- Beth Auguste
30 Philly Restaurants with Dietitian Approved Menu Items
Updated: Apr 14
Give yourself a break from the kitchen and enjoy a date night, a lunch date, or a quick snack. Choose one of these dietitian approved options and feel good when you dine out!
Order This: Chicken kale chickpea Caesar salad with tahini
Why it’s great: It is packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber & protein. The tahini offers a healthy immune boosting fat for your dressing.
Order This: Eggplant caponata
Why it’s great: The dark purple color on eggplant’s skin indicates that it is a food high in phytonutrients and antioxidants.
Order This: A Bitzza
Why it’s great: This is a pita loaded with veggie toppings and maybe chicken or falafel. They grill their falafel so you get more of the yummy stuff and less of random fried breading.
Order This: Revive Kombucha from the wellness menu
Why it’s great: Kombucha is high in probiotics (may help with your GI), antioxidants (help fight toxins) and may even help reduce risk for chronic disease.
Order This: Vegan cauliflower bowl
Why it’s great: Excellent source of fiber and healthy fats. Also, it’s delicious!
Charlie was a Sinner
Order This: Mixed Bean Salad. Save 1/2 of the grilled sourdough bread for later.
Why it's great: A high fiber carb powerhouse! Includes cannellini, navy, and black eyed beans. Beans are an excellent source of fiber and help manage blood glucose! This will help keep you full and focused longer throughout the day.
QUICK BITE: The Chilly Banana (food truck)
Order This: Rotating menu. Start with the fresh banana base. Add nutrient dense toppings, like fresh fruit, peanut butter, and whipped coconut.
Why it's great: Quick and refreshing dessert option. Check out their website to see where their truck will be parked next!
The Continental Midtown
Order This: Steamed Edamame. Can order double portion to make it an entree.
Why it's great: Simple and only two ingredients: edamame and sea salt.
Second runner-up: Turkey Burger.
The Dandelion
Order This: Pan seared Scottish Salmon from the all-day menu. Crusted with dukkah - an Egyptian spice blend containing nuts, cumin, and coriander. Paired with tomato curry chickpea stew and lime roasted cauliflower.
Why it's great: So. much. flavor. Packed with antioxidants (curry, tomato) and omega-3 fatty acids (salmon), to help decrease inflammation throughout the body.
Order This: Spiedini Di Gamberi alla Isolana (Butterfly shrimp wrapped in slices of zucchini served on a skewer, broiled with spices and herbs)
Why it’s great: Choose this high protein and high vegetable dish to counterbalance the high carbohydrate load from appetizers and pasta side dishes that are oh-so temptingly delicious at this Italian spot!
Order This: ½ Tuna salad sandwich and a side of veggie broth based soup.
Why it’s great: Tuna is an excellent source of omega-3, a healthy anti-inflammatory fat. Balance this protein packed (carby) sandwich with extra vegetables from a soup.
Order This: Daily rotating menu. Look for the option with an egg or extra vegetables. Save ½ the big yummy pita as a snack for later.
Why it’s great: Tahini (ground sesame seed) is a healthy, immune boosting fat. All hummus orders come with a side of pickled vegetables (probiotics!).
El Vez
Order This: Mexican chopped salad with cumin-lime vinaigrette. Sub queso fresco for salsa. Add avocado. Ask for 1/2 the amount of crispy tortillas.
Why its great: A perfectly balanced meal with fiber (black beans, 8 different vegetables), carbohydrate (crispy tortilla, black beans), protein (black beans), and fat (avocado).
Order This: Build a balanced meal using the buffet. Instead of rice, make cauliflower the base of your plate. Fill your plate first with 50% vegetables, then 25% protein, and starch can fill in the rest.
Why it’s great: This restaurant uses little extra oil. Buffets can be a very easy way to create a healthy balanced plate.
Order This: Chicken gorgonzola sandwich on wheat bread
Why it’s great: A fantastic source of protein (38g) and, at 700mg of sodium, this is low sodium for a restaurant meal
High Street Philly(takeout or delivery)
Order This: Avocado or Salmon toast on buckwheat cherry or nine grain bread.
Why it’s great: Quick, nutrient dense eats!
Order This: Southwest breakfast wrap
Why it’s great: This wrap meets the “ideal meal” goals of high fiber carb (beans, corn), healthy fat (avocado, chipotle crema), protein (beans, tofu) and antioxidants (tomato).
