In New York City, all restaurants are required to provide a calorie guide on the food they serve.
On Long Island, there is no requirement, unless the restaurant is part of a national chain. That is why when I went to Nathan’s in Westbury, I was surprised to find no calorie guide!
I asked the woman behind the counter if she had a sheet available that would provide me with calorie intake. (I knew before hand that everything is fattening there but I figured since I had to eat something, I would get something with the least amount of calories.)
She looked at me. “Qué?” she said.
“A calorie guide?” I said. “You know, to tell consumers how many calories are in a hot dog?”
All of a sudden, production stopped. She ran to her manager and the whole kitchen staff gathered around. The other customers gave me the “evil eye.” No one was working. They were having a staff meeting over the fact that they didn’t have a calorie counter.
“I can’t believe you just asked that question,” the older man who was on line said to me.
I shook my head, “sorry…”
The woman came back with the manager. “We don’t have anything like that here,” he said. “Do you want something or not?”
“Okay, give me a hot dog and fries,” I said.
As I sat at the table, I quickly pulled out my iPhone and looked up the numbers:
- A hot dog = 309 calories
- Small French Fries = 540 calories
- Diet Coke = 0 calories
Okay, I thought, I’ll just eat it and then try to work off the 800 calories! (Every one mile you run, you loose 100 calories. This means I need to run 8 hours straight. Oye!)
