This weekend, during the birthday hiatus, I went out to breakfast with the family. We ate at a new restaurant in the Napa Valley--The Black Bear Diner. The restaurant is known for its huge portions and reasonable prices. Normally, that would be a good thing, but for someone trying to watch calories, that proved not-so good.
We had two children in our party, and their mother ordered one child's pancake plate and split it between them. Each "half" of the child's pancake platter (with chocolate chips!) was big enough to feed an adult. In fact, both children left over half their food on their plates, even after starting out with only half to begin with. So, if they had each had one child's plate, they would've eaten only 25% of the food on their plates--25% of the serving of chocolate chips, sweet cream pancakes, syrup and (just to make it "healthy") fruit! Oh, and I can't forget the orange juice. There wasn't an ounce of protein to be found.
As we stood up to leave, the younger child threw up. Her stomach knew what most of us have forgotten--the human body does not need nor want an entire meal made up of SUGAR and refined carbohyrdrates!
Not that I did much better. I ordered one of their most modest dishes -- the "shortstack" of pancakes. A shortstack is two pancakes. That sounded reasonable...until the pancakes arrived and each was the size of a small dinner plate!
The Black Bear diner does have a menu section titled, "A Little Less Breakfast" that supposedly offers smaller portions sizes. However, most meals listed in that section were still too much. For example, the diner offers a "small volcano." The small volcano consists of three pancakes stacked with egg on top and served with bacon and sausage. Another breakfast offers two eggs and two strips of bacon or sausage along with hash browns and a biscuit.
How about one egg and some fruit? Or one mini pancake and one egg? You know, a breakfast that most of us would consider a snack, with a price to match? Something 300 calories of less?
No wonder our nation is getting fatter and fatter. When kid's plates are four times the size they should be and restaurants offer single-serving platters that are big enough to feed a table, it's no wonder waste lines are getting bigger.
And for the record, I'm not against large portion sizes. I believe everyone should have that choice. However, I'd like to see more restaurants offering truly small portion sizes as another option. Doing so allows people like me to go out to eat with the family for special celebrations and still order something reasonable (sure, there's the option of taking leftovers home, but not everything keeps well. Who wants soggy salad or pancakes the next day?).
So, here is a shout out to restaurants like the Black Bear Diner and, while we're on the subject--The Cheesecake Factory. Offer TRULY SMALL meals and desserts. I'll be specific. Cheesecake Factory, your sesame seed chicken and rice meal is to die for. However, it's enough food for four people. How about offering a quarter size portion? And how about taster slices of your cheesecake? And, by a "taster slice" I don't mean half of the "feed a small nation" slice you normally provide, but rather a slice that's good for three bites. That's it. Three bites. Three normal human mouth sized bites, not three elephant-sized bites.
And Black Bear Diner, I have no qualms about how your food tasted and no qualms about the price. But when you have a section for "a little less," go the extra mile and truly offer "less."
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