Honeygrow
Order This: Create your own salad with one starch choice (quinoa OR whole wheat noodles OR farro). Choose a vinaigrette-based dressing. Add plenty of vegetables and a good quality protein source like tofu, roasted chicken, or hard boiled egg. Create your own fruit bowl with honey.
Why it's great: Allows you to customize your order. Provides a wide variety of fresh produce and whole ingredients keeping your meals high in fiber and protein and low in fat!
Kai Sushi Order This: Ginger dressing salad. Sashimi of your choice. Sub brown rice. Why it’s great: The anti-inflammatory properties in ginger are excellent for your health. The separation between fish and rice in sashimi allows you to better balance your carbohydrates and eat more fish than rice! Bonus: Kai allows for brown rice substitution.
Laser Wolf
Order This: Any hummus option.
Why it's great: Hummus is made from chickpeas that are packed with fiber and aid in digestion. They make a great meat alternative and can be served soft or crunchy!
Le Pain Quotidien
Order This: Lentil & Avocado Salad
Why it’s great: Lentils are a nutritional powerhouse. They are a fantastic source of fiber, vegetarian protein and minerals, including folate and iron. It is rare to find them on a takeout menu!
Second runner up: Zucchini noodle pad thai
The Love
Order This: Cucumber salad from the brunch menu.
Why it's great: Counterbalance with all of the temptingly-delicious (carby) dishes on the menu! Offers fiber (cucumber, tomato), probiotic (pickled red onion), and antioxidant (red wine viniagrette) properties!
Order This: Caesar salad
Why it’s great: This unique twist on a classic Caesar salad provides multiple sources of plant protein with millet croutons, almond parmesan and a cashew dressing.
Rangoon
Order This: Okra Chicken or Shrimp in chef's picks section. Ask for double vegetables.
Why it's great: Okra is the seed pod of a plant commonly used in Southern cooking. It can help control blood pressure as it's rich in potassium.
Order This: Build your own bowl. Chopped kale base, salmon, avocado half, sweet potato hummus, pesto dressing
Why it’s great: This is a well balanced meal, protein and healthy fat from the salmon and avocado, carbohydrate from the sweet potato hummus. According to the provided nutrition data, this meal is lower in sodium than their average offering.
Order This: Tofu scramble
Why it’s great: This protein and veggie packed scramble is excellent for your heart. Soy and fiber are key ingredients in a diet for lower cholesterol.
Order This: Plenty of great options. Order a salad that only contains one source of starch, either sweet potatoes OR quinoa OR the side of bread.
Why it’s great: The huge variety in produce means you are getting a huge variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Order This: Fruit & cheese pack. Takeout salad.
Why it’s great: This is a fresh grab and go alternative on Washington Square!
Vedge
Order This: Ssamjang Tofu.
Why it's great: Packed with protein. Whipped edamame base, rich in fiber and vitamin K. Vitamin K is beneficial to blood flow and bone growth.
Vernick
Order This: Roasted Cauliflower Caesar in small plates section of the menu.
Why it's great: Healthy spin on caesar salad!
QUICK BITE: TRADER JOE’S OR WHOLE FOODS
Order This: Get a mix from the salad bar or quick ready-go snacks along the pre-prepared wall.
Why it’s great: You know what you are eating will always be fresh!
QUICK BITE: Sprouts
Order This: Pick out a variety of nuts and make your own trail mix to take on the run.
Why it’s great: Sprouts has MANY options!
QUICK BITE: WHOLE FOODS
Order This: Get a mix from the salad bar or quick ready-go snacks along the pre-prepared wall.
Why it’s great: You know what you are eating will always be fresh!
The Wawa Edition. Here are 5 suggestions of what to get at Wawa.
Order This: Egg breakfast bowl
Why it’s great: High protein egg breakfast without all the refined carb from a typical breakfast sandwich.
Order This: Hummus with pita rounds and a bag of baby carrots
Why it’s great: Each ingredient of this snack gives you filling and cholesterol lowering fiber.
Order This: Chicken salad snack tray
Why it’s great: High protein, easy to eat quickly!
Order This: Hard boiled eggs and apple slices
Why it’s great: This is a well rounded snack. The eggs offer you protein and fat, the apple slices offer carb, fiber and some hydration.
Order This: Roasted chicken hot bowl with bean base, ask for extra vegetables in the base.
Why it’s great: According to the wawa calorie calculator, this is a lower sodium option (compared to the other options), high fiber and high protein. It also contains a proper amount of carbohydrates for one meal (the other bases are higher and may leave you feeling tired).
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