Road Trip! Tender Greens in Walnut Creek

I had lunch with my parents in Walnut Creek last week at Tender Greens, a California restaurant chain that I hadn't heard of previously. I was happy to see that this cafeteria-style restaurant had some menu items that were clearly marked as vegan, as well as a few that looked as though they could easily be made vegan.


I ordered the Happy Vegan, a salad sampler consisting of several different items. It included farro with cranberry and hazelnuts, quinoa with cucumber and beets, green hummus, tabbouleh, and salad greens. I'm not a fan of tabbouleh, so I got more of the quinoa instead. The quinoa was good, but if I had it to do over again, I'd get more of the farro salad, which was delicious.

I don't know about you, but I hate it when I go to a restaurant that has vegan options for the main course, but no vegan options for dessert. That was not the case at Tender Greens. In fact, they had two vegan desserts in their display case. Naturally, I had to try them both. The creamy chia pudding with strawberry glaze and fresh blueberries was wonderful. I had the jam thumbprint cookie at home later, and wished I'd gotten more than one.

Tender Greens has locations throughout California, although the closest one to Sacramento appears to be the one in Walnut Creek. Information about their locations, hours of operation, and menu can be found on their website at http://www.tendergreens.com/ or on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/tendergreensfood/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf&qsefr=1.