At Mexican Restaurants, Hold the Fat, Not the Taste - low fat mexican restaurant dishes

Glen in Cole Forest Sepp
1994 this is a digital version of an article from The Times Print Archive, before it starts online in 1996.
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Very clean, huh-
This is a bright place. the kitchen of this restaurant is in the sun.
Here, in the pot and the food-
Prep hustle, a large chain restaurant in Southern California, is setting off a new wave.
Mexican food is sold in the United States.
"It's not difficult to make Mexican food healthier," said Victor Broceaux, 59 . "year-old Basque-
The born chef is the research and development director of the catering association, and the food company is reshaping its aklapco chain.
"The challenge we face is how to make it delicious.
"This is a challenge that every Mexican restaurant chain faces or is about to face: healthy Mexican food is coming to a restaurant near you.
This trend is called "healthy Mexicans", "fresh Mexicans", "next Mexicans" and "lite Mexicans "(
And some grease.
Shopaholics who hate it, "Fern Mexico ")
Of the 20,000 Mexican restaurants in the country, several have quietly developed for ten years.
It still accounts for only a fraction of $8.
The annual sales of Mexican restaurants are 9 billion.
Now, driven in part by a recent report on a consumer group that targets fat content in Mexican food, this trend is expected to accelerate.
There is nothing more intense than the War of burritos in Torrance and the rest of Southern California, where the industry giant Taco Bell was born, and many large chain stores have headquarters, A large Hispanic population creates opportunities for the most discriminating Mexican food consumers in the United States.
Advertising some chain companies, such as aklapco, which owns 45 of 50 restaurants in Southern Californiamakeover route.
Akapura is changing the ingredients and methods of cooking, changing the look of restaurants and even tableware.
These changes have been tested in Torrance, about 15 miles south of downtown Los Angeles in recent weeks, and are expected to appear in many restaurants in the chain next month.
Other chains are moving to pre-existing menus.
This week, for example, Taco Bell will start using the lower-
Including hard fat. shell tacos.
The moves have gained new momentum after a 750,000-member consumer group in Washington, the Science Center for Public Interest, detonated traditional Mexican food in the latest revelations.
The research of the center was published in the organization's Nutrition Action Health Letter on July 18, covering Mexico-
The report said the catering industry was "Black Monday" as nationwide sales fell from 5 to 15% in the next few weeks.
It cited laboratory tests that showed that eating Chile's relllenos platter was equivalent to eating a whole piece of butter, a beef and cheese corn flakes with a fat content of up to 10, three-quarter-
A cup of Mexican rice contains 800 mg of sodium, which is the third recommended level per day.
Although many Mexicans
Joaquin Pelaez said restaurant executives had objections to the center's approach and its affinity for the media spotlight, a report that awakened the industry, vice president of technology and quality, Taco Bell, Gulf of California
"Health problems will not disappear," he said . ".
Not new: Taco Bell owned by Pepsi
There are 4,800 restaurants and $3.
7 billion of sales, stopped using lard in food seven years ago, the chain plans to roll out a reduction
Before the center report came out, the fat project was already there.
Restaurant management is not worried about losing hard
Core Mexican food fans and are confident the center's comments will bounce back.
But they are worried about occasional diners, the masses they desire, and may now have more spiritual connections between fat and Mexican food.
However, the rush to be "healthy" is full of danger.
Driven by customers' demand for lighter food, influenced by the habits of traditional diners, they want to eat Mexican cuisine, and restaurants must strike a new balance, keep them at the same time as they avoid a health disaster.
Fat-oriented products
The rich environment is like McDonald's McLean draukes burger, which was bombed.
If diners say they want to be healthy, but order traditional Mexican food, the gamble in akapurko can backfire, so the taste issue may be critical to success.
"Changing a healthier menu should be a successful strategy as long as you can keep it delicious," said Merrill Shindler.
Editor of the annual "LA and Southern California restaurant zaggot survey", which relies on the opinions of 5,000 local reviewers.
"Our staff told us that they were very positive about health information, but it was really a bit behind the taste.
"The Center for advertising science has not yet specifically tested the new menu program for aklapco, but it praised the efforts of aklapco and other chain stores to" improve food health "," said Dr.
Michael Jacobson, executive director of the group.
"In most Mexican restaurants you can look in the corner of the menu and only with heroic efforts can you order a healthy meal.
Industry experts say, "the reshaping of akapurko is a change that most Mexican restaurants and chains have to endure.
Therefore, other companies will pay close attention to this effort. Jacobson said.
Nicholas Valentine, ceo of the Restaurant Associates, the private owner of the chain, believes that the choice is change or stagnation.
Since the beginning of 1993, sales have remained flat at $90 million last year. Valenti said.
In addition to aklapco, the restaurant associates also have Sea Grill, Tropica and Centro, the newly opened Cafe in Manhattan, as well as steak chains such as Charlie Brown, New Jersey.
