Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill.Ralph Rubio first discovered the fish taco when he spent his spring break from college in the Baja California Baja California, state, Mexico Baja California (Span.: bä`hä kälēfōr`nyä), state (1990 pop. 1,660,855), 27,628 sq mi (71,576 sq km), NW Mexico, on the Baja California peninsula. Mexicali is the capital. village of San Felipe San Felipe (săn fəlē`pā), pueblo (1990 pop. 1,557), Sandoval co., N central N.Mex., on the Rio Grande; founded early 18th cent. The inhabitants are Pueblo of the Keresan linguistic family. Ceremonial dances are held there in spring and winter. in Mexico. Now he has more than 140 restaurants serving a full Fresh Mexican Grill menu to residents of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. Like some competitors, Rubio's promises no MSG MSG: see glutamic acid. , no lard, freshly made salsa, guacamole, and beans that are never refried. And the chain offers delicious grilled seafood seafood Edible aquatic animals excluding mammals, but including both freshwater and ocean creatures. Seafood includes bony and cartilaginous fishes, crustaceans, mollusks, edible jellyfish, sea turtles, frogs, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. , chicken, and vegetables that you'd never find in a fast-food joint. But you still have to dodge the quesadillas--tortillas stuffed with saturated fat saturated fat, any solid fat that is an ester of glycerol and a saturated fatty acid. The molecules of a saturated fat have only single bonds between carbon atoms; if double bonds are present in the fatty acid portion of the molecule, the fat is said to be . They average 28 grams of sat fat (1 1/2 days' worth) plus 900 calories and 1,900 mg of sodium. Each is like a Porterhouse steak smothered smoth·er v. smoth·ered, smoth·er·ing, smoth·ers v.tr. 1. a. To suffocate (another). b. To deprive (a fire) of the oxygen necessary for combustion. 2. in salt. Rubio's Cheese Nachos Grande has 1,270 calories, 27 grams of saturated fat, and 1,800 mg of sodium. What do you expect from tortilla chips covered with melted cheese, beans, sour cream, guacamole, and salsa? And watch out for the Combos This article is about the snack food product. For other uses, see Combo. Combos, officially called Combos Snacks, invented in the mid 1970s, are a snack food created and distributed by Mars Incorporated. , which add chips and beans to two tacos, three taquitos, or one burrito plus taco. Most combos have at least 1,000 calories, nine grams of sat fat, and 1,500 mg to 3,100 mg of sodium. Just run-of-the-mill Mexican food. The Baja Especial es·pe·cial adj. 1. Of special importance or significance; exceptional: an occasion of especial joy. 2. Combos and Baja Grill Combos are in a class by themselves. With 1,400 to 1,700 calories, 13 to 19 grams of sat fat, and 2,900 to 3,900 mg of sodium, they set you up for your own Coronary Combo (a heart attack with a stroke on the side). The numbers are outrageous because the Baja Especial and Baja Grill Combos each includes a burrito (along with a fish taco, beans, and chips). And each burrito packs 600 to 950 calories, seven to 13 grams of sat fat, and 1,700 to 2,700 mg of sodium. Like most fresh-Mex chains, Rubio's does sell some items for folks who aren't itching itching or pruritus Stimulation of nerve endings in the skin, usually incited by histamine, that evokes a desire to scratch. It is often transient and easily relieved. Pathological itching with skin changes usually signals dermatologic disease. to visit a cardiologist Cardiologist Doctor who specializes in diagnosing and treating heart diseases. Mentioned in: Electrophysiology Study of the Heart, Lithotripsy cardiologist a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. : * HealthMex. The