Author: mamygail@msn.com

Food Review: Fresh to Order in Nashville

Fresh To Order was another stop I had in mind for some healthy food while in Nashville. Here’s the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

Fresh To Order was much more of a “fast casual” restaurant than I expected, based on the food reviews online. It was very similar to Panera Bread. The inside is modern and clean. You order at the counter, get your own beverage, and your food is brought to you at your table.

The beverage station not only had your typical soda fountain, but also had many other options, such as sweet or unsweet tea, raspberry mojito lemonade, mango orange juice, or cucumber water.

THE MENU

        

The menu has a wide variety of foods, many healthy options included. There are burgers, veggie burgers, small plates or entrees of different types of seafood, chicken, and veggie dishes.  There are many different “paninis”  (and they mean “panini”…but I won’t get on that soap box again) and salads and a kids’ menu as well.

THE FOOD

Almond Chicken Skewers (full size), $11.90
Description: Almond-rosemary crust, sweet mashed potatoes, Asian slaw, twin sauces.

I ordered this with grilled vegetables instead of the mashed sweet potatoes. The “twin sauces” included a peanut sauce and an orange ginger (or so it tasted) sauce.
The chicken was delicious! It was tender, perfectly cooked, and the almond crust was flavorful with some crunch. The sauces were tasty, too, though the citrus-y one was more flavorful and paired better with the chicken than the peanut sauce did.
The grilled veggies included corn, bell pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms and were flavored nicely and cooked well.
The Asian slaw was a little lack-luster. I love a good vinegar slaw, but this one tasted mostly of strong ginger and not much else.

Coconut Curry Chicken, $11.50
Description: Fresh coconut curry sauce, tender fire grilled chicken, roasted corn relish, wheat berry rice, baby green.

Drew ordered this with grilled vegetables instead of the wheat berry rice.
This dish surprised us. I expected a bowl of coconut curry sauce with chicken in it. Instead, it was a very thick, slightly overcooked, chicken breast covered with a small amount of coconut curry.
While the sauce was delicious, the dry chicken needed much more of it.
The greens in the middle were lightly covered with a balsamic vinaigrette and were a nice, fresh touch.
The veggies, well, we already went over those in the previous dish.

OVERALL

This very casual restaurant has some impressive menu items and many that are diet-friendly. While I may consider getting the almond chicken again, I would skip the coconut curry dishes to try something different, perhaps a salad?
We were not overly impressed here, but we were not disappointed either. So…meh, it was fine.

Food Reviews: The Wild Cow- Vegan Food in East Nashville

Despite its name, The Wild Cow is an all vegan restaurant located in East Nashville. On the search for something healthy and delicious, I decided to give this place a shot. Here’s the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

 

     

The Wild Cow is located in a posh area of East Nashville, in a sleek new-ish building with other cafes and shops.

 

The inside immediately reminds you that this is a vegan place to eat. There’s always a hippie-type vibe in these places: casual, but clean, a wait staff with dreads, many flavors of tea to choose from, etc.
Furthermore, there were adorable pictures of cows, dogs, and other animals framed all over the walls.
Everyone that worked here was super friendly and helpful. We felt welcomed right away.

THE FOOD

Their entire menu can be found here: menu
Also, here are vegan baked goods located on the front bar. I abstained, but they looked delicious.
Finally, there’s a refrigerator by the bakery bar that has a few options of healthy sodas and juices. They also serve beer!

TACO SAMPLER PLATE, $12
Description: Comes with each of the signature tacos and one side. NO MODIFICATIONS ALLOWED.
Tacos:
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos: mashed sweet potatoes,
black beans, lime slaw, homemade jerk sauce and toasted
pumpkin seeds. (GF w/ corn tortillas)
Chipotle Seitan Tacos: spinach, carrots, tomatoes, vegan ranch
and BE Hive chipotle seitan.
Peanut Tempeh Tacos: sautéed kale, peanut sauce, avocado, carrot-                  daikon slaw, sesame seeds and peanut tempeh. (GF w/ corn
tortillas)

When a hear a taco cannot have modifications, that scares me. Because usually they have cheese. However, at a vegan place, there are no modifications needed for me! And they all came on corn tortillas, so they were gluten free as well, if anyone cares.
Anyway, we loved this plate! The chipotle seitan taco was the best. It had tons of great flavor with some heat from the chipotle, but then was cooled off with the veggies and vegan ranch. So good!
My second favorite was the sweet potato one. It was very sweet, with a little savory bite from the jerk sauce and pumpkin seeds to even it out. While the texture was a little one-toned, with mashed sweet potatoes being the main component, it was still delicious.
The peanut tempeh tacos were pretty much the Far East Bowl in a shell…you can read about that disappointment below.
Finally, the side of mixed seasonal veggies with aioli was delicious! The veggies were vast: mushrooms, carrots, onions, cabbage, bell peppers, and possible more that I missed were all charred perfectly while still having a good bite. They were smokey and delicious, though the aioli was pretty bland.

Far East Bowl, $10
Description: sautéed garlicky kale, grilled tofu, carrot- daikon slaw, peanut sauce, and sesame seeds served over organic brown rice.

First thing to note, I ordered this dish with no organic brown rice, but extra garlicky kale instead. This did not cost extra.
While I was very excited about this dish, overall, I was pretty disappointed. In one word, this dish was BLAND.
I love garlic and I couldn’t taste a lick of it in the “garlicky” kale.
The tofu was extremely under-seasoned, if seasoned at all?
The veggies were nice, though they could have been more crisp.
The peanut sauce was good, but the dish overall was watery, which made the sauce watery.
We added chili sauce for heat, which helped some, but didn’t save the dish. We didn’t even finish it. I would not get this again.

OVERALL

I would definitely come back to The Wild Cow. There are so many other things on their menu and bakery bar that I want to try. The people were so nice and helpful, and it wasn’t expensive, considering everything is vegan. We left stuffed, even after not finishing one of the dishes. And I would definitely get a couple of those tacos again!