What's in What You Eat?It is said you are what you eat, from your head to your feet. So why not know… What's in what you eat?

Moving away from the Mexican theme, but staying on the late night comes an awesome Mediterranean restaurant tucked in a small location on University Way (the Ave). Hungry at 3am, this is what I found:

Gyro Salad

Menu Description: Fresh lettuce, onion, tomato, tzaziki, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, feta, lamb, and beef

Taste: 9
Nutrition: 8
Filling: 7
Price: $ ($6.18)
Overall Value: 8

I felt the portion size would be a little small for a normal time meal, but at 3am it was just what I needed. Also beware a friend tells me that they may put wheat in their lamb roast, but this is unconfirmed and I felt fine after eating there. You may want to double check if you are very gluten sensitive.

Memo’s Meixcan

While we are on the theme of Mexican food, here’s another one to look at. You might not want to eat there, but looking will do ok.  The food really isn’t very good, but they are open 24 hours so if you are out and hungry at 1am and don’t want to settle for a Dick’s burger and fries, you have another option here.

Another thing is that the food is cheap. Really cheap. So cheap that it scares me a little to think of the quality that they are probably serving. Well here we go. What I did was order a 4 side dishes rather than one of their entree items. 2 sides of beef, 1 chicken, and 1 guacamole. The whole thing ended up costing me about $6.50

Taste: 2
Nutrition: 7 (Based on the fact that it was just meat and avocado, if I knew the quality it would be lower scoring likely)
Filling: 8
Price: $
Overall Value: During normal day hours, 3
At 3am when I went, 8

In conclusion, I do not recommend this place unless you are either out late or slightly intoxicated.

Located in the heart of Broadway on Capital Hill is a Mexican restaurant that has been around for 30 years. They must be doing some right one would assume. Well they sure are!

I haven’t tried ordering off the menu before because they have an all you can eat buffet offering daily too, and for someone like me if I have the option to eat all I can, then I’m going for that! Buffets in general are often very promising for Paleo eaters since you can really choose what you want and it is easy to avoid the things that you don’t want. I had always dreamed of someday finding a paleo all you can eat buffet, and finally did.

So for 14 bucks during the dinner hour, and around 8 bucks at lunch time, you can feast upon all you can eat Mexican cuisine, which features lots and lots of meats, vegetables, and healthy fat. On the buffet line was 3 different beef entrees, 3 chicken, some pork, and even salmon. There were also cooked vegetables, salad, and guacamole on the line which kept me happy.

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 10
Filling: 10
Price: $$
Overall Value: 10

I had no idea if my choices had hidden sugar, soy, dairy, or gluten in them, but other than the feeling of being extremely full from stuffing myself with 3 plates full of what is pictured, I felt pretty good afterwards.

Located on Greenwood & 85th street, comes a Mexican restaurant that promises to be healthy. But what do they define as healthy?

“We are completely transfat free, our beans are made without lard or oil, our rice without chicken stock, all of our meats are grilled, and our salsas are all made from fresh tomatoes and chiles. We have many vegetarian and vegan options, even our chips are completely animal free.”

Well they’ve got some stuff right, being trans fat free and using fresh ingredients….but the other things? Not that I eat beans or rice anyways but I would be hardly concerned at all if there was animal fat in the base. Promoting vegan and vegetarian? Oh boy…don’t get me started.

However, if you look on the menu there is another option that I am totally excited for.

At nearly every Indian restaurant I have seen, there is a common trend of offering a $7 all you can eat buffet during the lunch hour (usually 11:30am-2:30pm). Curious to try new foods I went into one looking to see if anything primal emerged. This is what I found:

Buffet line stocked full of meat, typically chicken, lamb, and goat with numerous raw or cooked vegetables for side dishes. Sure it may have some sugar or soy in the sauces, or it may not, but it is primarily high animal protein, high vegetables, and as long as you can resist the Naan bread is also grain free. Also no word on if the animals are free-ranged.

Bengal Tiger (Roosevelt)

Butter chicken, tandoori chicken, cucumber salad, regular salad, eggplant puree

Masala (Northgate)

Chicken curry on the bone, Tandoori chicken, salad, greek-like salad, raw broccoli, spinach puree

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 8
Filling: 10 (All you can eat!)
Price: $ (Typically $6.95)
Overall Value: 10

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

I am still amazed at having this as an option for lunch, and there are so many Indian restaurants with this in Seattle that anywhere you go you aren’t far from your local Indian Lunch Buffet. If you have never tried them, the time is now!

