Archive for May, 2010
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010Vital Juice: Thirst for a Healthy Life
Whether you’ve waited on the Culver City line or dined at the hip WeHo location, chances are you know about LA’s farm-to-table salad sensation Tender Greens. (The next location: Sunset & Vine.) Founders Erik Oberholtzer, David Dressler and Matt Lyman shared their LA weekend plans:
Matt and Erik meet in Marina Del Rey, and bike the Palos Verdes loop. When he’s not on the road, Matt cycles at the Encino Velodrome.
David’s favorite trail is Westridge-Canyonback. “The views are incredible, and it’s usually deserted on weekdays,” says David. “Two trails run parallel to each other: one relatively flat, and a hilly, rocky path that’s a really fun and gnarly workout.”
At Equinox Santa Monica, Erik takes Power Yoga and kettlebell core and conditioning. When he’s not at the gym, he hikes Mt. Baldy. “It’s challenging, and gets more into mountaineering,” says Erik.
“I go to LGO [La Grande Orange] quite a bit for breakfast,” says Erik. “I get their Venice Burrito with egg whites and tofu chorizo. It’s clean, healthy and good.” 2000 Main St., Santa Monica, (310) 396-9152, MAP
We’ll leaf it at that.
Tags: Culver City, David Dressler, Encino Velodrome, Equinox Gym, Equinox Santa Monica, Erik Oberholtzer, Kettlebell, La Grande Orange, LGO, Main St., Marina del Rey, Matt Lyman, Mount Baldy, Mountaineering, Mt. Baldy, Palos Verdes, Power Yoga, Santa Monica, Sunset & Vine, Sunset and Vine, Thirst for a Healthy Life, Tofu Chorizo, trails, Venice Burrito, Vital Juice, Vital Spy, WeHo, Westridge-Canyonback
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Saturday, May 22nd, 2010By Any Lyons
Beverly Press
It isn’t always easy to find time for a healthy lunch or a home-cooked dinner. Fast food restaurants often seem like the only option when you’re on the go. But there’s a little spot in West Hollywood where fast food doesn’t mean low quality food: Tender Greens.
The name is as appealing as the no-nonsense atmosphere, a diner-like haunt minus the greasy smells and sloppy wait-staff. The decor is modern, sleek and simple, the food hearty and to the point.
The menu is a minimalists dream, with a small smattering of high quality main dishes, all of which are sided with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and one of five “simple” salads. The customer decides how to mix and march proteins and salads. My favorite plate is the Angus flank steak with those aforementioned delightfully creamy mashed potatoes and the baby spinach salad topped with goat, hazelnuts and cabarnet vinaigrette. The steak is neatly sliced into a row of beautifully arranged cuts and the salad is as fresh as you can imagine it springing straight from the earth and heading directly for your dinner plate. Free range chicken and herb-braised albacore tuna and the two additional entree options, and, though I have yet to taste the chicken, I can easily vouch for the quality of the tuna, pink, tender cuts of delectable fish.
If you’re not up for a full meal, try a big salad or sandwich. The tuna nicoise has the perfect balance of savory capers, hearty potato pieces and egg to complement the fresh fish that comes splayed on top in a juicy fan. Staples like the Cobb, Chinese chicken and Caesar will surely please fans of leafy main meals. Soups and sweets also dot the menu, but don’t search for too much variation. What Tender Greens does they do very well, and they keep things very simple to assure each dish is excellent. The prices can’t be beat either, with a steak dinner running you about $11.
The majority of produce served at Tender Greens is picked daily at Scarborough Farms in Ocnard, where natural growing methods are employed. Other small local farms supply the remainder of the restaurant’s produce. The beef comes from grain-fed, hormone-free cows, the chicken from Petaluma Poultry, where cages aren’t used, and the tuna is line-caught from the Pacific. Fresh baked breads and desserts made on-site round out the freshness factor and high standards.
Crisp lemonade and a variety of additional healthy fruit drinks abound on the menu. You can also get a bottle of organic beer or a glass of wine, an extreme rarity at a place that moves food orders so quickly.
