Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Inspirating Tender Greens

Appearing to be part of Ford's Filling Station and unbelievably hard to find, this little unheard of place turned out to be just what i was craving for. Being grilling season and all i've been having a hankering for just about anything charred and smoky but since i'm not a hardcore carnivore, i knew that it wasn't going to be easy to find a place were they not only focused on meat but also on veggies.


As soon as i walked in, i knew I was going to like it. It runs kind of like a Sbarro or Subway(c'mon don't pretend you've never been to any of those places). You order first and you watch them make your salad of choice right in front of your eyes. The first thing i liked is you know how in most places you happen to be interested in both an entree salad and an entree? Well here, you get to choose both! so you could have your Baby Spinach with Goat Cheese and Roasted Hazelnuts and the rare Line Caught Ahi Tuna with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes and a little slice of Garlic Crouton.

And to satisfy my picky cravings even more, i even added some nice, blackened slices of Roasted Veggies on top of my salad. So i get what would of probably been 3 different plates in any other restaurant all in one! For only 10 bucks! for dinner! on the Westside! Simply amazing, why can't every restaurant be like this.


And although that little mountain of greens, the little scoop of potatoes and those 4 little thin slices of Tuna doesn't look as filling as the thick slabs of meat or seafood you might find anywhere else, don't worry! The restaurant is just doing you a favor by filling you with their amazing salad and providing you with more of those rising necessary servings of Fruits and Vegetables.


I decided to get the "Fresh Line Caught Ahi Tuna Hot Plate" with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes and the "simple salad" for which the restaurant got it's name for, Tender Greens with Sherry Vinagaraitte and to add some "hot stuff" which in this case was the grilled veggies. The Tuna was perfectly seared, completely pink on the inside, just how i had been craving. Although it was kind of cool by the time we sat down and ate, i didn't mind since it was so perfect, especially when you forked it up with a big dallop of creamy mashed potatoes. The salad greens were fresh and tender, hence the name but i don't know why i don't seem to like vinegar in it's almost pure form, must be the smell. That still didn't stop me from eating it, but i enjoyed my dad's goat cheese salad better, the Hazelnuts somehow tasted exactly like Nutella.


They had many interesting choices for dessert of course revolving around chocolate such as Aztec Cocoa Brownies but unfortunately they were already out today so we tried the Devils Food Cupcake with Toffee Frosting(the last one might i add) but since i'm not a diehard choco-holic like the rest of my family, i got the Carrot Cake With Frosting. We usually share one dessert but since it was so cheap, i decided to try it. The Carrot Cake was shaped like a cookie but had the texture of a cake. It was moist not dry like in most places, and filled with Walnuts and little shreds of carrot. Very good. The cupcake was well chocolate but the frosting, which was was also on the carrot cake was the best, creamy and rounding out the little dryness of both confections.


"Summer Cuisine" if there ever such a label.

Tender Greens in Los Angeles

No comments: