Appetizers

The ahi tuna is raw. That's what the asterisk on the menu means, and it matters if anyone at the table is pregnant or has a weakened immune system.

Poke is Hawaiian for cutting something into pieces, and here the cubed tuna goes over crisp fried wontons instead of rice. Avocado, green onion, chillies, sesame and a sriracha aioli finish it. 1,020 calories.

That's 38% of the Factory Nachos, which makes this the nacho plate to pick if you want the idea without the 2,670-calorie commitment.

No gluten, wheat or milk is listed, only eggs, fish, shellfish and sesame. 1,090 mg of sodium is second-lowest among the 26 appetizers.

Lime juice turns raw fish opaque by denaturing its proteins, which looks like cooking, but acid doesn't kill bacteria the way heat does, so the asterisk still applies to the sushi-grade ahi, tossed here with shrimp, green onion and cilantro.

It's served on avocado with crispy corn tortillas. 570 calories. Peru marks National Ceviche Day every June 28.

More than 4,000 people a month search for these, and the thing to know before ordering isn't in the name. The dipping sauce is tamarind and cashew, so this vegetarian appetizer contains tree nuts.

It's 930 calories.

That's heavy for something that arrives as a starter, and it splits well between 2 people. Avocado, sun-dried tomato, red onion and cilantro go inside the fried wrapper. The avocado turns buttery as it heats. It also goes flat once it cools, so eat them when they land.

7,080 mg of sodium. That's the highest figure on this entire menu, roughly three days of salt in one appetizer and about 2,400 mg more than the Louisiana Chicken Pasta.

I checked it twice because I assumed it was a data error.

It isn't. Chicken, cheese and buffalo sauce are sealed in a pastry wrapper and fried. 1,670 calories, 78 grams of protein, and a fish allergen that almost nobody expects from a chicken appetizer.

If you want buffalo flavour with less damage, Buffalo Wings give you 109 grams of protein for 5,020 mg, still enormous but 2,060 mg better.

It's the same idea as the Buffalo Wings with the bones taken out, and the batter changes everything on the nutrition sheet.

The strips carry 87 grams of carbohydrate to the wings' 16, and 76 grams of protein to their 109. Sodium barely moves: 4,950 mg here, 5,020 there. That's seventh-highest on the whole menu.

Battered, fried and tossed in hot sauce, with blue cheese dressing. Order them for a child who won't eat off the bone. For anyone else, the wings are the better plate.

No dish on the menu with this much protein, 109 grams, has fewer carbs than its 16 grams.

The Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, is credited with the first batch in 1964: wings fried unbreaded, tossed in hot sauce, served with blue cheese and celery. That's still the plate here. No batter is why the carbs stay so low.

Sodium is the price, 5,020 mg, second among appetizers only to the Buffalo Blasts. For a low-carb diner who isn't counting salt, it's the best order on the menu.

12 grams of fat, the least of all 26 appetizers. The salt runs the other way: 2,550 mg, fifth-highest in the section, in a starter of only 380 calories.

Potstickers take their name from the Chinese guotie, literally "pot stick", because the dumplings are fried in a pan until their bases stick and brown, then steamed with a splash of water so the tops stay soft.

Soy sauce is the likeliest source of that sodium, so dip lightly. No milk is listed. 27 grams of protein.

15 grams of carbohydrate, the fewest of all 26 appetizers, which suggests the kitchen isn't stretching the crab with much breadcrumb, the thing Chesapeake Bay cooks judge a crab cake on first.

530 calories and 42 grams of fat. Six allergens are listed: crustacean shellfish, fish, eggs, milk, gluten and wheat. $15.95.

The SkinnyLicious Crispy Crab Bites are 120 calories lighter. Order these when you want one crab starter, not a platter.

Eight allergens are listed, gluten, milk, eggs, fish, tree nuts, wheat, soy and sesame, and no other appetizer on the menu lists as many.

