Is anybody going out to eat this weekend?

Where do you like to go, and what do you order?  I haven't had too much trouble finding things I can eat, either for weight loss or vegetarianism.  Of course, I don't object to small amounts of animal ingredients, such as stock used to make a sauce. 

What's your favorite restaurant meal?

cheese ravioli at a local family-owned italian restaurant!!

tonight we are going to a place called "small plates" where you get to sample lots of delicious little appetizer sized dishes.    i'll bring along my scale!

I had a whole wheat individual pizza with fresh basil, moz. and tomatoes.  Mmm.

I so want to follow this with something like "I had a block of baking chocolate and licked the grease off a french fry or something Lean Cuisinesque."  ;-)

I was thinkng about going to a Thai Resturant tonight but i cam kind of hesistant because I am not sure what to eat..

I often go out with several people including a couple of vegetarians. The handiest place is Chinese - they have a limited selection of vegetarian dishes but we order stuff like meatless noodles, vegetable dishes of course such as stir-fried green beans, and usually a tofu dish. I really like their salt and pepper tofu; the ginger fried tofu wasn't as successful. The last two dishes aren't on the menu but they let us special-order them; they know us.

Ethinic restaurants are a good choice.  I could always find something meat free when we went to a little Italian place, or the Middle Eastern restaurant we like.  There's a Chinese restaurant where they'll bring you a whole steamer of vegetables and tofu with dipping sauces.  A lot of Indian food is vegetarian too.

However, when I began counting calories, the dining out thing became harder.  So I compromise and eat fish.  We go to a local bistro where I can ask for broiled fish and a huge salad and they will fix it for me. 

We usually eat out once a weekend, generally for lunch because.. because I think you should eat a heavier lunch and a lighter dinner...
Typically, we go to places where we can get GOOD food.. we've been to a number of Ethnic Restaurants (I'll include the Jewish New York Style Deli as one of these) and we also went to a GOOD burger place :)

Lots of times I will order appetizers as a meal with a salad or steamed vegies...like last week I had mussels in a light tomato broth with garlic, 1 slice of garlic toast and aa big salad with vinegraitte and a glass of wine.

We also go to a mediteranean style restaurant that serves the biggest shrimp cocktail I have ever ever seen. 3 extra colossal shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, lemon and hoeseradish...all washed down with an extra dry Bombay Sapphire martini with a twist.

More conventionally- I order broiled, grilled or baked seafood with salad or veg and skip the potatoes...

Our favorite place to go out to eat at home is a local Thai place.  We usually get 1 dish, split it between the 2 of us, and have leftovers for the next day. 

I also love Noah's Bagels, and there's an absolutly amazing sandwich place in Seattle that I love.  Neither of these are too healthy, I'm sure, but once in a while they are great!

I agree with everyone who mentioned ethnic restaurants...It's like a mini vacation to go out and try something of a totally different culture. I like to take my younger sister along with me to make it a "cultural experience"...she is a new vegetarian, and it's fun to expose her to everthing that's out there, so she never feels limited...

I love Thai food, I always get something to the extent of "vegetable paradise" which is tofu and every fresh, in-season vegetable, all steamed and served with peanut sauce, over brown rice. If you are vegan, like I am, you need to be careful to ask if the sauces/soups include oyster sauce, which is not vegan-friendly, and many vegetarians do not eat that as well...

I also love Mexican food, black bean burritos with rice, salsa, and guacamole and a margarita of course)...just need to make sure they do not use lard in cooking...

There are a very few solely vegetarian/vegan restaurants in the area, but when I have the chance, I take every opportunity to go out and support the businesses...and have some vegan cheesecake! :)

Try Indian food, great spices, and lots of veggie options, even vegan.  The one we go has a menu 30% vegan, always fun and spicey

The Olive Garden is an excellent choice for vege dishes.  Try the Capellini Pomodoro.  It is wonderful!!!!

PEACE

Anola Gail

I love indian food best. They have a very large veg selection too as someone else said. 

I had a wonderful breakfast at a local place, The King Street Grille.  They make a veggie omelet that is just wonderful.  I asked for egg beaters, mushrooms, potatoes, broccoli, peppers and onions.  It was huge and very filling for about 350 calories.

I love sushi!  I go lite on the lite soy and rice, heavy on the wasabi and ginger, and eat all the fish I want.

If I'm truly going meat-free, there's a potato place where I get teh baked yukon gold, no butter, with fat free sour cream and steamed veggies.  I LOVE Thai and Indian, but we don't have a good one of either here, so I only get it when I go to Madison or Chicago.  :)  Then, I'm all about the cucumber salads, dal, basil/hot pepper veggie combos, and curries or hot dishes (w/o coconut milk).  :D

I have two new favorite restaurants now (I just moved to a new city).... one is a healthy chinese restaurant that uses 90% less oil than most chinese restaurants and no msg, and the menu is divided into omnivorous fare, vegetarian, and vegan!  The vegan section includes fake, vegan meat so they have vegan mongolian "beef", vegan "chicken" drumsticks, vegan kung pao "shrimp", etc.  I'm absolutely in heaven.

The other is a gourmet pizza place that has vegan soy cheese pizza with a whole wheat crust!  I used to think soy cheese was kind of nasty, but it's obviously improved over the years and it tasted like the real thing

We are going HERE tomorrow. Mmmmm a Seafood Festival. My challenge will be to stay away from the fried stuff, but I'm thinking whole belly clams would be nice (fried of course). I'm starting to count the calories today to prepare for tomorrow.

Anyways, my husband is from the Middle East, Egypt to be precise, so I get what I like from his cooking. He is also a bit ocd and doesnt trust resturaunt food much but there is a pizza place he used to work at way back. They make an awsome Spinach Pizza. He also likes a certian Chinese Buffet. Me not so much... I like seafood, so tomorrow will be a joy for me!

We're going here tonight, in honor of my birthday (observed). It's the best, most creative and thoughtful, vegetarian food. Ever. I'm normally not vegan, (lacto-ovo) but I would be, if I could eat here all the time. :) Ali, if you're ever up in Columbus, give this place a try. (If you haven't already.)

Ruby Tuesday has an awesome veggie burger :) I leave off all cheese, mayo & butter on the roll, and just have lettuce, tomato, red onion and some barbeque sauce!

I also love to get huge veggie and black bean burritos with guacamole and salsa!

On occasion, some vegan sushi is my favorite thing ever!

There's a little Japanese place near my work that serves an assortment of vegetable sushi, all VERY VERY GOOD. 

They will also serve a huge plate of steamed broccoli with a very spicy garlic dipping sauce as an appetizer.  I get that sometimes as an entree, it's very satisfying.

My favorite stuff to eat out:

"Build your own" falafel place in town where you put your own toppings on.  Open until 3am.  Excellent drunk-munchies.

Chinese take-out.  Many places near me have a seperate vegan menu on the back of the "regular" menu. 

Just found a gourmet pizza place that makes a vegan calzone with a garlic and olive oil sauce (instead of cheese) and veggies inside with whole wheat dough.

Ethiopian food.  Eating with your hands is fun.

Pizza/sandwich joint in town that has vegan versions of everything, and all desserts (think cherry cheesecake and chocolate peanut butter pie) are vegan.

I love Philly.  Before I moved to the city my only option was the veggie burger, but most big chain restaurants don't even carry a vegan one.