Jack Sprat's -- Where Low-Fat Diners Can Do No Wrong

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# # $$ Jack Sprat's, 16564 Cleveland St., Redmond. 883-4443. Lunch and dinner ($5.25-$6.75) Tuesday through Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Breakfast ($5.50-$5.95) Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Mondays. Beer and wine. No smoking. Local checks, major credit cards. Reservations for parties of five or more. ----------------------------------------------------------------- THOUGH HE'S a licensed physician, Elliot Stern has not practiced medicine, at least not in the conventional sense. Yet he may be doing as much for his community's health and well-being as many doctors, in the guise of his little restaurant in Redmond, Jack Sprat's.

Every item on Jack Sprat's menu is low-fat (3 or fewer grams of fat) or nonfat. And with due respect to the local vanguard - The Sunlight Cafe, Gravity Bar, Macheesmo Mouse - Jack Sprat's offers the most varied and conventional fare, probably making low-fat eating imaginable to many more people.

Breakfast (Sunday only) includes pancakes, frittatas, blintzes and French toast. Lunch and dinner menu items range from soups and salads to pasta, pizza, Boca burgers, vegetarian entrees, daily seafood and poultry specials - even a nonfat turkey-breast meatloaf.

All this came about "partly for selfish reasons," Stern says. He and friend John Reagin cooked low-fat meals at home, but found it difficult to locate such options when eating out. "We figured others were having problems, too."

They put their joint expertise to work: Reagin has an MBA. Stern had cooked his way through college and medical school, albeit mostly for short-order, high-fat spots. Though Stern had gone on from medical school to get a law degree and pursue medical malpractice law for seven years, he gave that up and went back to the kitchen. They opened the restaurant last October, taking its name from Mother Goose:

Jack Sprat could eat no fat

His wife could eat no lean

And so betwixt them both

They lick'd the platter clean.

Despite little marketing and a general downturn in nursery-rhyme popularity, business soared. Only recently have they made their first significant menu changes, dropping polenta and wilted-greens salads, adding a chicken barbecue 10-inch pizza ($6.25) and more specials, the apparent customer favorites. The day Stern and I talked, the seafood special was a Cajun catfish, dipped and dredged, then made crispy by baking in a convection oven.

Jack Sprat's also is geared toward low-fat education: A newsletter offers articles on foods, trends and eating habits, and lists nutrition classes and cooking demonstrations by Stern (for around $25 per class) at the restaurant on Mondays.

Speaking of trends, Stern was less than enthused about The Zone approach to eating that I've been trying out. He's not convinced that weight lost early on with such a higher-protein diet will stay lost.

Stern thinks we should get 15 percent of calories from fat, 15 percent from protein and the rest carbohydrate. For guidance he describes a stoplight system: We have the green light for produce (except avocados, coconuts and olives), beans and nonfat dairy products. Use more caution with yellow-light foods: other carbohydrates (bread, rice, pasta), nonfat sweets, chicken and turkey breast and soy protein. At the red light are fats, to be taken sparingly.

Trying to lighten old recipes by omission or simple substitution rarely satisfies, Stern has discovered. "It's better to throw out the recipe and start from scratch." Likewise he steers away from most "mock" dishes. "We tried to do a tiramisu last fall, and it was a real nice pumpkin tiramisu," but it still fell short of veteran tiramisu-eaters' expectations.

Of the dishes I tried, though, none disappointed. The Nicoise salad with grilled tuna ($6.75) featured wild greens, a pleasant smokiness in the fish and a light vinaigrette. The Sicilian pizza ($6.25) with grilled veggies used pesto instead of tomato sauce, and could have easily been shared. The Mama Pritikin's turkey-breast meatloaf with mashers ($6.50) was surprisingly close to classic diner fare, though just a tad dry for my taste.

A little nonfat gravy, and I might well have lick'd the platter clean.

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Magazine. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NOTEBOOK

Local scents

Few people appreciate baths as much as exercisers: The warmth helps loosen stiff muscles and improve circulation after tough workouts. Some ideas for adding the benefits of essential oils can be found in a new book by Valerie Cooksley of Issaquah, a registered nurse and certified aroma therapist who also teaches classes at The Herbfarm. "Aromatherapy: A Lifetime Guide to Healing with Essential Oils," a comprehensive, hands-on guide, is $27.95 ($10.95 in paperback) from Prentice Hall.

A smaller book on essential oils and their therapeutic uses, "Aromatherapy," is part of a new primer series called "Naturally Better Books," published by Macmillan. Clearly presented, nicely illustrated, $12.95 each. Other titles: "T'ai Chi," "Acupressure" and "Herbal Remedies."

Club scene

In a survey of 210 fitness centers around the country, members seem to be increasingly interested in programmable treadmills, electronic recumbent bikes, variable-resistance equipment and free weights. Among services, special programs for seniors attracted the most new interest, followed by personalized-training and swimming programs.

Send comments to On Fitness, Pacific Magazine, Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, e-mail mmar-new@seatimes.com or call 464-8243.