Greenleaf in Cockeysville, besides having terrific food overall, has a spa cuisine section on its menu. Moreover, I've found all of their dishes seem more healthy than most similar restaurants. From their Pad Thai to their fried rice, it all seems to be prepared with a lighter, healthier style. Their sushi is excellent too.

Probably the most important thing in any restaurant is to tell the server to have the cook (chef) not to use any margerine on anything served. Quite a few places slather it on everything they serve. While a chef should know, many of the cooks in these places have no concept of nutrition wouldn't know margerine from butter. Also many places substitute flavored soybean oil in place of olive oil to save some money. At home I make a spread of half olive oil and half butter and keep it in the fridge. Tastes fine.

I wish we had a good Lebanese place in Baltimore. That is a cuisine that is very healthy and very flavourful, in a way that isn't threatening.

Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese and Chinese can be good, but you have to know a lot more to make the right selections and salt can be a real problem. There is also sometimes more oil than one would think hiding in some dishes.

I'd suggest calling ahead and dining at non-peak times, so that the servers and the chefs have more time to talk about food choices and to make you something healthy.

It's just amazing (and sad) that there aren't more or at least places that feature healthy food. In the old days they were health food stores, etc, but even they are rare now it seems. Healthy food; whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, fresh vegetables- what could be better? Food that you see at the farmers markets; not out of a can or box. I love this kind of food... not saying I eat it too much though sorry.

I'm no expert, but I bet Black Olive has overall a healthy menu.

The Flying Avocado in Owings Mills. But, having said that I believe that one can eat healthily (is that word?) in just about restaurant. Lean meats, veggies that are not laden in creams sauces, salads with balsamic dressing. Avoiding the things that are fried, sauced with cream and butter, and heavy on carbs is a pretty healthy eating practice.

Not that I do it often enough, though.

Try Tahina's in Owings Mills, especially for a quick lunch. Of course, you'll have to skip the fry bar, but the pocket sandwiches are delicious.

Thinking about this, while I agree with Joyce that it is more a matter of educating yourself and being careful, I think tapas might work for this, too. I can think of several dishes at Tapabar, for example, that would make a lovely, healthy low-fat and low salt meal.

Of course, one could also murder yourself in a tapas joint, eating lovely fat-filled salty things.

potpie: "Healthy food; whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, fresh vegetables- what could be better?"

A big fat, thick porterhouse (rare), baked potato with sour cream with chives, and a nice salad with a light dressing of course.

Well, you did ask what could be better.

Lissa- Not meaning to a smart-ass here, but does Lebanese Taverna in Harbor East count? Now that you mention it, their tabouli is fantastic! When I'm low-carbing, I just eat it straight from the bowl.

Captcha: godzilla written- how Japan will finally be destroyed

FLIRV, Lebanese Taverna is a very bad example of the genre. I had a very bad meal there, with lots of stuff made in advance that should not be.

It is a pity. I'd be there every week, despite their outrageous prices, if their food were proper Lebanese.

I'll second the flying avocado in OM. They're also very clean, and being that dearest is in the clean business, this is very important. There are several places that will never see us again due to health code violations, etc; things that i wouldn't have even noticed without another set of eyes.
Eating in a healthful manner is really about ordering the right thing, and having it prepared n the right way. Most chain res. salads you'd be better off with a burger instead. I'd avoid burgers, mostly because what tastes good is usually 80/20 ground meat. ( 20% FAT content.) fried is out, as is tempura; skip anything breaded and one should be in a "reasonable" amount of risk. Another rule is "is this more then six and six?" six ingredients and six steps to make if you were home doing it yourself.
Portion control is most important. the serving you get out, with the exception of tapas is 75% more then a portion. Cut whatever you order in half, then, one half of that. f you're still hungry, wait 4 minutes, then proceed onto the remaining quarter.
Also, knowing your cuts of meat helps. What you want are fillets, loins, skirt steak

captcha: which invader... choose wisely.

FEAST @ 4 East, in Mt Vernon, would be a good choice. ALL dishes are made without animal fats, only olive oil or grapeseed oil, and other than the scallops and the oysters basquaise all the flesh-food dishes have no cream sauces or butter in them. So the bison steak, the lamb chops, the rockfish, the chicken, the meatloaf, the braise of the day are clean of animal fats other than the actual meat; the vegetable sides, potatoes (both mashed AND the galette), and the accompaniments, such as the mushroom risotto, are all made using olive oil and vegetable stock; the frittata is a spicy Tunisian without cheese, butter or cream, the beans of the day are always dairy-free (red beans & rice or Tuscan beans w/ crostini, no chicken stock), the pasta sauce du jour, gnocchi (made without eggs), and all the vegetable dishes are either ALL dairy-free or there is a dairy-free version available. The chef, who is an enthusiastic carnivore, was at one time in her life vegan, and she continues to be finely attuned to the needs and preferences of those who want to limit their intake of animal fats whether for health- or choice-related reasons. There is even a dairy-free chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, and a dairy free chocolate sundae!!! Currently the seasonal fruit dessert of the day is pears poached in mulled wine, and the creme fraiche accompaniment is optional. Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, I work at FEAST as the sous-chef and pastry chef.

itinerantcook, thank you for the disclosure. It tells us exactly how to judge your information (and, in my judgment, you probably have a far better idea of what goes in to what comes out of that kitchen than most).

