Guess what finally opened!!!
Tender Greens’ new Santa Monica location! I have been waiting for this for quite some time (remember last week when I tried to go and it wasn’t open yet?). While I was thrilled to learn that it was opening this past weekend, I was sad that it happened while I was away in NYC.
Naturally I made a beeline for the place as soon as we got back in town. 🙂
I took Kyle and my girlfriend Lauren with me.
Lauren got the Harvest salad with Organic Fruit, Artisan Cheese, Local Nuts, Scarborough Farms Lettuces, and a Golden Balsamic Vinaigrette.
She said she couldn’t turn down anything with goat cheese, so I definitely understand this choice. And check out those beautiful figs!
Kyle ordered one of the hot from the grill items…which you can get on a sandwich, on a hot plate, or on a salad.
He chose the Salt and Pepper Chicken (as a hot plate) with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes. It comes with your choice of a side salad, so he picked the Kale and Parmesan.
The entire plate wowed him. He said the chicken was so perfectly cooked, he could have eaten seven servings more.
I got the Happy Vegan, a platter of four vegan salads and greens, including Wheat with Cranberry & Hazelnuts, Quinoa with Cucumber & Beets, Green Hummus, Tabbouleh, and Tender Greens tossed in a mellow vinaigrette.
Oh man, oh man, oh man. Each salad I tried became my favorite, even as I re-tasted and re-tasted them.
Front and center above is the wheat, cranberry, & hazelnut mix. Such a brilliant blend of textures and flavors, with nutty and sweet interspersed with the chewy wheat.
The tabbouleh surprised me because normally I find them either overly acidic or overly herbed, but this was balanced and deliciously savory. I’d consider buying an extra tub to-go in the future.
I used the crispy grilled sourdough as a vehicle for the green hummus. The hummus is the one item I remember fawning over excessively the first time I ate at TG. If only I knew where to buy green chickpeas.
The golden beets and super thin pickled radishes acted as a good contrast to the red quinoa, which I find to be a more nutty pseudoseed.
And as you’d expect from a place named after leafy veggies, the fresh salad in the center of the plate was 100% flavor. The dressing was perfectly minimalist, allowing the greens to remain the star of the show.
I loved my meal so so much.
If I haven’t convinced you to go for the food, at least go for the decor. The artwork is too cute.
One of the other things that I think is especially great (and therefore worth mentioning), is how Tender Greens supports the local communities – be it through buying farm fresh produce (from specific farmers they have a real relationship with) or participating in affairs to enrich the urban communities that support them. They “believe there should be a conscious connection between the one who eats the food and the source of that sustenance.”
Moreover, they are dedicated to using only the finest ingredients – from organic, peak-of-the-season produce, to grain-fed hormone/antibiotic free beef, to cold pressed olive oils, mustards, vinegars, cheeses, nuts & ground spices, to the local boutique wineries, microbreweries and organic tea blenders. On their online menu you can scroll over each ingredient and it tells you where they get it from.
It’s so much more than environmental consciousness. I find that such an honorable way to run a business. Anyway. I had a little bit leftover, which made for an easy-to-pack work meal.
I added the leftovers to spinach and steamed sweet potatoes.
Wham, bam, lunchtime ma’am.
For breakfast, I had oats with dried cranberries, raisins, cashews, and almonds. Drowned in almond milk.
To round out the day in snacks, I brought carrots and PopCorners kettle corn chips (snagged from my JetBlue flight).
They are made with normal ingredients that I recognize and they are also gluten free (and FODMAPS friendly).
Plus a pair of bars: Enjoy Life cocoa loco and KIND blueberry pecan
Ummm…wtf happened with the Enjoy Life bars? This is the third box I’ve purchased and suddenly they shrunk to 75% of the size they initially were! Not cool.
For dessert I brought Kollar cookies from Liquiteria.
They’re wheat and dairy free thumb-print cookies with blueberry jelly in the middle of each oat & walnut bite. Dense and hearty with a bit of sweetness in the center. 🙂 I had only planned on eating one…maybe two…and making them last. But we all know how that story ends. After the first bite I fell in love (and couldn’t stop). These cookies somehow taste like gingerbread and oats at the same time – must be the cinnamon. Where is Long Branch, New Jersey? They have some good stuff going on there.
GAH. I was seriously contemplating asking you if your ELF bars were smaller, too! WTF is right!? Not to mention, I just bought a pack and found MOLD on the inside. They weren’t past the expiration date, so I’m not sure what could’ve gone wrong?! I’m emailing my contact there to let her know…
Green chickpeas are fresh. I have found them a handful of times at the Farmer’s Market and at international markets, but they are hard to fine. I just love fresh beans. The cook time is so minimal and the flavor is just incredible.
find* I had typing mistakes!!
hate*^ok seriously. I am not winning at life today.
Tender Greens sounds amazing! You are the queen of the tasting plates, I love it. Your descriptions are getting me grumbly for lunch!
Seriously, you have the best reviews of restaurants! I never skim your blog, for each word is too grand 🙂
And Long Branch is near ma hood in New Joisey! Cute little town, ’bout time our coast had some good eats, too. West coast def outshines it!
Going to San Fran first weekend in October – majah excited!
OK, now I must try Tender Greens. I have passed by the Culver City location and remember your raves but haven’t tried the food yet. Maybe a need a dinner out tonight. 🙂
i love tender greens’ mashed potatoes – so good! but i’m sure not vegan. i almost picked up those popcorners at world market – i love their other flavors and am a kettle corn fiend.
Tender Greens sounds like a great restaurant! Going on a trip with you sounds like it would be a blast! So many new and exciting things to try. 🙂
YES!!! I thought it was just me! I put in a complaint with the company that their bars were so tiny. I was so sad seeing such a tiny bar. I feel like I wasted my money. I hope everyone puts a complaint in so we can have our normal sized bars back again! :o)
Long Branch is 15 minutes from my house! They do have some great stuff going on there!
mmm i love tender greens! i went to the san diego one and totally just fell in love. especially with their green hummus and that farro/cranberry/hazelnut salad! AMAZING!
Those blueberry thumbprint cookies look amazing!
Hey—- Looks sooo sooo yummy! And FYI I have seen frozen green chickpeas at Costco several times. Even found them in LA area (Costco in Long Beach) now that I live here!
Oooh, that packed lunch and breakfast looks insanely appetising from where I’m sitting, lol! 😛 I always think that larabars are stingy – they are so small! We can’t get them over here in England anymore though, they stopped selling them a couple of years back. I’ve always wanted to try Kollar cookies! 😀 I read about them in one of Natalia Rose’s books, they were recommended by her, and from your photos its just reaffirmed to me how yummy they sound! 😀 xyx
Hi doll, this is Nikala’s roomie, the one who cooks at the TG SD. First of all, GREAT review and thanks for the support! LOVE that you love our food! Secondly, the hummus is just regular chick peas, spinach, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. No need to find “green chick peas”. Of course, I hope this doesn’t mean you’ll stop frequenting TG!!!
hi jodie! thanks for the info. i was wondering about the recipe. someone suggested that green chickpeas were in it, so im glad to know i dont have to go on a hunt to find them…although i actually just heard certain whole foods locations are carrying them in the frozen foods section. anyway, im impressed with the menu. whats your fave dish? what other vegan dishes does TG have to offer? thanks for writing in 🙂
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