Is this really ‘hospital food’?

Check out these selections: baked garlic tilapia or chicken Parmesan; sauteed spinach with garlic; braised mushrooms with balsamic; baked sweet potato; or roasted squash medley with oregano.

These are not offerings from a new trendy restaurant on Fort Worth’s West Seventh Street or Magnolia Avenue or the dining scenes in Roanoke or Southlake.

That’s Thursday’s cafeteria menu at John Peter Smith Hospital.

Not bad for a public medical institution recently criticized by a Washington-based physicians’ organization for the McDonald’s on the premises.

JPS has long offered alternatives to the fast-food menu — which also includes “healthy choices.”

JPS’ cafeteria has a variety of foods for its guests and employees, including an array of salads, pasta, pizzas and hot grilled sandwiches.

Recently, the JPS Health Network named new executive chef Leon Rivera, the network’s first formally trained chef, and announced the goal of “better quality, more variety and healthier options.”

This could give a totally different meaning to hospital food.

This story was originally published February 18, 2015 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Is this really ‘hospital food’?."