Day 43 – Lunch
Today was one of those days where we wanted to get out of the office for a bit and enjoy lunch. We decided to go to O’Charley’s. I did some quick research before leaving the office, and I was ready to go. I had seen several options between the various steak, chicken and fish dishes. I’d read Jason’s review of the Cedar Plank Tilapia previously, so the fish was my primary choice. When it all came down, I decided against the cedar plank versions and went for the 10oz Salmon filet. I originally wanted to get double vegetables instead of the salad, but was told this was not an option. I ordered the house salad with their vinaigrette dressing. When the salad arrived, i quickly removed all of the crutons, tomatoes, cucumbers and most of the cheese. What remained was still a pretty amazing salad. I did a quick search, and found the dinner roll was only 162 calories, and felt that would make a great treat, though I left off the butter, which is usually the best part.
When the salmon arrived, I was pleasantly suprised at the overall size of the portion. It was pretty large and had a very nice helping of veggies which included brocolli, mini carrots, and yellow squash. The veggies were perfectly steamed and had just the right amound of seasoning to enhance the flavor without removing any of the natural taste. The salmon, however, was simply to die for. It was extremely tender and flaked easily with barely a touch of my fork. Overall, it had a mild smoky flavor which brought added depth in taste. This has been by far one of the best salmon dishes I’ve had so far, definately rivaling even Chili’s!
Overall, I was very satisfied with lunch. I probably should have skipped the dinner roll. Without the butter, it just wasn’t the same anymore. Everything was very filling though, and I’m looking forward to going back. The one negative was the price… my entree was almost $15 alone, not including drink, tip and tax. This is no different than Chili’s or anywhere else, but it does hamper me when I’m watching the budget. I’m going to have to eat cheap the rest of the week.
| Meal: | ||||
| QTY | Item | Calories | Points | |
| 10oz | Grilled Salmon | 532 | 13.5 | |
| Vegetable Medly | 135 | 3 | ||
| 2 tbsp | Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing | 120 | 3.5 | |
| 1/4 cup | Shredded Cheese | 100 | 3 | |
| 2 cups | Iceberg Lettuce | 16 | 0 | |
| 1 | Dinner Roll | 162 | 3.5 | |
| Iced Tea w/ Sweet n’ Low | 0 | 0 | ||
| Grand Total: | 1065 | 26.5 | ||
Wow! That was way more than I expected. Honestly, I didn’t realize how bad the dressing was, otherwise, I’d have just skipped the salad and/or gone without dressing! 236 was just way too high for the salad… that completely made the dinner roll go way above and beyond. Actually, I’ll probably just skip both in the future.