Which of these would you say is healthiest?

From The Cheesecake Factory:

I would think the salad would be highest in calories. But its from their Weight Management selections, so it has 590 calories or less.  But none of the other things seem like they'd be more than 600 calories do they? 

What would you get?

SPICY CHICKEN SALAD™
Grilled Chicken, Roasted Poblano, Red and Yellow Peppers, Fresh Corn, Black Beans, Onions, Rice and Cilantro Served with Mixed Greens and Low-Cal Spicy Vinaigrette

THAI LETTUCE WRAPS  
Satay Chicken Strips, Carrots, Bean Sprouts, Coconut Curry Noodles and Lettuce Leaves with Three Delicious Spicy Thai Sauces — Peanut, Sweet Red Chili and Tamarind-Cashew

GRILLED PORTABELLA ON A BUN
A Giant Portabella Mushroom Grilled with Herbs and Served on a Bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Grilled Red Onion

THE INCREDIBLE GRILLED EGGPLANT SANDWICH
Grilled Japanese Eggplant, Roasted Red Peppers, Red Onion, on Our Toasted Bun.

ENERGY BREAKFAST
Scrambled Egg Whites Served with Grilled Chicken Breast, Tomato, Mushroom and Spinach

 

I would go for the salad because you know the calorie estimate for sure. You can guess as much as you want on the others but you never know.

the thai lettuce wrap sounds like it'd be higher in cals than the salad actually... >"< the sauces sound dubious, as does the coconut curry noodles bit, but i might be wrong.

i'd get either the portabella (which sounds absolutely delish) or the eggplant sandwich... but that's cause i don't eat chicken (vegetarian by choice).

minus the vegetarian tendencies, the energy breakfast actually sounds the healthiest though... except that it's a little rich on the protein and lacking in carbs? (the exact opposite is true for the portabella/eggplant buns which are high carb but low protein, which means that it probably won't keep you filled/satisfied for very long...

the chicken salad looks the most balanced though. :3 and it's good if you're a 3 meals a day (and ~600 cals/meal) person. it's probably 590 cals cause of the serving of rice inside (which adds about 200+cals)...

All look pretty good. Just leave off any fattening dressings and you should be fine. Beans are excellent for you, so is chicken and all of the veggies listed. Nuts are good. If you have your choice in the bun always choose whole wheat or multi grain.

I'd go with the salad (dressing on the side) or the egg whites. The two sandwiches sound delicious but most of the calories are in the giant bun that usually comes with it. The coconut curry could be ok but curry sauces are sometimes cream based so I don't know how "light" it would be, plus the sauce calories may add up to be quite high.

I would actually be skipping all sauces and cheeses because I can't eat dairy and even though many restaurants don;t think there is dairy in some of their sauces I have learned the had way that almost ALL sauces contain some dairy. 

cellophane_star: you're probably right about the giant buns, but I was thinking that even if the bun was 400 calories the eggplant or portabella would only be about 100 calories.  I know they both come with fries, which I would replace with a side salad.

And the energy breakfast seems like it can't be more than about 500 calories even if they use butter to ccok the egg whites - egg whites are probably around 100 calories, chicken is probably 120-150, tomato/mush/spinach another 100-150 maybe...It doesn't seem possible that its more than 600 calories. 

This was really one of those "just sitting around wondering" questions because I already know that I'm going to get the portabella sandwich.

I rarely eat out.  Maybe 2 times a week only during the summer.  Last summer I had the Portabella muchroom thing.  I don't believe it's under 590 calories, more like 950.....the bun was soaked in oil, so was that little mushroom blaaat.

And I gained a pound the next day  (I remember it all)

thebledx3: I laughed when I read your post.  It was obviously a traumatic experience for you : )

Most places butter their buns for all sandwiches, burgeres, etc unless you specifiy otherwise.  And the Portabella nornmally comes with some sort of mayo and cheese.  I would obviously ask for it on an unbuttered bun with no mayo or cheese.  The mushroom is probably marinted in an oil and vinegar sauce (I'll ask first though) so my estimate is:
Mushroom: 100-125 at the most (even with oil & vinegar marinade)
Bun: 400 at the most (probably closer to 200)
Lettuce, Tomato, Onion: 25

Honestly, I don't see how the whole thing (without cheese, mayo, or butteront he bun) can be any more than 550 calories.  And I feel as though even that is a high estimate.

