Revolve True Food & Wine Bar all about good-for-you eating

It’s Saturday. Relatives are in town. Where to go for brunch?

If you live in south Snohomish County, a short drive to Main Street in Bothell will get you to Revolve True Food &Wine Bar. The restaurant has been open since September, but the brunch is relatively new.

That’s where my group of five landed this past weekend, and we were generally pleased, though we did make some jokes about everything being organic — even the ketchup.

The menu is all about good-for-you eating.

Revolve owner Dr. Dusty DuBoise, who also runs Bothell Chiropractic &Wellness, lost 70 pounds after she changed the way she ate. She wanted to share her culinary discoveries, which include aspects of the paleo and ideal protein diets. The Revolve menu is grain-free (gluten-free) and includes lots of vegetables, meat, chicken, seafood, cheese and eggs.

Don’t ask for sugar — which my mom likes in her tea — they don’t serve it. The restaurant is adamant that it doesn’t sell food that is genetically modified. It’s also free of soy, preservatives and trans-fats.

Purveyors of Revolve ingredients include local and regional organic farms, ranches and dairies, as well as local fishermen and shellfish growers.

Sounded OK to us.

We snacked on house-made thinly sliced taro root chips seasoned with chorizo salt ($6) while we waited for our meals.

My husband had the tender, delicious salsa verde pork spare ribs ($15), which had been simmered in a tomatillo sauce, was topped with queso fresco, and came with two eggs and sweet potato home fries.

My cousin enjoyed the meat-lovers scramble ($15), made with three eggs, Pendelton’s Hill Meats’ bacon, Seattle’s famous Uli sausage and white cheddar cheese. The scrambled eggs also were served with chunky fried sweet potatoes.

I opted for a lunch plate, the California burger ($18), which is a tall stack of sirloin patty, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickle, avocado aioli and ancho chile ketchup on a paleo bun. I ate most of it with my knife and fork because the gluten-free bun couldn’t hold it all together, and my napkin was very messy when I was done.

Oh, and for an extra $2, I added the yummy sea-salted sweet potato fries with the same ancho chile ketchup.

My octogenarian aunt and my nonagenarian mom were a bit more picky.

My aunt’s decaf coffee was served lukewarm and her vegetable scramble ($14) with home fries wasn’t hot either.

My mom ate her entire plate of eggs Benedict ($16), but she said her eggs and fries were served just warm. Nonetheless, she enjoyed the hollandaise-topped eggs and prosciutto ham, which were bolstered from the bottom by a cheddar cauliflower biscuit.

Other brunch options included banana pancakes with berries and maple syrup for $12, two poached eggs nested in avocado halves for $14, cheddar cauli-biscuits, chorizo gravy and two eggs for $13 and a prawn cocktail with three coriander poached gulf prawns, cocktail sauce, jicama-apple slaw and greens for $13.

The small plates on the dinner menu include bacon-wrapped dates, steak bites, a cheese plate, crispy garlic Brussels sprouts, salads and deviled eggs.

Entrees I would like to try include the paleo fish &chips for $17, jerk chicken for $18, chicken tikka masala meatballs for $15, Moroccan marinated lamb chops for $23 and the seared scallops for $33.

The Main Street rehab project in Bothell could throw you off when you arrive at Revolve. Just park a block or so away and stroll on over. Enjoy and feel healthy.

Revolve True Food &Wine Bar

10024 Main St., Bothell; 425-287-6420; revolvefoodwine.com.

Lunch is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Dinner is 4 to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Brunch is 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday.

Healthy eating tips

Here are some tips to eating — call it what you will — clean, healthy, sensibly.

Look for clean labels

If you’re having oatmeal, the label should say “100 percent rolled oats.”

“If we’re looking at yogurt, I want to see milk and active cultures. Past that, we should be more cautious. Milk, I want it to say ‘milk.’ Unsweetened almond milk wouldn’t fit in as clean. It’s a paragraph of ingredients.” It’s not a “bad food,” said Sara Asberry, registered dietitian at the University of Texas at Dallas, Asberry, but “they’re trying so hard to make it a substitute for milk that it has to be heavily fortified to compare.”

Seek out foods with no labels

Shop grocery store perimeters: “Fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh lean protein, dairy products, really nice whole grains,” Asberry said.

Eat mindfully

This is the concept of “just listening to your body and really trying to nourish your body,” said Allison Cleary, a registered dietitian at Baylor Scott &White Medical Center in Dallas, “of trying to recognize your hunger cues, eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full.”

Craving a cheeseburger? Ask yourself if it’s something you really and truly want. “If it is, allow yourself to have it, guilt-free, without beating yourself up, and without overeating,” she said.

Asberry suggests creating routines: Eat at the table. Instead of walking around the house mindlessly munching on a bag of chips, make nutritionally dense trail mix with nuts, unsweetened dried fruit, whole-grain pretzels and dark chocolate chips. Put a portion on a plate or napkin, eat that and put the rest away.

Make small behavioral changes

“There’s no magic cure for a healthy diet, no one thing you have to eliminate or one super food you want to add and you’ll automatically be super-healthy,” Cleary said. “A lot of people want that.”

If you tend to pick up most meals from a drive-thru window, decide to make lunch or dinner one day a week. “When you feel comfortable with that, work on two days or three,” Cleary said. “Over a period of time — we’re talking months and years — you’ll look back and say, ‘I made a big lifestyle change.’”

Nix the word ‘cheating’

“Most people have a hard time with this, but I say, ‘You’re in it for the marathon, not the sprint,’” said Julie Kuehn, registered dietitian and personal trainer at Life Time in Allen, Texas. “The goal is 80 percent of the time to be spot-on. Don’t consider it messing up; consider it training yourself.”

Plan ahead when eating out

Just about every restaurant posts its menu online. “A safe thing is usually grilled salmon or other fish,” Kuehn said. “I tell them instead of couscous or white rice, do extra vegetables. Or a salad, but check what they put in it. Are there candied pecans in there?” If so, pick another kind.

Still confused? Seek help

“If you have any question about bloating or feeling gross or you feel like you’re in a brain fog, lab testing is very helpful,” Kuehn said.

Adds Cleary: “People generally know what their weaknesses are and what they need to work on. But if you’re having difficulties, see a dietitian. We’re able to work with you and help you with your problem areas. You’re supposed to enjoy your food.”

— The Dallas Morning News