While living in Santa Monica, our daughter would take us to places like Tender Greens and Sweetgreen for lunches during visits. These are both small chain restaurants easily found in the Southland, restaurants that take the Chipotle cafeteria-style concept to salad building and otherwise healthy eating. Sure, they may have meats around, but you can build a great salad in a bowl to your specifications (“two scoops of olives, please”) and tossed if you wish with just the right amount of dressing.
Northwest Bakersfield has its own version of this concept, considerably scaled down of course, but perfect for those who think a well-constructed salad is the perfect meal. It’s called Salad Sensations and no, it’s not a chain, but it follows the same concept as the two mentioned above, also offering three wraps, three sandwiches, juices and smoothies.
It’s in a tiny space near J’s Place Waffle House & Southern Style Cooking off Calloway, in the same shopping center as Studio Movie Grill. This center is becoming a popular food spot with Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, Five Guys, Ninja Sushi and Korean BBQ, Ruben’s and a new Fire Wings set to open soon. I guess if you want to eat before or after the movie and don’t want the theater’s food, there are other choices.
You have options here. You can start with a customized salad ($6.69 small, $7.69 large), but there is an extra charge if you want proteins (eight different options). Or you can go to one of the four signature salads, which my companion did, choosing the chicken taco salad ($12.50). I chose the berry berry smoothie ($5.50) and the pastrami sandwich ($8.50), which came with a choice of a small salad or the soup, which I picked after I heard it was vegetable.
A place like this is going to live or die on the freshness of the vegetables, and I have to say that the veggies looked fresh despite the fact that all the tables and chairs were up due to COVID-19. (We visited in early October when indoor dining was not allowed.).
There is a choice of four different greens as a base: spring mix, iceberg, spinach and romaine. If you do want protein without paying extra, you can get boiled eggs, various cheeses or bacon.
My companion’s salad had spring mix, bacon, chipotle chicken, bell peppers, tomatoes, black beans, corn, tortilla chip strips, cheddar and a house-recommended chipotle ranch. Delivery is available via Grubhub and DoorDash, and we did see a young man putting together salads to go from notes and putting the dressing on the side rather than tossing it in a big bowl right before serving it.
My companion, being the sort that always likes dressing on the side, wishes she had gone that route as they were on the generous side with it during the preparation process. The Tender Greens and Sweetgreen people are ultra conservative in that area, and I’m in that camp too as I really want to taste the veggies, difficult if the dressing is too thick. I recognize I’m probably a minority in that area.
Loved the pastrami sandwich, though I had to say no to the chipotle mayo the menu warned me would be on this grilled panini made on La Brea Bakery's La Baccia bread. It came with Swiss cheese and mustard and the pastrami had been heated before assembly so the whole thing was a warm and tasty mess. The vegetable soup was serviceable, and the smoothie (berries, frozen banana, milk, orange juice, honey and yogurt) was something I’d order if just passing by or getting ready for a movie. The dining room has bright colors and would be a pleasant stop for indoor dining.
Pete Tittl’s Dining Out column appears in The Californian on Sundays. Email him at pftittl@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @pftittl.
November 13, 2020 at 05:30PM
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PETE TITTL: Salad days are here again - The Bakersfield Californian
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