HealthMex menu offers burritos, tacos, and one combo with less fat and calories (and, in a few cases, sodium). Where else can you find a burrito for roughly 500 calories, no more than three grams of sat fat, and--drumroll, please--a whole-wheat tortilla? Choose from grilled chicken, mahi mahi, of vegetables. (Each comes with a 110-calorie side order of rice--in addition to the rice in the burrito. Skip it.) The HealthMex Tacos--Chicken or Mahi Mahi--come without cheese of guacamole, so they're lower in calories, saturated fat, and sodium than Rubio's regular tacos. Two HealthMex Mahi Mahi Tacos will cost you only 360 calories, two grams of sat fat, and--here's the best part--210 mg of sodium. Rubio's sells a HealthMex Combo (a HealthMex Chicken Burrito plus a HealthMex Mahi Mahi Taco, with rice and beans Rice and beans, "arroz y habas" or "arroz con habichuelas" "arroz con frijoles" or similar in Spanish, "arroz e feijão" or "feijão com arroz", in Brazilian Portuguese, "du riz a pois/haricots" in French, and "diri ak pwa ) that's definitely not for light eaters one who eats but little. See also: Light . It'll add 950 calories to your frame and 2,530 mg of sodium to your blood pressure. But its four grams of sat fat is a fraction of what you'd get in the chain's regular combos. * Lobster Burrito. Grilled lobster, guacamole, beans, rice, salsa, lobster sauce, and no cheese keep the calories around 700 and the sat fat at five grams. * Salads. Rubio's appropriately named Sunsational Salad (grilled chicken, cheese, romaine lettuce lettuce, annual garden plant (Lactuca sativa and varieties) of the family Asteraceae (aster family), probably native to the East Indies or Asia Minor, possibly as a derivative of the widespread weed called wild lettuce (L. scariola). L. , cabbage cabbage, leafy garden vegetable of many widely dissimilar varieties, all probably descended from the wild, or sea, cabbage (Brassica oleracea) of the family Cruciferae (mustard family), found on the coasts of Europe. , onions On·ions , Charles Talbut 1873-1965. British philologist and lexicographer who was coeditor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1914 to 1933. , tomatoes, and salsa) has only 280 calories, five grams of sat fat, and 950 mg of sodium if you use the fat-free Grape Serrano ser·ra·no n. pl. ser·ra·nos A cultivar of the tropical pepper Capsicum annuum having small, blunt, highly pungent red or green fruit used in cooking. dressing. (Add 100 calories--and two grams of sat fat--if you go with Creamy cream·y adj. cream·i·er, cream·i·est Rich in or resembling cream. cream  i·ly adv. Avocado avocado (ä`vəkä`do, ăv`–), tropical American broad-leaved evergreen tree of the genus Persea of the family Lauraceae (laurel family). instead.) Skip the cheese and you lose all five grams of sat fat. In
fact, if you ask Rubio to hold the cheese, you can turn two other dishes
into Better Bites. As you can guess from the ingredients, the Grilled
Chicken Chopped chop 1 v. chopped, chop·ping, chops v.tr. 1. a. To cut by striking with a heavy sharp tool, such as an ax: chop wood. b. Salad (chicken, romaine, cabbage, tortilla strips, salsa, and chipotle chi·pot·le n. A ripe jalapeño pepper that has been dried and smoked for use in cooking. [American Spanish, from Nahuatl xipotli.] Noun 1. dressing) and Grilled Chicken Grande Bowl (chicken, cabbage, rice, beans, salsa, guacamole, and creamy chipotle sauce) have plenty of flavor without cheese. Rubio's Better Bite entrees and combos have no more than 5 grams of saturated fat (or 3 grams of sat fat for a single taco). If you eat the chips that come with the burritos and quesadillas, add the numbers from "Chips" in the Side Orders section. Within each section, items are ranked from least to most sat fat, then calories.
