Canada's healthiest restaurants: Cactus Club Café
How chef Rob Feenie has revamped the Western Canadian chain's offerings to include healthier fare
By Chris Johns
Until Rob Feenie revamped the menu at the popular Cactus Club Café (with 19 locations in B.C. and Alberta), its offerings were like other family-friendly places: The menu was built around comforting favourites with plenty of breaded, deep-fried choices. But in 2008, the café hired Feenie—the 42-year-old Vancouver chef who is the only Canadian to win on TV cooking competition Iron Chef America—to revamp the menu.
The restaurant was already on-board with the Ocean Wise program, which supports sustainable seafood, and the Green Table Network, which helps restaurants minimize their impact on the environment. The challenge for Feenie was to translate his style of French cooking in a way that could be easily replicated by the chain—and incorporate more healthy offerings. “Healthy eating is very important to me both personally and professionally,” says Feenie. “One of the things we focus on is using top-quality ingredients, and that includes using healthy options in the new menu items we develop.”
The menu now includes light, fresh choices such as The Garden Burger and Tuna Tataki (pictured). With meals this healthy, you might be able to justify the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bar for dessert.
What do you think of this restaurant pick, and what healthy Canadian restaurants would you like us to feature? Post a comment below or join the discussion in our forums.
This article was originally titled "Canada's Healthiest Restaurants," in the May 2009 issue of Best Health. Subscribe today to get the full Best Health experience—and never miss an issue!—and make sure to check out what's new in the latest issue of Best Health.
Best Health Magazine, May 2009
I cannot find what the calorie count is for Bandera Salad?
Why don,t you list these?
I to agree with the above comments. It is a little sketchy that a restaurant who wins such an award does not actually have that information available. For someone like me, who goes to the Cactus Club regularly and now has chosen to join WW. I won't be able to go there any more because the nutritional information is not made available.... which is a shame because with WW I can eat whatever I want as long as I know the values...... such a shame!
Why don't you post your nutritional information on the website. I feel like this was a purchased award.
I looked for over an hour to find out your calorie and fat content in the quesidalla I had and you don't have it posted on the internet. If the food is so healthy, why are you afraid to put up this information like other restaurants do? I am hoping to see this posted sometime soon.
I find it odd that a restaurant that does not offer its menu's nutritional information was chosen as one of Canada's healthiest restaurants.