By Karen Ott Mayer
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Monday, December 10, 2007

A wave of little red hearts has fallen onto some local restaurant menus, promising to make life healthier for Mid-South diners.Memphis Heart Clinic’s Heart Builders program has been gaining ground since the official kick-off in May, when the organization partnered with the Memphis Restaurant Association. Huey’s has also jumped on the heart healthy bandwagon. The restaurant has it’s nutritious items listed on table-top cards until new menus can be printed.

Elfo’s pink peppercorn salmon is a favorite with health-conscious customers. The 8-oz. fillet is served with orange sauce and asparagus. It weighs in at 259 calories. “We partnered with the MRA and appealed to them to participate,” said Candace Slattery, marketing coordinator at Memphis Heart Clinic in East Memphis. Since then, the collaborative effort has grown to include the Healthy Memphis Common Table, delivering on its commitment to bring healthier menu items to Memphians.

Memphis Heart Builders is a voluntary program in which area restaurants interested in adding healthier menu items work closely with a Memphis Heart Clinic dietitian to identify, revise or add items that meet heart-healthy criteria. When diners pick an item labeled with a small, red heart next to it, they can be assured it meets specific criteria, such as a reduced portion, lower sodium or less fat.

Heart Builders fits perfectly with the larger community goals of the Healthy Memphis Common Table. Since its inception in 2002, the common table has had major initiatives, including reversing obesity and diabetes trends in the Mid-South.

“Part of our philosophy is that we want our community partners to be successful in their efforts. We had started reaching out to restaurants, grocery stores and churches to suggest they work on giving healthy options when we learned of Heart Builders,” said Denise Bollheimer, chair of the Healthy Memphis Common Table.

“We look at ourselves as a vehicle for making them more successful because our goals match. The important thing is that people have choices. Some people don’t go out to eat because of the few healthy options” she said.

Anita Vincent, a nutrition consultant with the Memphis Heart Clinic, has been involved with Heart Builders since its start, working with restaurants to create healthful menu items.

“We take a quick overview of the menu and find foods that are a natural fit,” said Vincent.
She analyzes the items, breaking down the nutritional value, including portion size, saturated fats, trans fats and sodium. “We strive for 1 gram or less of saturated fat, no trans fatty acids and approximately 480 mg of sodium per serving,” said Vincent.

Participating restaurants — the program is voluntary — report the process required minimal costs or operational changes.

Alex Grisanti’s motivation to create heart-healthy recipes began years ago when he worked as the personal chef for a Memphian with severe heart problems. He became even more interested after his father, restaurateur Ronnie Grisanti, suffered a heart attack.
The elder Grisanti’s physician, Dr. Joseph Samaha, and the Memphis Heart Clinic, encouraged the young Grisanti to develop heart-friendly menus. “For our family, this is nothing new. In fact, many items on our menu, like fresh fish, salads and sorbets, fit anyone watching their diet.”
At his restaurant, Elfo’s near Chickasaw Gardens, the menu includes an 8-oz. pink peppercorn salmon served with an orange sauce and asparagus. It weighs in at 259 calories.
Alex Grisanti said the restaurant is planning to add more heart-healthy items, such as fish, and more substitution items, like fresh fruit.

“We want to help out. I want everyone to feel like they can enjoy a great dinner or lunch and not feel guilty about it.”
At Huey’s, area manager Steve Voss said participating in Heart Builders has been a simple process and customer response has been positive.

“We sent Memphis Heart Clinic our menu and they analyzed our recipes, measuring calories, saturated fat and sodium. They made suggestions, we liked all the ideas and went with it.”

Huey’s has the new Heart Builders items on table-top cards until menus are reprinted. Huey’s started with the Collierville location, eventually rolling out the new menu to all the locations. Voss said with more customers requesting lighter items, the move just made sense. “We’ve reduced sodium, changed portions and added a low-fat mayonnaise. Voss said the size of the famed Huey burger was reduced from 5.3 ounces.

“We reduced it to 3.5 ounces.The only way to meet sodium and fat requirements in hamburger is to have smaller portions,” he said. He said no one has commented about the portion change.

“We’re serving about 20 to 30 of the new menu items per day at our Poplar location,” Voss said. ” We’ve been really pleased and are excited about being able to offer more.”
Slattery envisions more restaurants joining Heart Builders as they realize diners are looking for healthy choices. “I think they sky is the limit.”