That's the cost of four rolls on one plate. Avocado Eggrolls, Tex Mex Eggrolls, Cheeseburger Spring Rolls and Chicken Taquitos each bring their own list, and the tamarind-cashew sauce that travels with the avocado rolls is the likeliest source of the tree nuts.

1,320 calories. One order of Avocado Eggrolls on its own is 930, so the sampler gives you variety in smaller portions rather than more food. For a group that can't agree, it's the order I'd make.

2,670 calories and 192 grams of fat. Both of those are the highest figures on the entire menu. Not the highest appetizer — the highest anything, including every pasta, every steak and every dessert.

It's a mountain of tortilla chips under jack and cheddar, guacamole, sour cream, red chile sauce, salsa and pickled jalapeños.

Built for a table. Four people splitting one plate come away at about 670 calories each, which is a reasonable starter. One person finishing it has eaten more than a full day's energy before a main course arrives.

Gluten, wheat and milk are listed. 63 grams of protein, 2,680 mg of sodium.

Rhode Island made fried calamari its official state appetizer in 2014, and the state's own style tosses the squid with pickled hot peppers before it reaches the table.

This one is fried light and crisp with garlic dip and cocktail sauce instead. 105 grams of fat is third among the 26 appetizers. 1,520 calories.

Squid turns rubbery when it's cooked past a minute or two, so eat it the moment it lands. Four people, one plate.

1,310 calories puts this in main-course territory.

It's also 96 grams of fat, fourth-highest among the appetizers, and 2,140 mg of sodium, close to a day's limit. Add the Chicken Madeira and you're at 2,610 calories. Pasta, cheese sauce and a breadcrumb crust, fried hard.

The marinara underneath is there for a reason. Its acidity cuts the fried cheese, so don't leave it on the plate.

The menu calls it enough for two, and at 1,730 calories that means 865 each before a main course arrives.

Among the appetizers, only the Factory Nachos are heavier, and only the nachos carry more fat than this dip's 126 grams. Spinach, artichoke hearts, shallots and garlic go into a mix of melted cheeses. It's served warm with tortilla chips and salsa.

I'd split it four ways. Vegetarian, with 1,590 mg of sodium.

Traditional German pretzels are dipped in a lye solution before baking, and that alkaline bath is what browns the crust dark and glossy and gives it the flavour no plain bread roll has.

The menu says only that these are baked soft and warm and served with cheddar cheese sauce. Soft bread and melted cheese add up to 1,010 calories.

2,470 mg of sodium, sixth among the 26 appetizers. 34 grams of saturated fat, too. It's vegetarian, and it's a snack for 4, not 2.

The adult Quesadilla is 1,120 calories and the Kids' Quesadilla is 820, so the grown-up version is only 300 calories bigger.

A grilled flour tortilla is filled with melted cheese, green onions and chiles. Guacamole, salsa and sour cream come on the side. It's vegetarian.

46 grams of saturated fat is the number I'd watch, well over twice the 20-gram daily value the FDA uses, and most of it comes from the cheese and sour cream. Split it as a starter.

Gluten and wheat are the only allergens listed, which gives these the shortest allergen list of all 26 appetizers: no milk, no egg, no sesame.

White Castle made the small burger an American habit, starting in Wichita in 1921. These are bite-sized burgers on mini buns with grilled onions, pickles and ketchup. No cheese.

800 calories and 48 grams of protein, a fair split for 3 people. The Kids' Roadside Sliders plate comes to 360.

8 grams of protein, the least of any appetizer on the menu.

Grilled avocado replaces the satay chicken, with carrots, bean sprouts, coconut curry noodles, lettuce leaves and the peanut, sweet red chilli and tamarind-cashew sauces. Fish drops off the allergen list when the chicken goes. That points to the chicken marinade as its source.

500 calories, vegetarian, with tree nuts and peanuts listed. 10 grams of fiber.

