Hello, I am going to my boyfriend’s celebration dinner tonight that his family is throwing. We are going to Salsa And Beer, a chain of Mexican restaurants in the Los Angeles/ San Fernando area in California.
The issue is I’ve been calorie counting for a a bit now and managed to lose 12 pounds( woot woot) but I have no idea how to calorie count anything there.
The menus don’t have any nutritional section and even if I don’t know the calories I want to stay in the healthier side.
Any input would be helpful, I know it’s not a healthy place to eat but the healthiest I can get so I don’t feel like I’m pigging out and ruining my calorie count.
Before I was dieting I would always get the steak picado burrito but they feels so out of my calorie budget.
by Turner5050
12 Comments
Shrimp or chicken tacos with a ranch salad could be a good option.
If there are fajitas (chicken, shrimp) on the menu somewhere that might be a decent option
I went to a Mexican restaurant last night and ordered a chicken fajita salad. Came with sour cream, guacamole in a fried tortilla bowl; wish I hadn’t eaten those for my calorie count but they were delicious. The sautéed chicken and vegetables over shredded lettuce was also delicious and within my caloric limit.
Chicken tacos are lower cal than youd think. Just take the second tortilla off and 3 of them is usually around 500cal
I love Mexican food so much that this would just be a night off for me and I’d just enjoy. Or just order what I like and try to eat about half and take the other half home.
General rules:
Of the proteins, beef is going to have the most calories, shrimp will have the least. Chicken and cheese will be in between.
Flautas are fried so are probably the automatic highest-calorie option on this menu.
Hard-shell tacos are fried so they have more calories than soft tacos. But tacos are generally pretty small compared to burritos so might be a better option in that sense.
A burrito-sized tortilla is about 350 calories, so if you could have your burrito in the form of a bowl, you will save a lot of calories.
Pico de gallo, red enchilada sauce, and green sauce are relatively low calorie. Crema sauces like the ranchera are going to be very high in calories and I would try not to have ranchera sauce AND cheese AND sour cream all at once.
I would get a naked vegetarian burrito (as a salad) & add some protein to it like shredded chicken. could also opt out of the sour cream.
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here. It’s a special occasion so order what you think is going to be most tasty. A lot of these dishes are nutritious in the fact that a lot of these dishes check off the food pyramid. It’s well rounded and Mexican dishes are typically low calorie yet nutritionally good. If you’re that concerned, skip sour cream/crema Fresca. If you are worried about going over your calories, go on a fast paced walk for 15 minutes if you can’t/don’t think you’re going to manage the rest of your week.
If you like seafood – get their ceviche or shrimp cocktail. Those my go to when I’m in a deficit at Mexican Restaurants. Ask for extra limes on the side and hot sauce. Those meals are made with mainly vegetables, it’s very filling with lots of volume for much less calories than anything else on the menu (most other meals consist of tortillas, mexican rice and refried beans which are loaded with calories)
If you don’t like seafood, chicken tacos with a side salad would be a safe bet too.
Tacos and get rid of excess tortilla lol
Any of the tacos al carbon are ifinetely better than the rest of the options. The other options seem to rely on cream, guac, fried or high caloric ingredients.
Chicken of course would be the healthiest, but it’s pretty much a tortilla with some meat so it’s going to be low calorie and high protein, get what you want. None of the sides are too ideal since the ranch/ceasar is high caloric. Maybe ask about the soups or order anything and just don’t finish it lol.
Dude i love salsa and beer. My go to is the cream chicken flautas. Sometimes the cream chicken enchiladas. I never care about calories when i go there. Ill get a beer too
Tacos Al Carbon -Shrimp or Chicken
Extra Pico & Salad w/dressing on the side
Enjoy ur Celebration! Have a vodka w/diet sprite 4sure 2nite