Total Sat
Tacos & Taquitos Calories Fat Fat Fiber Sodium
(grams) (grams) (grams) (mg)
([check]) HealthMex
Taco (5 oz.) (1) 180 3 1 2 190
([check]) The Original
Fish Taco (5 oz.) 300 16 3 2 280
([check]) Chicken
Taquitos (3-8 oz.) 330 13 3 5 400
Chicken or Carne Asada
Taco (6 oz.) (2) 270 13 4 2 470
Fish Taco Especial (6 oz.) 370 21 5 3 360
Burritos
([check]) HealthMex, no
side of rice (15 oz.) (1) 520 10 2 14 1,320
([check]) Lobster (17 oz.) 720 27 5 13 1,890
Grilled Shrimp (14 oz.) 690 27 8 10 1,900
Fish (16 oz.) 830 42 8 12 1,570
Grilled Mahi Mahi (14 oz.) 710 34 9 5 1,190
Baja Especial (20 oz.) (1) 930 35 9 12 2,500
Baja Grill (13 oz.) (1) 660 30 12 5 1,970
Bean and Cheese (15 oz.) 830 37 20 15 1,950
Salads & Bowls (numbers include dressing)
([check]) Sunsational Salad
with Serrano Grape
Dressing, no cheese
(17 oz.) 180 1 0 6 730
([check]) Grilled Chicken
Chopped Salad, no
cheese (15 oz.) 440 24 4 7 1,240
([check]) Grilled Chicken
Grande Bowl, no
cheese (19 oz.) 610 22 4 13 1,710
([check]) Sunsational Salad
with SerranoGrape
Dressing (18 oz.) 280 10 5 6 950
Grilled Chicken Caesar
Salad (17 oz.) 710 53 7 7 1,770
Grilled Chicken Chopped
Salad (16 oz.) 540 33 9 7 1,460
Grilled Chicken Grande
Bowl (20 oz.) 710 31 9 13 1,930
Grilled Carne Asada
Grande Bowl (20 oz.) 770 37 12 13 2,350
Nachos & Quesadillas (with guacamole and sour cream)
Quesadilla (14 oz.) (1) 920 57 28 4 1,880
Nachos Grande (18 oz.) (1) 1,350 82 29 20 2,250
Side Orders
Rice with HealthMex
items (3 oz.) 110 2 0 1 320
Rice (8 oz.) 290 5 0 3 850
Chips (1.5-oz. bag) 210 11 1 3 240
Black or Pinto
Beans (8 oz.) (2) 240 3 1 15 840
Side Salad, no
dressing (6 oz.) 80 4 2 3 230
Guacamole, small (4 oz.) 190 17 4 5 160
Guacamole, large (8 oz.) 370 34 6 11 240
Combos (numbers include chips and beans)
([check]) HealthMex Combo
(HealthMex Chicken
Burrito and HealthMex
Mahi Mahi Taco with
rice and no chips)
(27 oz.) 950 18 4 23 2,530
Taquito Combo (3 Chicken
Taquitos with rice and
guacamole) (19 oz.) 980 36 6 19 1,770
#1 Combo (2 Original Fish
Tacos) (17 oz.) 1,100 52 9 17 1,500
Dos Tacos Combo (2
Chicken, Carne Asada,
or Original Fish Tacos)
(18 oz.) (1) 1,060 47 10 17 1,750
Lobster Combo (Lobster
Burrito and Original
Fish Taco) (29 oz.) 1,520 63 11 28 3,110
Pesky Combo (2 Fish Tacos
Especial) (19 oz.) 1,240 62 13 19 1,660
Cabo Combo (Grilled
Shrimp Burrito and
Original Fish
Taco) (26 oz.) 1,490 63 14 25 3,120
Baja Especial Combo
(Baja Especial Chicken
or Carne Asada Burrito
and Original Fish
Taco) (32 oz.) (1) 1,730 71 14 27 3,720
Baja Grill Combo (Baja
Grill Chicken or Carne
Asada Burrito and
Original Fish
Taco) (25 oz.) (1) 1,460 66 17 20 3,190
([check]) Better Bite.
(1) Average of all varities.
(2) Average of the items listed.
Source: Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill.
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