Cutting Cost of Counting Fat, Calories

You may not exactly be able to go out to eat and get skinny, but your meal at Skinny Haven South Coast will be both low fat and lower in cost this Labor Day weekend.

Tonight through Sunday, in honor of the restaurant’s first anniversary under new ownership, soup or salad, any entree and beverage is $12.95 (a savings of up to $5) and includes a complimentary glass of champagne. Entrees at the restaurant include lemon and herb chicken and Cajun-style catfish, and each menu item is accompanied by a dietary analysis.

Opus IV String Quartet will play tonight from 6 to 9 and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The restaurant is open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m-- except Labor Day, when it will be closed.

3814 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana. (714) 546-4011.

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Rice will be spotlighted this month at Antoine. A five-course menu includes rice paper-wrapped Miami rock shrimp, wild rice blinis with marinated salmon and sake butter, steamed scallops with crab basil risotto in vermouth sauce, veal tenderloin with brown rice and prosciutto lime sauce and, for dessert, rice custard brulee with crispy rice cookies. The cost is $50 per person, not including tax and gratuity.

The restaurant is also offering three-course, prix fixe birthday and anniversary dinners. Baked salmon provencale and rack of baby Sonoma lamb with flageolet bean sauce are among entree possibilities. The cost of $40 per person (plus tax and tip) includes a half bottle of champagne per couple, dessert and a photograph for each celebrant.

4500 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 476-2001, Ext. 2158.

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No Midwest location yet, but BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria opened in Huntington Beach last week, its 10th in California and Hawaii.

Open daily, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. 200 Main St. (714) 374-2224.

Benjamin Epstein is a free-lance writer who regularly contributes to the Times Orange County. Information for this column can be faxed to (714) 966-7790, or write: Newsbites/OC Live!, The Times Orange County, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.