Although...sauce without butter?

OMG...the inimatible public!
They wonder why certain restaurants go out of business, yet they require of restaurants like they are somehow, their own personal in-house chefs.
I say, if you have these extreme exclusionary requirements for you eating habits, stay home and cook for yourself. I am sure, that most who WOULD be served a specific diet (heart-healthy for example) by a restaurant would then complain that their food "did not taste very good". Reminds me of a friend I used to go out to lunch with 1-2 times a week; always ordered her meat (including steak) VERY WELL DONE, but would immediately complain to the server that "this meat is too dry!".
If you are used to eating foods full of fat, carbohydrates, chlorestorol, sodium, etc., you would be complaining if the food "didn't taste good/right".
Most, and I emphasize MOST, people eat at a restaurant for special occasions and/or a "once-twice a week break" from cooking for themselves.
Any restaurant that would even try to cater to all of the individual preferences I have read on this blog would be out of business in 1 month tops!
P.S. If you have special, obscure, dietary requirements eat at home or pack your own lunch!

Yes, sauce without butter!!! One is an emulsion made with grapeseed oil & mustard which is flavored with fresh herbs & aromatics, and the other is a wine reduction (which I alluded to in my original post) that has a little cream but no butter.

Also, I disagree strongly with Lone Lady who seems to imply that if it's not laden with animal fat, dairy, carbs and sodium, then you're going to find it tasteless. The gentleman who was looking for options said nothing about carbs, nor did he rule out meat -- he just wanted to have tap into the networking community that is a blog to find out who knew of good places to eat where all the deliciousness is not entirely attributable to cream, butter, cheese and salt.

The judicious use of leeks, garlic, shallots & ginger, spices such as nutmeg, pimenton, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne & coriander & herbes de Provence, & FRESH herbs such as parsley, oregano, tarragon, sage, rosemary & thyme, along with such staples as salt & pepper, wine & extra-virgin olive oil (not to mention lemon & nuts) produces flavorful food from Spain to Lebanon.

Lastly, while it's a real challenge in these winter months, we are still able to source local carrots, potatoes, beets& turnips, & fresh herbs that come from not too far away & even some salad greens (obviously grown under cover), as well as local walnuts, chestnuts, cheeses, flours, meat, chicken, fish & bread. All this is to make the point that local equates greater freshness, and less tampering, as food hasn't been sprayed with fungicides and treated with other spoilage retardant chemicals so that it could sit in refrigerated warehouses for weeks and travel thousands of miles. As every food-lover knows, beyond the good it does in the immediate surrounding economy and the hopeful environmental effect, local also means more flavor.

Yes, sauce without butter!!!

I don't want to live.

I've cooked tasty food without butter, so I can believe it. I just don't know bupkis about sauce making.

Good ingredients require a minimum of meddling in my experience.

Got to get over there and eat one of these days.

I'm a little surprised that cream is apparently being considered more healthy than butter,

Lissa, there are certain sauces (maybe 4 of them?) that are considered "mother" sauces. From them, you are then able to make the fancier more involved sauces. I learned how to make a basic white sauce and brown sauce from watching Emeril, back in the day when he used to actually teach and not perform.

Probably TFN still has tutorials on how to make Bernaise, etc should you ever get the overwhelming urge.

And, yeah, Hal. Another thing everyone wants to villainize is cream. But, like butter, it's ok in moderation, IMHO.

And, on the topic of butter - way better than margerine!

Joyce, I've got Kamin, and I've been meaning to work my way through the sauces there. Just haven't gotten around to it, just as I haven't gotten around to the fall's cooking project of learning to make pizza.

The summer's peach gallette project was a success, though, which may be part of why I go this for a captcha, "paunch ization."

Lissa, you are in good hands when you do get to it. I want to learn pizza dough too. Any tips from anybody?

Lissa, if you haven't already, you might enjoy reading Michael Ruhlman's _The Making of a Chef_. IIRC, the first third of the book focuses on the production of brown sauce, and whether it's preferable to use a brown roux or a blond roux.

Laura Lee, I've read all of Ruhlman's books. That is part of the reason I think I should really learn something about sauces one of these days.

Lissa, if you can gallette, you can sauce!