Carbs out.

Protein in.

That’s the dieting craze that has swept America, and it’s having an effect on Lawrence restaurants, particularly those that build their menus around meat.

Many diners are boosting their consumption of burgers, steaks and ribs, while instructing their servers to “hold the bread.” And they’re ordering low-carbohydrate beer to wash it down.

Joe Eastep cooks for the noon rush at Captain Ribman's Meat Market, 811 N.H. Several diners are asking for a burger or steak sandwich without the bread

Ron Quick, owner of Quick’s Bar-B-Que, 1527 W. Sixth St., sees the influence of the popular Atkins diet all the time at his restaurant.

“You can pretty much tell if someone’s on the Atkins diet, because they are ordering their sandwiches without the bread. People come through the drive-through and say, ‘Give me a half pound of beef with a fork,’ and you know that they’re going to consume that half pound of meat for lunch,” Quick said.

“I’ve had one gentlemen come in and order a half pound of burnt ends, a half pound of pulled pork, and then consume that and add another half pound of pork to finish that up. And he told me he was on the Atkins diet. It seems like it wouldn’t be a healthy thing, but they’re tearing it up.”

Quick, whose menu is based around hickory-smoked beef, pork and turkey dishes, isn’t sure if his overall business is up. But the way customers are ordering these days has definitely changed.

“I have a growing number of people who are ordering their sandwiches without the bread. We sell low-carb Michelob Ultra, and that is picking up, versus when I first introduced it,” he said.

It’s the same story at Captain Ribman’s Meat Market, 811 N.H.

“I just know this: I have really never seen so many burgers and steak sandwiches being sold without bread in my entire career, and we started the K.C. Masterpiece Restaurant in Kansas City in 1987,” said Rich Davis, co-owner and general manager.

“It’s a huge trend, there’s no question about it. People are telling us: ‘Yes, I want your steak; this is how I want it.’ They know exactly what they want, and it’s reflected in our sales of burgers, steaks and then our (low-carb) beers. It’s just amazing.”

Buffalo Bob’s Smokehouse, 719 Mass., has a menu built around beef, chicken, turkey and pork — dishes that pack plenty of the proteins that are popular with diners these days.

Owner Bob Schumm said he wasn’t sure whether the popularity of low-carb diets had affected his overall business that much. People have always come to his restaurant seeking barbecued meat dishes, and that hasn’t changed.

But he has no problem with the popularity of the Atkins or similar low-carbohydrate diets.

“We have a lot of meat dishes that we offer, so we’re probably positioned to take advantage of that change in attitude,” Schumm said.

Quick is happy, too, about the new way some Americans are eating these days.

“It probably has brought me new customers, because, as I say, we are all about meat. It hasn’t hurt me at all,” he said. “If anybody is on a diet, I’d like to see them on the Atkins diet.”