P.F. Chang’s and Healthy Dining… an Oxymoron?

I entered P.F. Chang’s Friday night with one goal- to try and find at least two dishes that were yummy and that I wouldn’t feel horrible for having eaten.

Truthfully, I don’t really care about eating grease and/or fat. I love pizza, my moms meat loaf, and sausage patties and eat them on a semi regular basis without any feelings of guilt. One thing I don’t like though is food that I can not taste because of the fat/ grease/ who knows what that is dripping off of it. It does something to my soul just to look at the food…and inevitably this means that me and Chinese food aren’t exactly good friends.

I had never been to P.F. Chang;s before which also put me at a disadvantage. Their menus have no pictures or catchy phrases to help me in deciphering the content of the food. The names of the food also aren’t in English ( duh) so I was pretty much grasping at straws. BUT my boyfriend and I were able to find two delicious salads that we loved.

I had the Oriental Chicken Salad. I ordered it without the wonton strips and with the salad dressing on the side. I really enjoyed it. The mixed greens at P.F. Chang’s is a really unique and satisfying mix. There was lettuce and carrots sure but there was also cucumber spirals and asparagus which i really enjoyed. The chicken was just plain old white meat chicken but I love chicken so i was happy. The waitress made a great hot sauce for us at the table which I loved even more than the ginger vinegrette that cam with the salad. It was great for dipping the chicken in. And did I mention the salad was HUGE! I ate for about half an hour and still had a very large portion to take home. According to the P.F. Chang’s website the Oriental Chicken salad is 900 calories and 55 g of fat. I can guarantee you that is not what I got. I suppose if you ate all of the dressing and wontons strips though that that would add up.

My boyfriend got the Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Salad. I tried a couple bites of the salmon and it was great. The salmon flavors were really good and since the salmon is steamed the healthy score is fairly high. Of course this salad is higher in fat because of the fat in the salmon but hey it’s the good yummy fish fat : ) His mixed greens also had the asparagus and cucumber swirls. According the P.F. Changs website this salad has 610 calories and 35 g of fat. I am sure those numbers lower drastically though when you ask for the dressing on the side.

Overall, P.F. Chang’s was an interesting and entertaining experience. The inside of the restaurant was a little loud but the ambiance was good and the surrounding art was entertaining and fun. Then again each of the salads were $9.00 plus tip…

The P.F. Chang’s website is very helpful to look at before you go to the restaurant. There are nutrition facts for all of their dishes as well as a list of the ingredients so you will know what to ask for on the side or what to avoid altogether.

If you have tried P.F. Chang’s and had a really good/really bad dish let me know! Cause I’ll definitly go back, and maybe even get a little more adventurous.