Recently I was invited to try out the EnLIGHTened menu at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse. I’ve been there plenty of times, but I’m always drawn towards their pizza and other entrees that definitely aren’t good for you. So I was excited to see what BJ’s could do with healthy entrees. I took along my bestie Karen and we were treated to an incredible meal and experience at the Millenia Mall location.
All of the entrees on the EnLIGHTened menu are 795 calories or less. There are 16 items on the EnLIGHTened menu, four of which were just recently added. We decided to start off our meal with the new Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts – lightly fried brussels sprouts tossed in Big Poppa Smokers’ Desert Gold seasoning with sweet sriracha crema. There aren’t officially on the EnLIGHTened menu but could be. They were amazing! I love brussels sprouts but the sweet sriracha crema was definitely the star of this dish. I feel like sriracha has become very “trendy” recently and it definitely isn’t one of my go to condiments, but I would go back to this sauce any time.
While enjoying our Honey Sriracha Brussels Sprouts our host, general manager James Rivera, asked if we liked Ahi Poke – um, yes! So next thing we knew this beautiful plate of poke showed up at our table. This chopped sashimi-grade ahi with green and yellow onions marinated in their signature poke sauce is topped with diced avocados and served with crisp wonton chips. Oh. My. Yum. It was so delicious and there was a speck left on the plate when we were done with it.
For our entrees we both decided to try one of the four new entrees that were recently added to the EnLIGHTened menu. Karen got the Roasted Salmon Quinoa Bowl (Roasted Atlantic salmon with sautéed red onions, mushrooms, fresh asparagus and fire-roasted red bell peppers served over quinoa and drizzled with soy ginger sauce), which I tried the North Beach Mahi-Mahi and Shrimp (Oven-roasted mahi-mahi seasoned with Big Poppa Smokers’ Desert Gold Rub, sautéed with shrimp, red onions, tomatoes, Kalamata olives and spicy garlic, served over couscous with fresh herbs). We both really enjoyed our entrees. For being under 795 calories you really get a lot of food. The meal was both tasty and filling. I definitely didn’t feel like I was “missing out” by ordering off the EnLIGHTened menu.
In addition to tasty food, this location offers AMAZING service. The staff is knowledgeable and you can tell that they like their work and their brand. We were treated to a few things NOT on the EnLIGHTened menu, but I will save those for a separate post. Thanks to general manager James Rivera, kitchen manager Gabriel Aguilar, and our servers Haley & Chase for a great experience.
*Disclosure: Karen and I were treated to a complimentary meal. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
Those brussels sprouts and the ahi look AMAZING. I don’t go to BJs a lot – they seem to have spending a lot of time figuring out their menu, but maybe if some of these things show up, I’ll be adding it back into the rotation.