Las Vegas: Free mobile app features recipes from MGM restaurants

Las Vegas has been “engaged in a high-stakes restaurant arms race since it welcomed Spago 20 years ago,” the New York Times wrote last year of the area’s eateries that brought in $8 billion in 2011.

Amid all the Godzilla-sized mojitos and celebrity-chef-driven menus on the Strip, healthy fare usually isn’t at the top of the list.

So I was surpised to find a Healthy Eating mobile app from (drum roll) MGM Resorts International. Of course, “healthy” is a subjective term (more on that later), but the casino-resort company says in a statement that the app showcases items made by its chefs that offer more grains, fruits and vegetables for employees as well as the community at large.

Vegas foodies will appreciate having at their fingertips a mini-cookbook of recipes from Aria, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and other MGM properties. Each dish comes with pictures, step-by-step recipes and nutritional information.

The deal: The mobile app is free and available for download on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. More than 50 recipes are included as well as plenty of eat-right information and federal guidelines from the nutritional initiative ChooseMyPlate.gov.

When: The app is available indefinitely.

Details: The recipes are varied and will appeal to folks who appreciate the make-it-at-home factor. Some examples: roast salmon tapenade served at the Aria (678 calories), Asian-style grilled tofu from Luxor and Excalibur (320 calories) and mustard-crusted pork loin (587 calories) at the Monte Carlo. By the way, the “Jim’s Plate” picks on this app refer to Chief Executive Jim Murren’s healthy eating directive for the company.

As for the healthy quotient, read the nutritional information and judge for yourself. I found some of the recipes too high in calories and fat for my taste. MGM says registered dietitians review each recipe to ensure it’s well-balanced and healthy, using ChooseMyPlate.gov guidelines as a model. But there’s no objective measurement of what recipes can carry the “healthy eating” moniker, so eater beware.

Contact: App store at iTunes

mary.forgione@latimes.com
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