Restaurant staff, Sir
Valenti said total revenue will reach $0. 27 billion this year, a unit of Tokyo's Kyodo news agency. Mr.
Valentine was interviewed recently in Torrance, when he was overseeing a $4 million cosmetic surgery in akapurko.
In the kitchen of chain 50
Seat restaurant, sir.
Research director Broceaux has been working on the new menu for several weeks with local chef Jesse Munoz.
In the new product, there is a vegetarian black
Tostada oven-
Three new, low-taste scones.
Fat salsas, sir.
Broceaux was created.
It costs $4. 99, and Mr.
Broceaux believes this is the first of its kind.
And tortillas soup ($2. 99)
, With a small amount of cotijas cheese of about 8% fat instead of 20% fat in traditional Monterey Jack.
Not only the change of food,
So is the demo.
Instead of offering a plate full of main courses, akapurko piled the food on the new cutlery, highlighting fleverier, a homely meal at this country's Mexican restaurant with fresh ingredients.
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Even before the restructuring, the chain had begun to add vegetable dishes and changed the way food was prepared.
For example, pork previously cooked in lard is now cooked in broth.
Tortillas are Mexican and pasta is Italian, and the tortillas have changed with the soft tortillas replacing the hard-fried crust. Mr.
Broceaux works under strict cost constraints.
"The price of customers is very high --
"Sensitive," said Ira James, vice president of marketing at the Acapulco chain.
"Every time the price threshold exceeds one dollar, the appeal of the public will be weakened.
"The typical annual revenue for the acapurco chain is $1.
8 million, check per person including drinks is $11.
Although after the release of the Science Center report, sales at akapurko and other Mexican restaurants declined, not everyone refused.
"On the second day of the report, we heard that some people were dead --
"Stubborn parties have a desire for Mexican food," said Wendy Webster, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association.
"When some people want Mexican food, they want the whole tamale.
"Advertising is of course true for many of the occupants of the El Coyote family --
Run a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles with 2,000 people on a great day.
According to manager Darin Price, El Coyote, known for its heavy, cheap food, lost 5 to 10% of its business after the center report was released.
More than a year ago, everything was easy. going, fat-
For the lard problem, the tolerant customer so insisted that the restaurant was forced to abandon it and switch to vegetable oil. Price said.
But it all sounds like an ancient history during a recent visit.
"The menu is the same and will never change . "Price said.
"If there is no bad, don't fix it. "Many of Mr.
The customer of the price seems to agree.
"When you come here, you throw health problems out of the window," said Ron Smith, a customer . ".
In the larger chain, the success of these places has not been lost.
"You have to keep customers from seeing the health benefits," he said . "
Pelaez of Taco Bell
"The real challenge is to provide a very delicious product, a product that offers the greatest taste appeal with the lowest fat content.
"For managers, after all, the bottom line is to make money from health --Mex.
If there are two customers dining in Torrance akapurko on the most recent afternoon, the restaurant staff will have a hard time meeting everyone's needs.
"I don't know this new low --
"Fat kick," said Bill Guerin, a retired resident who often goes to the local arcaplko.
"It changes the overall taste of the food.
"I didn't notice any difference," his wife Buena, 55, retorted . ". "I like it. "Mr. Guerin laughed. "Low-
Mexican cuisine.
He shook his head.
"You know, I'm 78 years old and I'll take better care of myself if I know I'll stick to it for so long!
"In Health Advertising, acapulco and Taco Bell are not the only chain stores to compete for a healthier" healthy Mexico "market.
A big competitor sitting in a seat
The Down category is El Torito chain, with 127 restaurants and 70 in Southern California.
Family Restaurant company owned by private owner
El Torito offers skinless chicken, no lard or bacon, and vegetarian portions are on the menu.
Soon after, as Pepsi took over the Chevrolet Mexican chain restaurant in 1993, its open, bright atmosphere piled up --beer-
Crate decor and fresh
Taco Maker in El Machino.
Chevrolet has 49 restaurants and 7 in Southern California, with sales of $90 million in 1993.
But it plans to open 300 of the restaurants by 1999, a large part of which will be in Southern California.
The chain ensures that all flour tortillas are delivered within three minutes of baking;
All fried food is cooked with vegetable oil instead of lard. MSG is notno. A low-cost health-
The Mexican Pathfinder is La Salsa, founded in 1979, a strip mall in West Los Angeles.
The chain currently has 43 restaurants and 25 in Los Angeles and Orange County.
La Salsa is the only big fast food restaurant
According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, the service chain of the Southern California health Mexico division.
According to analysts, privately held La Salsa earned $25 million in 1993.
There are other salsa dances in the area.
Like the emphasis on fresh and healthy chain stores, it seems to be booming.
Including the machete in Portland, Oregon.
The San Francisco area's Mas and Dallas's ZuZu chain have 50 restaurants called the "next Mexican ".
"A version of the article appears on page 3003005 of the national edition of September 25, 1994, titled: in Mexican restaurants, keep fat, not taste.