Healthy Lunch at Lemonade

My cousin-in-law Mary knows all the best places to eat at in Los Angeles. She also knew I was on a diet and was interested in healthier options. In spite of my cousin Sidney’s objection we went to Lemonade in Brentwood.

I’ve never been to Brentwood before and it looked like a very charming place to shop and eat. Too bad we didn’t have time to walk around after lunch.

On their website Lemonade was described as “a modern cafeteria serving seasonal Southern California comfort food.”

This is the California version of a turo-turo.

In other places comfort food meant fried chicken, mac n’ cheese, ribs, burgers and fries. In Southern California comfort food meant lots of veggies, exotic ingredients and unusual flavor combinations. I like it!!! Check out all the salad choices.

Lemonade’s full menu

The spread reminded me of the healthy selections at Whole Foods Market but these were even more colorful and varied.

kale, mushrooms, kumquat vinaigrette
red quinoa, brussels sprouts, sundried tomato dressing
blue lake green beans, caesar

fruit of the day, arugula, blue cheese, balsamic
Israeli couscous, wild mushrooms, parmesan, lemon truffle
soba noodle, kimchi marinated vegetables
fall succotash, butternut squash, white corn, grapes, oregano

avocado, cherry tomato, pine nuts, lime
spaghetti squash, farro, pomegranate vinaigrette
fingerling potatoes, saffron, créme fraiche

This set-up reminded me of a buffet wherein you have so many choices but since you have to pay for each thing you choose there is less chance of over eating.

I was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to choose so I let Mary decide since I trust her taste implicitly. Lemonade was one of her favorite places for good, healthy food.

If salads aren’t your thing there were also many hearty sandwiches to choose from.

sandwiches

Pots of meat they called Braises looked just like something your mom would have simmering on the cooktop. It looked so delectable that we succombed and got two meat dishes. We had to make Sidney happy with some meat.

lemongrass chicken / red miso beef short ribs
chicken Basque, artichoke, olive / beef stroganoff

These were the only parts of the cafeteria line that didn’t look appetizing to me.

buttermilk chicken breast
seared ahi tuna, crushed orange-ginger ponzu

Wine in a cafeteria, I’m definitely in Los Angeles.

We had the watermelon rosemary lemonade which was quite unique and refreshing although I found it too sweet.

six flavors of lemonade $3

One portion of salad was really a big spoonful and cost $4.25.

avocado, cherry tomato, pine nuts, lime and beets, pickled onion, hazelnut vinaigrette

Everything was good but I liked the squash combo the best. It had a vinaigrette dressing instead of mayonnaise which I appreciated.

fall succotash, butternut squash, white corn, grapes, oregano

Mary got a bigger portion of the soba salad since she knew we would love it. She was right. It was our favorite of all the salads. It had a vinegar based dressing so it was tangy, spicy and so flavorful.

soba noodle, kimchi marinated vegetables

beef stroganoff, 1/2 portion – $6

Of the two beef dishes I liked the red miso short ribs more. It was super tender and the sauce was very rich and the miso added a different flavor which went quite well with the beef. Their small portions were quite generous. There were 3 of us and we couldn’t finish all the food which cost a very reasonable $33.

red miso beef short ribs

Sidney had to have rice with the short ribs. Adding the basmati rice pilaf cost only $1.

basmati rice, add $1

For dessert I couldn’t resist getting two cookies. The lemon shortbread unfortunately lacked lemon flavor. The texture was quite good and the buttery flavor was evident.

lemon shortbread cookie

I liked the chewy white chocolate raspberry cookie but I wish it was bittersweet chocolate instead of white chocolate.

white chocolate raspberry cookie

I wish we had something like this in Manila. We really need a casual restaurant serving good and healthy salads that aren’t drowning in carbs and mayonnaise. With food like this it wouldn’t be hard to eat vegetarian. Thanks for bringing me here Mary. I loved it!!!

Lemonade
145 South Barrington Avenue, Los Angeles CA
telephone: 310.471.9700