TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Last year Applebee's discovered something most Americans have known for some time: January is national New Diet Month, with the new year and the upcoming summer swimsuit season being good reasons to shed those extra pounds.

The chain unveiled its "better for you" options, complete with calorie counts under 600 and a national advertising campaign. It was such a success that almost everyone has imitated it, including IHOP, Panda Express, Benihana, Dairy Queen (a low-calorie Blizzard -- believe it!) and even local favorite Frugatti's, which has a new insert on the menu that includes low-cal seafood, steak, pastas and pizzas.

When judging the food for this particular column, we had to come up with a different standard. After all, pouring on the butter, sugar and salt to make something taste good is a no-brainer. But how does the food fare without those ingredients to literally sweeten the pot? With that in mind, the guiding principle for me as I ordered my way to better health was: Did I miss the calories?

The restaurant we tried that does low-cal best is Frugatti's, which is offering "lighter versions of our more popular dishes." They call it a "fitness" menu, as a subtle nudge to get your carcass back in the gym. The leaner fare is welcome to me because as much as I love the fat Sammy sauce on the salmon, I can feel my body expanding as I eat it. You can choose from a baked chicken salad ($10.59), six pastas, three pizzas, three seafoods and one steak (a 10-ounce sirloin with roasted rosemary potatoes and asparagus).

From that list we chose the salmon in light tomato cream sauce ($18.99, 655 calories) and the fitness red pepper chicken fettuccine ($18.99, 696 calories). My pasta was amazing. They brought this big bowl of it out and my immediate thought was that there was no way I could finish this. But it was so good that I did finish it and didn't come close to missing the calories. What made it great was the variety and portion of chopped vegetables (lots of green and red pepper bits, fresh mushrooms and onions) as well as a red pepper sauce that, while not creamy, seemed quite substantial.

I'd love to put my companion's selection on the good list, with its two thick fingers of salmon, but the fish was not as fresh that night as what we've had there in the past. Blame it on the conventional wisdom that ordering fish on a Monday night is a bad idea. Her fork spent a lot of time in my pasta bowl.

Of course eating off this menu works only if you can go blind as you walk past the dessert case near the door. One slice of cheesecake, even shared, could undue all that sacrifice. We hurried out as if we were dining and dashing. But I think the low-cal meal made us that much faster.

On to Applebee's, which added three new entrees to its established list of low-cal options: a sizzling Asian shrimp and broccoli, roasted garlic sirloin ($11.69) and a sizzling chili lime chicken ($9.99). Though the local outlet of the chain, on Ming Avenue near The Marketplace, is currently undergoing remodeling, it's as busy as ever, so we ordered it to go. This should be done only by those with extreme patience or folks with the foresight to call ahead. It took 40 minutes to get our food, which was the case with the other customers, too. Our hostess blamed it on a computer snafu. Isn't that pretty much always the cause?

So did I miss the calories? In this case, the answer is yes. My steak dinner wasn't bad -- roasted garlic is one of the best things you can do to a piece of beef, and my 7-ounce sirloin was served on a bed of sautéed onions. The side was not as charming. There was a grilled Portobello mushroom (too lightly grilled, really) topped with cream spinach and exactly six chunks of "herbed" new potatoes. One thing's certain: They couldn't be lying about the calorie count.

I thought my companion's choice would be better. It was billed as grilled chicken served with "spicy Asian-style vegetables" with rice, cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice. The lime touch was inspired, but the vegetable mix was horrible: lots of broccoli, a few pieces of red pepper and mushroom and a Spartan sauce that was like a medium-hot pureed salsa. Didn't see the Asian in it anywhere.

Of course with a little judicious ordering, you can lower the calorie count yourself, as I did at IHOP, which has unveiled a new "Simple & Fit" menu, with everything under 600 calories. A standout is the Hash Brown Stacks line for $5.99-$7.99. The hash browns (very crispy) are stacked like pancakes with the savory ingredients on top. The low-cal version features spinach, mushroom, tomato, egg substitute, green onions and provolone cheese.

The problem is the ingredients in the other two Stacks are so tempting: grilled ham, cheese, diced bacon, tomato, onion and a real egg ($7.99 with a side of sausage). It was fantastic, crispy bacon all over the place. I asked for the hollandaise sauce on the side and didn't even touch it. But there's another willpower test: they come with pancakes or fresh fruit. I went with the fruit. It was quite a satisfying breakfast, and I did not miss the calories.

The winter low-cal specials are even drifting down to the fast-food chains. Chick-Fil-A (on Stockdale Highway) has long offered chicken soup that even in a large portion (16 ounces) is less than 500 calories. Now they've got a new spicy chicken tortilla soup that's worth sampling (8 ounces is $3.09, 230 calories; 16 ounces is $5.95 and 460 calories). It's made with both spicy and regular chicken, has beans, corn and tortilla strips in the medium-spicy stock. Worth ordering to beat that cold.