Crowds have been flocking to the Culver City location of Tender Greens for more than a year, and the trend has certainly caught on in West Hollywood, where they opened in March. A third Tender Greens exists in San Diego, and the fourth outpost will open on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood in the near future. The lines tend to be long, but the meals at Tender Greens are well worth the small amount of green you’ll pluck from your wallet.
Tags: Amy Lyons, Angus Flank Steak, Baby Spinach Salad, Beverly Press, Cabarnet Vinaigrette, Caesar Salad, Capers, Chines, Cobb, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Culver City, Diner, Egg, Fast Food Restaurants, Free Range Chicken, Fresh Baked Breads, Fruit Drinks, Greasy Smell, Haunt, Herb Braised Albacore Tuna, Hollywood, Line Caught Tuna, Low Quality Food, Main Dishes, No Nonsense, Organic Beer, Oxnard, Park Labrea News, Petaluma Poultry, Potato Pieces, Protein, San Diego, Scarbourough Farms, Smple Salad, Soups, Sunset Boulevard, Sweets, Tender Greens, Tuna Nicoise, Wait Staff, West Hollywood, Wine, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes
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Friday, May 21st, 2010By Lisa Bertagneli
Chain Leader
It’s small—8.9 million users compared to Facebook’s 200 million. But Twitter has become the social-networking tool of choice for many restaurant chains wishing to court a young, hip clientele.
Twitter enables users to write 140-character microblogs as many times a day as they please, which in turns enables their friends to keep constant track of them. Like Facebook, the site is free. Unlike Facebook, Twitter users can connect with, or follow, whomever they want; no permission is necessary. Generally speaking, new users choose to follow current users in hopes that the favor will be returned.
BROADCASTING SPECIALS
Erik Oberholtzer, chef and co-owner of Tender Greens, a three-unit, fast-casual health-skewed chain based in Los Angeles, began “tweeting” earlier this year after some prompting from his publicist.
“Honestly, the microblog culture was not something we understood right away.” Oberholtzer says. “The perception was that it was a lot of people sharing a lot of useless information.” He no longer feels that way. “The benefit is getting a message out there and building a community.” he says.
Oberholtzer ‘tweets,” or sends Twitter blogs, about three times a day; most messages advertise the restaurants’ daily specials or tell followers about his finds at the Santa Monica farmer’s market.
Oberholtzer also wrote about construction updates on the chain’s West Holywood location, which opened at the end of March. The store opening had been delayed due to a permitting snafu: “We didn’t know until 5 p.m. if we were going to open or not,” Oberholtzer says. The store ended up opening the next day. “and Twitter was the best way to get that out.” he says.
GATHERING FOLLOWERS
Tender Greens’ publicist initially built the chain’s Twitter list by choosing to follow food bloggers, writers and other interested parties in the Los Angeles area.
Tags: Blogs, Chain Leader, Community, Construction Updates, Daily Specials, Erik Oberholtzer, Facebook, Fast Casual, Food Bloggers, Food Writers, Health-Skewed, Hip Clientele, Lisa Bertagnelli, Los Angeles, Messages, Microblogs, Publicist, Restaurant Chains, Santa Monica Farmer's Market, Social Networking, Tender Greens, Twitter, Useless Information, West Hollywood
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Friday, May 21st, 2010By Lesley Balla
Angeleno Magazine
We are deep in the land of car culture, living in a place so spread out that eating on the run has become the norm. Indeed, ever since the first burger joint that would become McDonald’s opened in San Bernardino in 1940, SoCal has been a prime launching pad for new fast-food ideas. But look at what convenient, cheap, mass-produced food has done to our guts—it’s so bad, there’s even a current, one-year moratorium on new fast-food spots in South L.A.
Now a new generation of restaurants is proving that good food (organic, free-range, macrobiotic, local) and convenience aren’t incompatible. The best part: They’re on the road to becoming mini-chains (most with several local outlets) and looking at regional or even national domination. Wouldn’t it be great to have as many green leafy options on every corner as we do fried?
