The Natural Cafe, Naturally

NATURAL CAFE

Overview: As you might gather from its name, The Natural Cafe, with four county locations, specializes in healthy food made with local, regional ingredients. The menu offers a number of vegetarian dishes, but meat eaters won't be disappointed with the choices of fish, turkey and chicken dishes available as well.

Decor: Earthtones and lots of wood surround the restaurant's booths and tables. An open, exposed ceiling give it a bit of a modern feeling.

The Drinks: Bottled drinks are available from a cooler, but the draw here are fresh juices, shakes and smoothies.

Appetizers: Soups made fresh every morning top the list of appetizers, which also includes nachos, vegetarian chili, quesadillas, hummus and pita and guacamole and chips.

Entrees: As we mentioned, there are a number of vegetarian entrees—including a tofu hot dog—but chicken, turkey and fish also make frequent appearances on the menu, which is catagorized into sandwiches, pizzas, pasta and other entrees.

Sides: The list of sides is huge and contains the usual grilled, steamed and stir-fried veggies, brown rice, baked botato and various types of bread. As well, things like chunk albacore, roasted turkey, grilled chicken and sauteed tofu are available.

Service: This is an order-at-the-counter type restaurant; however, in our experience, entrees are delivered to your table quickly and with a smile.

Signature dish: People talk about Natural Cafe's burritos. First, they're huge. But they're also available in vegetarian and chicken varieties. The Buddha burrito is made with sauteed veggies, pinto beans and rice and is topped with ranchero sauce, cheese, sour cream and guacamole. Switch out the sauteed vegetables for chicken and you've got the Baja burrito.

 840 New Los Angeles Ave., Suite B