Tender Greens

It's always comforting to find that a restaurant I liked years ago is still doing a great job. I went shopping at Surfas and found some Peugeot salt and pepper mills ($44.88 each here, about $10 cheaper than at Sur La Table) and some demi glace to use for a decadent Boeuf Bourguignon. I looked over the menu at their new cafe Culinary District, and saw that they had great looking sandwiches, and a nice selection of prepared sides, so I will come back to try their food one day, but that day was not today because I wanted a salad, so I decided to head over to Tender Greens in Culver City for lunch.


I chose one of their Big Salads (all are $10.50), the grilled Flatiron Steak, served with butter lettuces, chives, radishes, and delicious red and gold beets in a horseradish vinaigrette. It was truly big and if I had eaten more than toast for breakfast I would have had to take half of it to go; I managed to finish it, but could not fit in any dessert. My other favorite Big Salad is the tuna Nicoise served very rare (seared on the outside only), green beans, tomatoes, capers, potatoes, quail egg, and a sherry vinaigrette. I love the choices here that allow vegans and vegetarians to eat alongside omnivores with choices that are as interesting and varied as the meat centric dishes. Meat eaters can choose chicken or steak on a hot plate with potatoes and vegetables, vegetarians can choose sandwiches or soups or a grilled veggie plate with hummus, and even raw food eaters have an option of eight raw vegetables with raw nuts.

Options are one of the greatest joys of life, especially when it comes to food.