Davio’s Founder Steve DiFillippo chats about eating healthy while dining out, as well as the restaurant’s Awaken180 menu.
Steve DiFillippo
Maybe it’s a tried-and-true favorite or a spot that you’ve been dying to check out, but no matter the reason, dining out is always a good plan—especially with all of the tantalizing options to choose from. And while a savory truffle pasta or A5 wagyu might be top of mind, it’s always important to keep health in mind, especially when sticking to a diet plan. Enter Steve DiFillippo, founder of Davio’s (davios.com). “My big thing about eating in restaurants is you need to simplify what you’re eating,” he explains. This comes down to dressings, sauces and proteins. Here, DiFillippo dives deeper into the topic.
What are your tips for eating healthy while eating out?
You really want to eat clean. Stay away from sugar. Eat as clean as you can. For salads, the dressings are just terrible in restaurants. You have to be careful with salad dressing. The other thing is portion control. I mean, do you really need to eat a 14-ounce steak? Do you really need a 16-ounce ribeye? You don’t.
The tuna tartare from the Awaken180 menu.
Tell me more about the inspiration behind the Awaken180 menu.
I went to the [Awaken180 Weightloss] program. I met [founder] Paige [Lopez]. She came to me and said, ‘We’d love to have you be a spokesperson and do commercials.’ And I said, ‘Well, let me see how I do first, and I’m not doing any commercials unless I know. Let me just try it right.’ ... I got so blown away by it because I thought being a chef I knew what to eat and what not to eat. [There were] so many things that I was eating wrong. I got hit in the head. And then I started going out to eat, and they’d hardly have any vegetables. Everywhere I went, it was like no, no, no. I said, ‘OK, we’re going to do this ourselves.’ So you have to ask for the 180 menu. There’s some nights where six, seven or eight tables have a 180 menu and they’re not even on 180. They just want to eat healthier because they know it’s a safe menu. They know there’s no cheese, there’s no carbs, there’s no sugar. The menu is vegetables and protein.
Does the Awaken180 menu correlate with the Davio’s food that we all know and love?
We meet a few times a year and we look at the menu. We’ve updated the menu quite a bit over the years. And it’s basically just the teachings of Awaken180—no sugar, no carbs, portion control, mostly vegetables. [For example,] what we did is we took the Davio’s chicken and created a chicken with vegetables.
SIZZLING TIPS
Instead of traditional salad dressings, ask for oil and vinegar for a lighter take.
Ask for sauces on the side so you can control your own portions.
Repeat after us: Everything in moderation.
Photography by: BRIANNA MOORE
