Las Vegas Weekly

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Sarah Feldberg

Wed, Mar 17, 2010 (3:12 p.m.)

Who decided we should be eating everything in precisely portioned 100-calorie servings? There are 100-calorie bags of paper-thin cookies, 100-calorie packs of baked potato chips and crackers, even 100-calorie Ziploc bags so you can divide your own calorie-conscious servings of your favorite foods. (Never mind that whether or not the bag really contains 100 calories worth of food depends entirely on what you put in it.) Now, Oklahoma-based company Chef’s Requested Foods offers up a rather unlikely 100-calorie option: the 100-calorie flat-iron steak.

For sale in packs of three and available at local Walmart Supercenters for $4.98, the steaks take the typical bigger-is-better wisdom about red meat and turn it on its head. Instead of a thick, juicy cut of well-marbled beef, you get a half-inch thick slab of lean chuck about the size of an iPhone. Each pre-marinated steak clocks in at 3.5 grams of fat, perfect for the diet-conscious carnivore who wants to have his or her steak and eat it too. So, while the petite protein doesn’t stack up against its more muscular cousins, with an added dash of salt and pepper and a splash of hot sauce it might make for a tasty sandwich filling, and won’t weigh anyone down. Now can somebody pass the 100-calorie mashed potatoes?