500 calories for $13.95 to $16.50. The full-size chicken wraps are 850 calories for $19.95 to $22.95.

So the small plate gives you 59% of the calories for about 70% of the price, and with 27 grams of protein and 16 grams of fat it's a light starter for 2 rather than a meal for 4.

Satay began as street food on Java. Here it's satay-style chicken strips with carrots, bean sprouts and coconut curry noodles. Seven allergens are listed, fish among them.

The soup changes daily, but the nutrition sheet gives one set of figures, 350 calories and 1,280 mg of sodium, so treat those as a rough guide rather than a label for whatever's in the pot today.

Ask which soup it is. Then ask whether it's cream-based. A chowder and a broth won't land anywhere near the same number.

On paper it's the lightest of the 26 appetizers. $9.95 to $11.95.

460 calories. Among the appetizers, only the Soup of the Day and the Chicken Pot Stickers are lighter.

The tuna is raw, marked by the asterisk, and it sits on rice cakes that are pressed and seared until the outside crisps while the middle stays soft.

Pickled ginger and scallion go on top. Fish, soy, sesame, egg, gluten and wheat are listed. It's a sensible starter before a heavy main, with 1,490 mg of sodium.

No gluten and no wheat in the recipe. Only two appetizers on the menu can say that, this and the Ahi Tuna and Shrimp Ceviche, and if you're coeliac that's a short list worth memorising.

Tamale cakes are masa, which is corn treated with lime so the kernels soften and the flavour deepens, pressed with whole sweet corn and pan-fried. Sour cream, salsa, avocado and a tomatillo salsa verde go on top. They're heavy for a starter. 1,340 calories and 88 grams of fat, more than the Carne Asada Steak, so I'd order these to share across 3 or 4 people. Milk, egg and sesame are the allergens listed.

Same calories as the Avocado Eggrolls, 930, and three times the protein. 43 grams against 14.

Chicken, black beans, corn, peppers, onion and melted cheese are rolled and fried, and served with an avocado dip and salsa.

No tree nuts here, unlike the avocado version with its cashew sauce. Sodium is 2,030 mg. If you're choosing between the two eggroll plates for a table with a nut allergy, this is the one.

950 mg of sodium, the lowest of any dish in the appetizer section.

The same section holds the Buffalo Blasts at 7,080, so that's a bigger difference than it sounds. The catch is fat. 52 grams, which is two-thirds of the 700 calories.

Battered shrimp are tossed in a sweet garlic chilli aioli straight out of the fryer, so the coating clings instead of sliding off. Shellfish, soy, sesame, egg, gluten and wheat are listed.

Swap the chicken for grilled avocado and the fiber doubles, from 9 grams to 18, while protein drops from 51 grams to 15, and that fiber is the most of any appetizer except the Factory Nachos.

Fat goes up too, 42 grams against 27. Avocado is a fatty fruit. That's the trade for a vegetarian plate.

830 calories. Tree nuts and peanuts are listed, but fish isn't, unlike the chicken version.

69 grams of sugar, the most of any appetizer on the menu. The three dipping sauces, peanut, sweet red chilli and tamarind-cashew, are the obvious source.

You build each wrap yourself, putting satay-style chicken strips, carrots, bean sprouts and coconut curry noodles into a lettuce leaf. That's why it works for a table. Everyone assembles their own. 850 calories, 51 grams of protein and 27 grams of fat is a lean profile for this section.

Peanuts and tree nuts are both listed, the cashews in that tamarind sauce among them. A smaller portion comes in at 500 calories.

92 grams of fat. That's more than the entire Grilled Salmon plate, fillet and mashed potatoes included.

Crab is lean. Artichoke hearts are lean. The fat is the melted cheese they're baked into. What you're ordering is hot cheese with crab through it, scooped up on garlic crostini.

Split it across at least 3 people, and check for shellfish and fish allergies, since both are listed, because 1,220 calories and 1,720 mg of sodium is a lot for one person to take on before a main course.