Author Description

"I have been an advocate of a heart-healthy diet since scientists first noted a relationship between diet and heart disease some years ago. But promoting a heart-healthy diet has not been easy. The phrase, 'heart-healthy diet', always elicits a predictable response: a grimace, sighs of resignation, and visions of bland vegetables and tasteless meats. This response is certainly understandable. In the past, heart-healthy foods seemed restrictive, devoid of flavor and inventiveness. For the past three decades, i have performed open-heart surgery on tens of thousands of patients suffering from heart disease, people I would have preferred meeting under more favorable circumstances. I have told them countless times that a healthier, lower-fat diet might have helped prevent their needing surgical treatment. But even when the physician's recommendations may mean the difference between life and death, it is always a challenge convincing people to make lifestyle changes. Chez Eddy is a restaurant that I have patronized since its opening in 1981. It was conceived by my colleague and friend Tony Gotto, one of the world's leading researchers in cardiovascular disease. As he listened to dieting patients, he, too, was struck by their sense of deprivation -- an attitude that often prevented the kind of compliance necessary to manage their illness. Chez Eddy cuisine is a manifestation of Tony's belief that heart-healthy dining need not be restrictive nor bland. Through the years, these talented chefs have devised methods of adapting gourmet cuisine -- with its subtle sauces and flavorful stocks -- to the needs of people who follow a heart-healthy eating plan. The fare that characterizes Chez Eddy today has evolved along with the public's changing and more sophisticated tastes. Its delightful mix of American, ethnic, and southwestern components will satisfy the most discriminating palates. And every dish meets the guidelines set by the American Heart Association for fat, cholesterol