I'm bored, so...

here are my estimates for each of the above items:

SPICY CHICKEN SALAD: 500 (according to their website)

 

THAI LETTUCE WRAPS: about 400 (wouldn't eat the sauces or noodles b/c i don't like them)  
Satay Chicken Strips, Carrots, Bean Sprouts, Coconut Curry Noodles and Lettuce Leaves 

GRILLED PORTABELLA ON A BUN: about 550-600
A Giant Portabella Mushroom Grilled with Herbs and Served on a Bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Grilled Red Onion

THE INCREDIBLE GRILLED EGGPLANT SANDWICH: about 550-600
Grilled Japanese Eggplant, Roasted Red Peppers, Red Onion, on Our Toasted Bun.

ENERGY BREAKFAST: about 400
Scrambled Egg Whites Served with Grilled Chicken Breast, Tomato, Mushroom and Spinach

Any thoughts on my estimates? 

590 cals?

that seems a lot for a "weight management" meal...

Very true that most places do not worry about putting butter, mayo, cheese, oil and other high fat, high calorie additives to their menu items. I eat out once a week. It is my cheat meal on Friday and it is high calorie anyway. I get a grilled chicken grinder, cheese potatoes a cookie bar and a brownie. I only do this once a week. I usually get this sometimes I change it up but I am the kind of person who gets hooked on certain foods and this particular restaurant makes the best chocolate chip cookie bars and brownies I just think about them all week.  

Anyway even when doing that I request that the bun not be buttered. I choose the whole wheat bun. I request half the cheese on the potatoes and I ask that they do not butter the bun or put cheese, mayo or sauce on the grinder. I get the grilled chicken as opposed to the chicken tender strips which are fired. The grinder is still very good. I pile it with dill pickles, lettuce, tomato and onion. I don't add additional salt. So my long winded point is.... you can still try to make healthy choices and eliminate all of the fat and calories you can.

Now the rest of the week I eat clean. I have not eaten butter, mayo, oils stuff like that in years. Don't fret to much about eating out now and then. You still have to enjoy yourself and treat yourself now and then or you will go crazy. I believe people have much better success loosing and maintaining if they allow for one or two cheat meals a week. It also speeds up your metabolism and gives you a little boost to mix it up a little. Just don't go too crazy and eat a bunch of crap. Like I said still try to eliminate most of the bad stuff and only keep the bad stuff that really means a lot to you. That you love!

you can find the exact calorie content of everything on their website..

Cheesecake Factory is notorious for keeping the nutritional info of their food under wraps...

There website states:

At this point, we do not provide nutritional information for our menu selections. We pride ourselves on using only the freshest and finest ingredients available. Everything on our menu is made in-house on a daily basis so that we can maintain the highest food quality standards.

...i swear i was just perusing their menu's nutritional content the other day, because i had a hankering for some and i was happy to realize i could in fact budget in a small *real* meal and a small slice of cheesecake... *she says slightly bewildered..*

Does anyone know how many calories the tamarind-cashew sauce has at Cheesecake Factory, along with how many sugars? 

Thanks,

K

I believe Cheesecake Factory now has their nutritional info online.

http://calorielab.com/news/2007/07/28/calorie -pusher-comes-to-town-the-cheesecake-factory- hits-rochester/

Unfortunately, that site only provides total calories for thai letter wrap appetizer, including the 3 sauces .  I'm only looking for calories/sugars on the tamarind-cashew sauce.

 

K

Unless CF provides it, there is no way for us to know.

If you got the salad: ask for no corn, 1/2 portion of the beans, no rice and dressing on the side - also make sure it doesn't come with croutons...

The energy breakfast also sounds pretty good just as long as everything is cooked in olive oil, not butter!

The Spicy Chicken Salad has 490 calories http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calori es/food/the-cheesecake-factory/weight-managem ent-spicy-chicken-salad

The Energy Breakfast has 638 calories. (319 for half) http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutri tion-calories/food/cheesecake-factory/energy- breakfast/

Eggplant Sandwich has 670 calories (1/2 sandwich has 335 calories) http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutri tion-calories/food/the-cheesecake-factory/egg plant-sandwich-no-cheese-or-mayo/

Thai Lettuce Wraps (whole plate)-1025 calories (& 2347 mg sodium) http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutri tion-calories/food/cheesecake-factory/thai-le ttuce-wraps/

Grilled Portabella on a bun-1133 calories (& 1279 mg sodium) http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutri tion-calories/food/the-cheesecake-factory/gri lled-portabella-on-a-bun/