Lunch lines spill out on to the sidewalk every day at Tender Greens, a casual, quick- turnaround café founded by Erik Oberholtzer, Matt Lyman and David Dressler (two chefs and the former food/ bev director from Shutters on the Beach).
“Everything we use you could find in the luxury dining market—locally grown produce and sustainably farm-raised cattle and chicken—but it wasn’t really available for the daily, neighborhood consumer,” says Oberholtzer. Tender Greens offers a relatively simple concept: Choose a protein—free-range grilled chicken, marinated Angus flank steak, fresh albacore—and put it on top of a salad, in a sandwich, or on a hot plate with mashed potatoes and Oxnard-grown veggies. All for $10.50, almost as much as a Biggie Meal at your nearest drive-through.
Tags: Angeleno Magazine, Biggie Meal, Burger Joint, Car Culture, Cattle, Cheap, Chicken, Convenient, David Dressler, Drive-through, Erik Oberholtzer, Farm Raised, Free Range Chicken, Free-Range, Fresh Albacore, Good Food, Green Leafy, Grilled Chicken, Hot Plate, Launching Pad, Lesley Balla, Local, Local Domination, Local Outlets, Macrobiotic, Marinated Angus Flank Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Mass Produced, Matt Lyman, McDonald's, Mini-Chains, National Domination, Organic, Oxnard-grown veggies, Protein, San Bernardino, Shutters on the Beach, SoCal, Tender Greens
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Friday, May 21st, 2010Eric the Epicure
I already love the Tender Greens in Culver City, with it’s fresh salads, huge sandwiches, and cheap checks. So it was with great interest that I watched the construction of the newest location not far from where I live in West Hollywood. Same great recipe for success: fresh food, healthy ingredients, low costs, and just a bit of fun people-watching thrown in.
Tags: Cheap Checks, Culver City, Eric the Epicure, Fresh Food, Fresh Salads, Healthy Ingredients, Huge Sandwiches, Low Costs, People Watching, Recipe for Success, Tender Greens, West Hollywood
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Friday, May 21st, 2010Ideal Bite
Does your growling belly need some attention? Grab a meal that’s easy o the taste buds at salad specialist Tender Greens’ new WeHo location. It’s bigger than its Culver City cousin (but same cafeteria-style setup and menu), plus it’s got stuff you can’t get at the CC location, like Wild Shrimp Ceviche Salad. TG serves humanely raised meat, line-caught fish, and local produce – how considerate..
Tags: Cafeteria Style, Culver City, Humanely Raised Meat, Ideal Bite, Line Caught Fish, Local Produce, Tender Greens, WeHo, Wild Shrimp Ceviche Salad
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Friday, May 21st, 2010GayList Daily
Anywhere you look, there isn’t much that’s tender in downtown Boystown. The gyms and approach of summer keep the boys of the boulevard hard-bodied during the day, and the go-gos and back alley romps keep denizens from going soft at night.But now there’s a “tender” place right along WeHo’s main walk-of-shame.
Whether you’ve stumbled by it after bars close or were awakened by street cleaners as you were passed out on its patio, Tender Greens is provoking curiosity among the locals.
Aside from the gym and pride, the new casual eatery featuring customizable salads is giving us the best reason to visit the boulevard during non-drinking hours, or as others call it, daytime.
After choosing a leafy green and its accompanying ($5.50), guests can pick a hot protein (for $5), like Oxnard vegetables or free range chicken – to throw on top.
If you’d rather have your protein forced upon you, you dirty little thing, the hearty and delicious “big salads” take control by deciding your ingredients for you. We would’ve tried the eatery’s Chinese chicken ($10.50), but after taking one home from the boulevard the prior weekend, we opted for the chicken cobb ($10.50), which is a grand slam.
Go ahead, introduce yourself to Tender Greens as you would any new WeHo neighbor, but keep in mind that L.A. County Health has a strict no-shirt, no service policy.
Tags: Accoutrements, Big Salad, Boystown, Chicken Cobb Salad, Chinese Chicken Salad, Denzeins, Gay List, GayList Daily, Grand Slam, Hard-Bodied, L.A. County Health, Leafy Green, No Service, No Shirt, Oxnard Vegetable, Tender Greens, Walk of Shame, WeHo
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Friday, May 21st, 2010By Eric Rosen
LA.com
New location, same fresh food.
