Eating is an official sport in Oklahoma

By Lissa Wohltmann

It’s become a national pastime to nosh around the clock. No, not rock around the clock, but nosh as in eat your way through the day. Finding the best combination of tasty vittles, good atmosphere and fun staff at restaurants, seems to score points and excites the fans. One thing that misses the mark in a number of eateries is the health factor. There are plenty of places with lovely atmosphere, yummy food, and maybe even fun staffs. However, if I want to eat out with my friends, I have to order some horrible salad made with near-white lettuce, cardboard-tasting tomatoes, and maybe something green that resembles cucumbers shipped from Brazil three months ago.

Brazilian food is good, of course, but I think we grow cucumbers in Oklahoma that would be a little fresher. Be that as it may, there is a great Latin American/Mexican restaurant in Edmond that I tried over the weekend. If you have ventured down Broadway, you would have seen what might be considered a little “hole in the wall” near 7^th Street, called Zarate’s. If you haven’t been there, you must. Yum, yum, yum and since I’m writing about it in this blog, it has healthy menu items. Plus, an added (great) bonus is that everything is made right there so if you want to change something from white rice to red rice, for example, all you have to do is mention it to your very helpful wait staff.

I ordered the vegetarian platter filled with plantain, linguine, two or three yucca fries, an assortment of vegetables, rice and a side of sauce. The party atmosphere was filled with fun music; I really wanted to get up and dance, but my husband would surely slide under the table pretending he doesn’t know me. Now, not everything at Zarate’s was healthy. There’s plenty of dishes with your fat laden cheeses, super fried fajitas, nasty double fried beans, and desserts made with sugar, salt and fat. So, if you want to go out with a group, there’s something for “them” and there’s something for “us” who want to stay healthy and away from the cardiologist. I didn’t taste any of the drinks, but maybe that should be something for you and then you can tell me about it in the space below.

Another bonus: hablamos español. Comer feliz!