Friday spots to dine this Lenten season

The official start of the Catholic Church’s observance of the Lenten season, Ash Wednesday, fell on another event this year, Valentine’s Day, and will end come Easter Sunday, March 31.

That mean between now and Easter Sunday, many Catholic devotees will be observing the traditional meat-free diet every Friday. That’s a total of five Fridays in the entire month of March when Catholics will be on the lookout for meatless meals.

That adherence to Catholic teaching no longer means you can only enjoy a meatless meal at home. Many restaurants in the CNMI offer varied options that highlight their dishes that are meat-free or menu items that allow the Catholic faithful to enjoy eating out while restricting their food to those that conform to the canons of the Lenten season.

For those hankering for a fast food option, there is the McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish, which is always a standout year-round, whether it’s the Lenten season or not. The fish filet, fried and breaded and with a generous dollop of tartar sauce, is considered one of the healthier sandwiches in fast food and, according to their corporate website, has been a McDonald’s staple since 1965.

The Great Harvest Bread bakery on Saipan offers a wide selection of sandwiches, salads, and a wrap that’s especially prepared for the Lenten season and ensures that you get to enjoy all your Friday meals—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—even when you skip meat.

You can start your Fridays with a breakfast of Harvest Veggie Sandwich or a Veggie 3-Seed Hummus that is perfect when paired with your choice of a morning picker-upper, whether that’s hot coffee or a steaming mug of tea.

A Shrimp-Smoked Wrap or an Egg Salad Sandwich makes for a tummy-filling mid-morning snack, while a Greek Salad and a Veggie Baja Sandwich are a great tandem for a lunch that doesn’t skimp on the flavor. A Tuna Salad Sandwich in the afternoon makes for a light yet filling snack, while a Roasted Carrot Tahini Salad paired with a Veggie 3-Seed Hummus for dinner rounds out a whole day of tasty and nutritious food that still allows you to observe Lent. As you can see, you can build your meatless Fridays around these carefully selected items where you can still have your fill of yummy food while being true to the Catholic Church’s teachings.

At the nearby Surf Club restaurant, their varied menu offers options for those who want to go meat-free. They have a Fresh Lumpia, Tuna Poke, or Flamin’ Shrimp. And that’s just for the appetizers! The Surf Club menu has a whole page called “Specialty from the Sea” that features—you guessed it!—seafoods galore that range from a Grilled Salmon, Escabeche Parrot Fish, and Pad Thai Shrimp, to Fish & Chips and Salt & Pepper Shrimp, and even pasta dishes like Crab Meat Pasta and Squid Ink Pasta. One of their lunch specials is Eskabeche with Grilled Salmon or Mahi-mahi. Really, when it comes to the Surf Club menu, you will have so many choices that it wouldn’t feel like you are depriving yourself of anything by not eating meat.

Beyond these three restaurants on Saipan, the food scene in the CNMI is so attuned to the varied tastes of its many tourists that they have designed their menus around the idea that each and everyone has a different taste and varying goals when it comes to food, and are ready with a line of food that caters to most tastes. That means eating out no longer means being restricted to just a bowl of soup, a small salad, or just a glass of water. There is almost a little of everything for everyone, and this Lenten season is no exception.

‘Eating out [this Lenten season] no longer means being restricted to just a bowl of soup, a small salad, or just a glass of water. There is almost a little of everything for everyone, and this Lenten season is no exception.’