Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said these offerings "are seemingly designed to promote obesity, heart disease, and stroke."

    His nonprofit health organization gained a reputation as the "food police" in the 1990s, when it declared fettuccine Alfredo "a heart attack on a plate."

    Printing nutrition information on menus might discourage diners from ordering such delicacies as Ruby Tuesday's Colossal Burger, with 1,940 calories and 141 grams of fat, or Cheesecake Factory's Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake, a combination of brownie, pie and cheesecake that packs 1,380 calories, said Margo Wootan, the center's nutrition policy director.

    But relatively few restaurants offer nutrition information on their menus.

    An example is the Uno Chicago Grill chain. It sells a combo appetizer of pizza, mashed potatoes, bacon, cheddar cheese and sour cream that packs 2,050 calories, 48 grams of saturated fat and 3,140 milligrams of sodium.

    Not even the restaurant expects this appetizer to be consumed by only one person. But even if shared by two, it's a large portion of the 2,000 to 2,500 calories recommended for the average diner for an entire day.

    Uno Chicago Grill defended its menu, saying the Pizza Skins appetizer should be shared and by May it will have removed artery-clogging trans fats from its menu.

    Eating just one of those items would swamp the eater's daily calorie requirement, about 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men, Wootan said.

    Some California lawmakers share his concern. Hearings are scheduled next month on two bills that would require greater nutrition labeling on restaurant menus.

    A bill by Sen. Carole Migden, (D-San Francisco), would require restaurant chains with five or more establishments in the state to include calorie counts on printed menus and menu boards.

    Another, from Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), requires menus to also include fat and carbohydrate amounts. His bill applies to chains with 10 or more locations.

    "Go into a supermarket and every package of food has that information, but if you go into a restaurant [it's] just not there," Padilla said. "I don't want to ban anything. I just want to make sure that consumers have the information they need to make correct decisions. "I think two bills shows that there is a lot of support in California for this concept."

    California eateries are concerned about "how these rules would be applied" but will work with lawmakers to craft legislation "acceptable to the industry" and labeling advocates, said Jot Condie, president of the California Restaurant Assn.

    Consumers are capable of making decisions about what to order and are tired of the "food police" telling them what to eat, the National Restaurant Assn. said.

    "Pointing to a select few menu items at a select few restaurants as being high in calories and generalizing that to all restaurant fare is misleading, inaccurate, and does the public a grave disservice," the trade group said.

    Americans are eating out more frequently and ingesting a growing proportion of their caloric intake from restaurants, according to the Keystone Center, a nonprofit public policy organization in Colorado. Families spend about half of their food budget on food consumed outside the home.

    (Agencies)