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It is now the end of the year, and one of the things I do at the end of every year is go on an intense diet to prepare for the barrage of cookies, candy and egg nog that hits me during the holiday season. Being on an intense diet makes it hard to go out and eat. I’ve found myself staring wistfully at other people’s loaded plates and cocktails as I munch on plates of vegetables and sip on water.

So yesterday, when we decided to make the trek to Culver City to see a movie, rather than brave the certain madhouse that would be the Grove, I decided we would have lunch at Tender Greens, since that would put me and husband on even footing when it came to choosing meals. That was before I knew about the delicious sounding sandwiches, which my husband generously avoided ordering so I didn’t have to watch him eat it.

The vibe of the restaurant is clean, healthy, and modern. With the shiny wooden floors, simple design, the big menu on the wall and the neatly laid out pre-prepped ingredients behind the open counter and simple, easy to prepare meals, I could easily see this as a chain along the lines of Jamba Juice.

My eye was instantly drawn to the specials posted on the counter. I’m a sucker for specials. One was a braised short rib sandwich that sounded amazing, but was way outside the constraints of my diet, which for the next few days is limited to all things vegetable. The other special was a roasted parsnip soup, which was perfectly wintery and quite vegetable-y as well. I decided not too ask too many questions about how vegetarian the soup was, and decided in my head that it was parsnip pureed with a vegetable stock. I don’t really know, though.

I ordered the soup ($4) and to accompany it, chose a “simple salad” of red and green butter leaf lettuc with a dijon vinaigrette ($5). To drink I had a jamaica (hibiscus) agua fresca. My husband ordered the cobb salad, which is a “big salad.” ($10).

The big salad was big all right. This was a turkey cobb with blue cheese dressing, bacon, tomato, egg, and romaine lettuce. Each salad came with a big crouton, which I reluctantly had to give away. It looked really good.

The simple salad was just that–very simple, consisting of just the lettuce and the dressing. What surprised me was that it was as big as the “big” salad. That’s a lot of lettuce. Anyway, there’s not much too this. If you like butter lettuce, then it’s a fine salad for you. I liked it. There wasn’t too much dressing, which is the number one salad killer for me.

And finally, there was my soup. The soup was really good, it tasted, as my huband said, “like fall.” Parsnips look like a big beige carrot and taste like a cross between a carrot and a potato. Parsnip was a staple before the potato was introduced and many common potato recipes used to be parsnip recipes. Parsnips are sweeter and than carrots and were often used to make not only starchy dishes, but cakes and jams as well. Parsnips soften faster during cooking than carrots and potatoes and are definitely nice for making soup. This soup was warm and had the thick, starchy consistency of a potato soup, cut through with a crisp, carroty vegetable flavor of the parsnip. It was definitely a nice cold weather soup.

The final verdict? For “going out,” I would probably pick Ford’s Filling Station next door. But for a quick and casual lunch, this place is great, and I would love to have one near work. I like that they have seasonal specials, since I could see myself growing tired of the menu. All of the ingredients seem fresh, and I like that you have your pick of simple salads that aren’t loaded up with stuff. The price was a bit high ($5 for lettuce and dressing, $4 for a cup, not a bowl, of soup), but at the same time, I felt like I was paying for quality ingredients and a nice atmosphere, so I felt like it was worth it.

Tender Greens
9523 Culver Blvd.
(310) 842-8300
11:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Closed Mondays
http://tendergreensfood.com

By KT (see more of her posts). You can find more of KT's writing at her own website Gastronomy 101.