Location: 303 Park Avenue South, New York, NY
Cuisine: Healthy
Best Dish: The backyard burger is a surprisingly filling and tasty option, but the Mahi Curry stood out as the favorite. The curry was decadent but somehow the veggies remained crisp and fresh tasting.
Overall: A healthy homestyle eatery perfect for a post workout meal, or a healthy alternative for your next casual night out.
Finding food in a city as big as New York is a simple task. However finding healthy food that tastes good can be a major challenge. We often overlook healthy food offerings in favor of familiar fatty comfort foods when dining out. As foodies, the thought of a limited dining experience is far from enjoyable. If we’re truly honest, healthy food often sucks. The struggle for health-conscious eats more often than not leads to boring bland salads or dreaded liquid sustenance like juices and smoothies. Thankfully ReViVer is open and ready to satisfy your hunger with a menu of good food that is even better for your body. Executive Chef Scott Leibfried (Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Napa Valley Grille, etc.), a 10-year veteran of Hell’s Kitchen and host of the Food Network Challenge, and licensed nutritionist Monica Reinagel, have reinvented the way healthy tastes and feels with their clean sourced ingredients – free of all antibiotics, hormones, refined flours and sugars.
ReViVer’s menu items are backed by science to provide a balanced meal rich in vitamins and nutrients. Each meal is handcrafted to achieve an optimal “Nutrient Score.” The Nutrient Score refers to a system created to identify meals that are not only low in calories but high in beneficial nutrients.
One of the most surprising offerings on the menu is “Loco Moco.” If you are familiar with Hawaiian Cuisines, you know calorie laden this dish can be. The original version of this dish features a generous helping of white rice topped with a beefy burger patty and a fried egg smothered in gravy. ReViVer took this dish and revamped it; the beef is replaced by chicken and the gravy is replaced with a green tomatillo sauce. The white rice is replaced by brown basmati rice and for an extra boost, a helping of spinach, black beans, and tomatoes have been added. It was delicious and filling.
For a burst of curry flavor, we recommend the “Mahi Curry.” Fresh Mahi Mahi is grilled and served atop a bed of brown basmati rice with roasted zucchini, butternut squash, spinach, carrots, and broccoli in a coconut red curry sauce. This was absolutely delicious. The veggies were still crisp and fresh despite the thick flavorful sauce.
We here at XOJOHN are huge burger lovers but burgers don’t always love us back. Burgers are usually a caloric nightmare with over 1000 calories per meal. ReViVer offers a burger that will satisfy your craving but keep you on the path to healthfulness. The “Backyard Burger” features natural beef, butter lettuce, red onions, tomatoes and a dollop of “very special sauce,” a proprietary blend you can only find at ReViVer. The bun on this burger is replaced by a thin flatbread and the fries are replaced with a fresh coleslaw.
If you’re a taco lover you are in luck, they also have tasty tacos available. We sampled the Mahi Tacos served on corn tortillas with cabbage slaw chipotle spread and brown rice and beans.
We didn’t think there was any such thing as a healthy meatball but somehow ReViVer makes it so with a delicious chicken version of the Italian treat. The chicken meatball is surprisingly firm and meaty floating in a rich tomato sauce. The meatball is served with warm flatbread for scooping up the amazing sauce.
Though our love of deep fried, cheese covered and bacon wrapped everything will never cease, the growing landscape of healthy options offers a reprieve from the damaging foods we enjoy. Our meal at ReViVer opened our eyes to the limitless possibilities of adopting a healthier diet. Healthy doesn’t have to mean flavorless or boring, ReViVer takes a step outside of the norm and offers food that looks good, tastes good, and is good for you. Each dish features fresh familiar ingredients prepared to be enjoyed and not just eaten.
ReViVer is open Monday – Saturday for lunch and dinner from 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. To learn more about ReViVer, please visit www.ReViVerNYC.com or call (646) 952-0014.