la.foodblogging

I finally made it to Leaf Cuisine today after visiting my dentist down the street. I normally wouldn’t drive that far for lunch, but since I was there already, I figured I would take advantage of my situation and grab a quick bite to go.

My first impression is that the space is really comfortable. It is certainly hip, but not in a pretentious way. The high ceilings added to the airy atmosphere and the clean, bright colors had me in a good mood.

After reading some comments from our last review of Leaf, I had some lowered expectations of the service. While it did take longer than I would have expected to make an order, the casheir was friendly enough.

I ordered the falafel wrap, which was billed as sprouted chickpeas with a host of veggies in a wrap along with tahini sauce. I asked if they had iced tea and was told “no”, but was offered lemonade instead. One of the many reasons I like to order iced tea is to skip sugary drinks, and no matter how “healthy” a lemonade may be, one essential ingredient is a crapload of sugar. Having just come from the dentist (no cavities!), I figured I would skip lemonade and just have some water. When I mentioned to the cashier that I really just wanted iced tea, she told me “we don’t have ice”. No ice? Odd.

My wrap was ready pretty quick. One unique touch is that instead of a number or taking your name, you are assigned a piece of plastic fruit to identify you to the server. Today I was a bunch of plastic grapes.

I hadn’t paid too much attention to the menu, so when I was in the car and peeked in the bag, I discovered that Leaf wraps don’t come in tortillas or flat bread, they come in… leafs. Huge sturdy lettuce leafs to be more specific. Interesting, I thought. Hopefully there’s some flavor mixed in with that leaf.

I have a subtle distrust for faddy healthy food. Sure, I like to eat well and I even like salads as a main course, but I refuse to be happy with a meal that has no taste. Fortunately, I was blown away by the flavor busting from my wrap. From the first bite to the last, I was really impressed with the different flavors and features. The chickpea “falafel”, which was raw and not deep fried like the traditional crispy balls, had a nice consitency. I would put it somewhere between hummous and cottage cheese. The tahini sauce definitely made the wrap, the flavor and moisture it adds is superb.

Leaf defines itself as Organic, Vegan, Raw, Kosher, Fresh and Delicious. I did, in fact, see what I assume was a Rabbi in the kitchen while I was there, presumably certifying it as Kosher. I’m not at all versed in what it takes to be Kosher, but I did see the Rabbi in a back room smelling the lettuce as I was leaving. Is there an un-Kosher odor? I’m curious to know.

Overall, I’m glad I had the chance to stop by. Leaf was a great lunch and healthy too! At around $8 for a wrap, a bit on the high side for lunch, but certainly worth it.

Leaf Cuisine
11938 W. Washington Blvd.
Culver City, 90066
(310) 390-6005

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.