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Seasons 52's rainbow trout, cooked over a wood-burning grill, is...

Seasons 52's rainbow trout, cooked over a wood-burning grill, is served with potatoes, carrots and asparagus. (May 3, 2012) Credit: Johnny Simon

The numbers game at Seasons 52 centers on 475, a figure treated with the reverence baseball reserves for 56 and .406.

Each dish from the Florida-based chain is less than 475 calories.

Yes, I know.

Seasons 52 describes itself as a "forward-thinking restaurant concept." Translation: Don't wait for the breadbasket.

Not that this is a totally terrible thing. What a waiter accurately describes as "whole-wheat ladyfingers" do make a cameo appearance. And they'll turn you anti-carb.

Besides, once you give in to the chastity of Seasons 52, the results can be placidly pleasant. The Roosevelt Field establishment is a pretty place, in a vaguely Frank Lloyd Wright-via-Disney way. The emphases are organic and natural. And the main room has a nice, polite buzz.

Backrooms dubbed Napa and Sonoma offer greater tranquillity. Upstairs, the Calistoga, Carneros and Vineyard rooms are suited for group and event dining. The bar area: comfortable, near the attractive wine collection. Wines don't precede price with a calorie count.

Are you still awake?

Another chirpy, friendly waiter precisely details the Seasons 52 approach before rewinding for the next table. He'll suggest a "signature flatbread." The choices are led by a chipotle-shrimp, feta, grilled pineapple and poblano pepper number. Triangles of rosemary-and-Parmesan "crispbread" served in a paper cone are an alternative.

More appetizing openers: chili made with healthful Piedmontese-breed beef; chili relleno with chicken and goat cheese; a barely dressed Greek salad.

Mushrooms stuffed with shrimp, crab and spinach hide the flavors of all three, arriving blisteringly hot -- in temperature, not seasoning. A tightly wrapped tuna-avocado sushi roll materializes nearly refrigerator cold. Maybe they go together. Sonoma goat cheese ravioli, in tomato broth, is merely bland.

Main-course salads include a satisfying Maui tuna crunch production with toasted almonds and miso vinaigrette. Tuna Niçoise means a neatly grilled steaklet set on greens. Grilled steelhead trout, with shrimp tabbouleh and mint, and grilled rainbow trout, with parsleyed potatoes, both are recommended.

Likewise moist chicken citron with golden beets, organic wild rice and broccoli, and the tender, wood-roasted pork tenderloin, paired with herb polenta, finished with a shallot-Dijon mustard glaze.

Desserts are termed "mini indulgences," served in glasses suitable for two fingers of Scotch. Pecan pie with vanilla mousse, carrot cake and a Key lime pie mouthful that must have come out of a pastry bag are precisely calibrated at 320, 280 and 250 calories. Hot tea and coffee are 3, espresso, 5.

By now, you may need two ounces of Hennessy V.S.

It comes in at 70.

 
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