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill is by far the highest quality fast food chain in the country. They are all about free-ranged and grass-fed meats and other than the 0.5 grams of trans fat found in their tortilla, taco shell, and corn chips (don’t eat these) they don’t use any artificial ingredients in their food. It is all customizable so it is quite easy to get a primal meal here:

Bed of lettuce, grilled vegetables, pico de gallo, choice of meat, cheese, sour cream, guacamole

I usually do double meat and double vegetables.

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 10
Filling: 8
Price: $
Overall Value: 9

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

Sonrisa Modern Mexican

Sonrisa is a Mexican restaurant located in the University Village. Mexican restaurants often have a Paleo potential and this is no exception. For Paleo, there aren’t too many things available but this one particular meal I had could be repeated many times.

“FAJITAS
Sauteed red and yellow bell peppers and white onions. Guacamole, pico
de gallo, flour tortillas. Ancho Grilled Chicken $17 ~ Adobo Skirt Steak $18 ~ Adobo Shrimp $17 ~ 2-Combo $18″

Leave off the tortillas (which really are unneeded) and you have yourself a meal. Start it with a Heart of Palm salad if you are really hungry. The meal also comes with some lettuce piled with cheese.

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 8 (Meat used was likely not 100% grass-fed, sauce tastes sweetened)
Filling: 9
Price: $$$
Overall Value: 10

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

While it is quite expensive, this restaurant is very good. It is also opened until midnight or 1am depending on the night so it is always nice to have a late-night Paleo option.

Another great place to stay Paleo is Whole Foods.

Whole Foods Market (RSQ)

If you don’t know what you are doing and just dig into the salad bar..you may be shocked on how high the price is causing you to miss out on the excellent products Whole Foods offers. So while the salad bar definitely has the potential to be Paleo there are other options that you can check out.

Option 1:

Over in the carving station next to the made to order burritos,  they have a few meal deals.

Of the Paleo options, you can get a half all natural chicken with two sides for $6.99, marinated pork shoulder with two sides for $9.99 and depending on the day there are other choices that might show up for meats. Here are a few of the combinations I have made:

Entree: 1/2 chicken
Side 1: Mixed vegetables (onions, peppers, squash, zucchini, more?) with seasoning.
Side 2: Sherry mushrooms

So how was it?

Taste: 8 (Add some guacamole or other dressing / sauce and it goes to 10)
Nutrition: 10
Filling: 10 (I could barely finish it)
Price: $
Overal Value: 10

Ingredients confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar.

Option 2:

The Corner Cafe serves made to order grilled items with huge Paleo potential

Large beef patty served with bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, and avacado. I went for the side of sweet potato fries

Taste: 9
Nutrition: 7 (Meat used was not 100% grass-fed and the fries are Alexia brand which is coated with some non Paleo but all natural ingredients)
Filling: 8
Price: $
Overall Value: 8

Ingredients confirmed to be 100% free of soy, artificial ingredients, and added sugar.

The fries contain: Sweet Potatoes, Oleic Canola Oil And/Or Sunflower Oil And/Or Safflower Oil, Modified Food Starch (From Potatoes), Rice Flour, Corn Dextrin, Salt, Leaving (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Extractive of Paprika, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (Added To Preserve Natural Color).

Option 3:

Build your own. Meat from meat department, not Prepared Foods

100% grass-fed lamb, steamed broccoli, guacamole, caramelized onions

100% grass-fed ground beef, steamed broccoli, guacamole, caramelized onions

The absolute best deal and highest quality option is to bring over grass-fed meat from the meat department. From there for $2.99 you can get 2 sides (steamed broccoli, grilled vegetables, sherry mushrooms). Guacamole is $0.50 extra and caramelized onions are $0.50. Get creative! You can piece together an awesome meal with effort.

Thank you Whole Foods for helping Seattle out!

Sorry for the delay in posting these.  It seems everytime I go to a restaurant that is Paleo friendly I forget my camera. Luckily this time one of my friends I was with had an iPhone on hand.

Southlake Grill

Located about one block west of REI is the Southlake Grill. This is one of four locations, each with a different name but the same menu (Greenlake, Eastlake, and Lake Forest).

Besides the typical salads, this restaurant has a number of Paleo choices.

Here’s what I had:

“Grilled Boneless Half Chicken: Natural Washington Grown Chicken with an orange-basil sauce, garlic mashed potatoes & seasonal veggies.”

The mashed potatoes, were easily substituted for sweet potato fries, or if you want to stay even more strict, you can just ask for double the veggies (carrots and broccoli). And yes, I gave the ketchup and ranch away.

So how was it?

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 8 (10 with double vegetables)
Filling: 10
Price: $ (usually $$)
Overal Value: 9-10

Ingredients not confirmed to be 100% free of soy, grains, artificial ingredients, and added sugar

Every Sunday this location only has a screaming deal. Every single food item on the menu is 50% off. This entire entree as pictured was $8.75 after tax.