The original Tender Greens location in Culver City became an instant hit with fresh salads, huge sandwiches — and even some fancier entrees like Angus flank steak, and free-range chicken for under $11. Their second Los Angeles location is already as busy as the first, but fear not the wait. One can find a seat at one of the outside tables on Santa Monica Boulevard, or in one of the booths just inside the huge windows of the cavernous new space, which make it a great place to see and be seen.
Like the original, you place your order with the friendly cashier at the counter, pick your table, and wait to chow down. Start with a $5.50 simple salad like the one with red and green butter lettuce in tarragon dressing, or maybe baby spinach with goat cheese, hazelnuts and cabernet vinaigrette. Add a hot entrée for just $5 more, like the herb-brushed albacore tuna.
If you get a hot entrée, you can have it served either on a rustic bread roll with aioli and roasted peppers, or as a plate with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and choice of salad. There are also deliciously fresh soups like the roasted roma tomato bread soup with basil, and the rustic chicken soup with lemon thyme.
Don’t skip desserts like the carrot-top frosted cupcake, the toffee crunch devil’s food cupcake, and the crunchy-but-gooey chocolate chip cookie. It’s amazing that it’s taken this long to get a healthy restaurant in this body-conscious nook of WeHo.
Tags: Angus Flank Steak, Baby Spinach, Basil, Cabarnet Vinaigrette, Carrot top frosted cupcake, Chocolate Chip Cookie, Chow Down, Crunchy but gooey, Culver City, Eric Rosen, Fancier Entrees, Free Range Chicken, Fresh Food, Fresh Salads, Fresh Soup, Green Butter Lettuce, Hazelnut, Healthy Restaurant, Herb Crusted Albacore Tuna, Hot Entree, Huge Sandwiches, la dot com, LA.ccom, Lemon Thyme, Los Angeles, New Location, Red Butter Lettuce, Roasted Roma Tomato Bread Soup, rustic chicken, Santa Monica Boulevard, Simple Salad, Tarragon Dressing, Tender Greens, Toffee Crunch Devil's Food Cupcake, WeHo, West Hollywood, Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes
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Friday, May 21st, 2010By Jennifer Alsever
Fortune Small Business
Erik Oberholtzer, a co-owner of Tender Greens restaurant in Los Angeles, got his good karma in March when he tweeted about construction delays at his new West Hollywood location. The city would not sign off on the building because of technicalities involving flushless toilets. A few tweets later, one follower called his uncle, who works in the health department. The pressure worked, and Tender Greens opened the next month. “Twitter creates this culture that can extend way beyond your store,” says Oberholtzer, 40. “It’s really powerful.”
Tags: Construction Delays, Erik Oberholtzer, Flushless Toilets, Health Department, Jennifer Alsever, Karma, Los Angeles, March, Powerful, Tender Greens, Tweets, Twitter, West Hollywood
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Friday, May 21st, 2010By Lisa Baertlein
Reuters
In Los Angeles, restaurants are looking for ways to stand out from the growing pack.
Quinn Hatfield, of Hatfield’s restaurant in Beverly Hills, tweets the ins and outs of creating dishes, punctuated with the occasional mouth-watering picture.
In another part of town, Tender Greens’ co-owner Erik Oberholtzer uses Twitter to keep tabs on hardcore fans and to take online marketing to the next level.
Rush Street’s Nick Kaufman likes to reward people who tweet while they are dining at the Culver City eatery with things like free drinks.
“It’s kind of like I’m the man behind the curtain,” said Kaufman, who handles the restaurant’s online marketing. “People realize if they follow us they may get something out of it.”
Tags: Beverly Hills, Culver City, Erik Oberholtzer, Free Drinks, Hardcore Fans, Hatfield's, Kogi, Lisa Baertlein, Mouth Watering, Nick Kaufman, Online Marketing, Quinn Hatfield, Restaurants, Reuters, Rush Street, Taco Truck, Tender Greens, Twitter
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