Are you ready for another salad restaurant? After Freshii, Saladworks and Tossed, now comes Greenleaf Gourmet Chop Shop in Costa Mesa. This one actually has been in the works for a while. You may remember that I wrote about the Beverly Hills-based concept about this time last year while they were still negotiating their lease for their first OC store in Costa Mesa.
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Started by a couple of chef entrepreneurs who cut their teeth in the Patina Group restaurant empire (and who themselves struggled with weight issues), the focus is on healthier items and a whole lot of lettuce. The menu features salads with names such as “Kitchen Sink Cobb,” “The Antioxidant Orchard,” “Buffalo 'Wangs'” and the “Mexplosion.”
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.