Heading into Tender Greens, I was expecting the worst. I couldn’t believe that a restaurant had the audacity to put the word “greens” in it’s name. I almost felt myself burning as I crossed the threshold.
Inside, I saw the menu, which included an array of salads, but luckily there was a “Hot Stuff ” menu, with meats. I decided to get the Angus Flank Steak. Each dish came with mashed potatoes, a salad and garlic bread. When I placed my order, I asked if I could get double the potatoes and no salad. The woman seemed baffled and I must admit I felt a little bad for asking for a greenless meal at Tender Greens. Nevertheless, she was able to process my request in the computer. I also asked to get my steak cooked medium, which continued to confuse her.
It was only when I made my way down the counter to pick up my food that I realized the reason for the latter confusion. The steaks weren’t exactly cooked to order, and were just being cooked and sliced up the same way for everyone. This wasn’t a big deal, because they were cooked pretty close to medium (more like medium-well), however, the size of the steak was of concern to me. Compared to the giant dollops of potatoes, the steak looked miniscule.
It actually tasted pretty good for a “greens” restaurant but, as suspected, it left me wanting more meat. The potatoes were quite good, but there really is a limit to how many mashed potatoes you can have in one sitting.
How can you give such a low mark to the unvegan options? You could ask for an entire huge plate of steak, you could!
Actually, for a restaurant with lots of lettuce and “Green” in their name, Tender Greens does a lot of sustainable, whole animal carnivore-friendly food.
Chefs Pete and Rian in San Diego are working with Brandt Beef on a sustainable whole animal project. They just got in half a cow from Brandt Beef and will be the first to to do the Brandt beef full animal project. This week they’ll receive half a cow in the form of basic cuts and age in house from anywhere between 21 days and 70 days depending on the cut. They’ll have aged whole bone-in Rib Eye, beef tenderloin, New York or Delmonico steaks. They will be using 20 different cuts total, including the bones for stock. Keep an eye out for the beef specials on their menu, because that’s where the beef will turn up.
They recently had a spring lamb in and it turned into beautiful lamb shanks, roast leg of lamb and a lamb Bolognese with hand cut fettuccine. They’re also currently curing their own bacon and proscuitto in house.
That’s good to hear. Will they be adding more sides? My main issue was that I could only substitute more potatoes for salad, which then overpowered the steak.
I sure hope that Chefs Pete and Rian will be doing some better cuts for their specials. While I have been thoroughly satisfied by the chicken, rare tuna and wonderful steak, the specials leave something to be desired. There was a lamb one a few months back that just wasn’t a good cut and lacked in lamb flavor.
Master Unvegan, I think the only other substitute for mashed potatoes would be french fries, and anything else would not match the ethos of the restaurant (nachos or chips). I don’t think that the potatoes overpowered the steak, but the portions were so disproportional, given your desire for double potatoes, that the steak was lackluster in the pairing.
That being said, I would like a bleu cheese dressing on the butter lettuce.
Is that exactly what your plate looked like right after the waiter set it down on your table? That is screaming for some kind of garnish, or anything really.
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