Skinny Louisiana and Riverview restaurant and Brewhouse are pairing up for a skinny twist on 318 Restaurant Week.
Shelly Marie Redmond, founder of Skinny Louisiana, will host Riverview Rendezvous with a Skinny Louisiana Twist at 6 p.m. March 14 at Riverview Restaurant and Brewhouse inside Margaritaville. The event will feature a special menu, and Redmond will demonstrate how to make a red bean dip similar to hummus.
The menu includes an appetizer of “anti” pasta skewers drizzled with Neapolitan olive oil and finished with fresh herbs; an entree of perfectly marinated grilled chicken breast topped with fire-roasted Roma tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella, and pesto, accompanied by fire-grilled Portabella mushroom topped with a Cabernet demi-glace; and for dessert, Godiva dark chocolate infused Nutella s’mores. Special cocktail options include skinny margaritas and Santa Margarita pinot Grigio.
“We worked with Riverview to develop a lighter menu,” Redmond said. “The menu is a lower-carb based menu because that is a huge focus for folks healthwise, but it also helps folks who are following the paleo and kept lifestyle. We combines all of those lifestyles into one and came up with a menu that’s pretty much starch free.”
Redmond said one of her goals with the event is to show people they can go out to eat and still enjoy healthy, flavorful options.
“We start off with a really traditional appetizer so that folks can feel like they can go into a restaurant and not eat just chicken and green beans,” she said. “It can be things that taste really good. And while our entree is a chicken entree, but instead of traditional potatoes it’s served with mushrooms. They are going to be marinated garlic-herb style. It’s going to be covered with sauce, so it’s going to super flavorful.”
Redmond admitted that the desert is the part she is most excited about.
“I am jazzed about the dessert because it is homemade s’mores,” Redmond said. “But the marshmallows are homemade with Stevia. They are using Godiva dark chocolate because we know that dark chocolate is bittersweet, so there’s not going to be a high sugar content. It will have a Graham cracker on it, but folks can easily push it aside if they are really into a no-carb lifestyle.”
When it came to selecting the venue for this event, Redmond said Riverview was an easy choice.
“Approaching restaurants is always interesting, because they either buy in or buy out,” she said. “I always have my eye on restaurants that have good service and good food. Riverview was one of the ones that was on our list. Chef Tom (XX) was like, ‘We’re going to do that.’ He actually came up with the recipe list, which was great for me, because I just had to look through the ingredients and say this is fine. So it was definitely a win-won for both of us.”
Redmond said her involvement in 318 Restaurant Week was a natural extension of her work with Skinny Louisiana.
“We’re not your typical ‘diet gurus,’” she said. “I think it’s because we do a really good job figuring out how we can make something over that people love, like a s’more. We’re not the green smoothie people; we’re more the ‘how can we make this work” people. And I think that appeals to a lot of people.”
Redmond said she is excited to host this special event in Bossier City.
“I think sometimes we forget there is an amazing other side of the river,” she said. “The location is awesome. It’s on the river, it’s very nice, good parking. It just fell right into place for us.”
Tickets are $40 each, and seating is limited to 50 people. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/254516408419983/.
By Scott Anderson
