stopped by a CVS and got a bag of peanut butter pretzels on the way home.