AUBERGINE & COMPANY

Where: Aubergine & Company, 1365 S State Street, Orem

Who Went: Chelsey, Owen, Kierea

Number of Visits: 2

What We Ordered: Falafel Pita, Dream Salad, Açaí Bowl

What It Cost: $23

What We Thought: 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS PLACE! There are so many times when I am just wayyyyy too lazy to want to cook dinner (especially in the hot, hot summer), but I don't want the typical heavy food at restaurants. This place FINALLY offers a generally healthy menu that isn't totally boring. And man, is it good! 

First up, the sandwiches. They start out with a homemade whole wheat pita, which is absolutely delicious, and then you can choose a main protein options (we've always chosen the falafel, but they have chicken and other meats as well) and whatever fillings you like to go inside! The setup is kind of Cafe Rio-style, where they make the sandwich right there in front of you in a tasty little assembly line, and you can specify how much you want of each add-in. They have a lot of Greek choices, such as hummus, baba ganoush, roasted eggplant, tabbouleh, marinated tomatoes, kalamata olives, etc. I love Greek food because so much of it is healthy and flavorful, and Aubergine & Company really makes the most of this! A perfectly filling, healthy, and über delicious meal.

I ordered the dream salad, and I have to admit...I haven't ordered anything else for myself here because I love this salad so much! It has spinach, romaine, chicken, green apples, red onion, parmesan, walnuts and a cilantro/jalapeño dressing. And yes, I probably could make it at home. But sometimes you just don't want to get out all of the ingredients, go through the effort of chopping everything up and washing all the dishes (yeah, I'm lazy I know). And I love how they chop the whole salad up right there for you, mixing in the dressing so it's all perfectly mixed (a pet peeve with salads at most restaurants) and incredibly fresh. At first I thought the cilantro/jalapeño dressing would be weird with the apples and everything, but it is SO GOOD. Honestly, their other salads look incredible as well, and if I could justify it financially, I would seriously eat here every day.

Finally, the açaí bowls. Basically, healthy ice cream-ish dessert in a bowl. With fresh fruit. And happiness. Açaí is kind of an acquired taste, but they keep it pretty mild in most of their bowls, so basically everyone with taste buds will seriously enjoy this. The base is like a thickened berry smoothie, and this one was topped with freshly sliced strawberries, banana, and almonds. They have topping and base choices, and they all sound seriously delicious. For those who have been to Hawaii, I have been told that they don't really taste as sweet as the ones on the island, but my sources also say they are very similar to ones you can get in Brazil. So there's that. Either way, they are dang good.

What You Should Do: Go Go GO GO GO. I can't recommend this place enough. Every time I walk away, I feel perfectly satisfied and just happy. This is happy food. Good food. Please, eat here!

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CAFE FRESH

Where: Cafe Fresh, 498 S State Street, Orem

Who Went: Chelsey & Owen

Number of Visits: 2

What We Ordered: Border Salad, Turkey Cranberry Sandwich (another time: Tomato Basil Soup)

What It Cost: $16.17

So, I've shopped at Good Earth Natural Foods a couple of times, because you know, there's always that one weird recipe that needs some obscure ingredient like xanthan gum or coconut flour, and they are the place to hit up for that. But I never really got interested in the little Cafe Fresh attached to the natural foods store until one BYU football game where I was FREEEEEZING and wanted something to warm me up, and hot chocolate just didn't sound right, and I bought a tomato basil soup from a little Cafe Fresh stand at the stadium. I don't know if they still do football games anymore, so I don't want to get your hopes up, but at that moment, that soup was EXACTLY what I needed and it tasted sooo good. After that, I naturally wanted to see if the rest of their menu was noteworthy. 

I ordered the Border Salad, which comes with all sorts of excitement like brown rice, black beans, roasted corn, jicama, sunflower seeds, and jack cheese. The salads all come with a side of a roll, but I asked if I could substitute it for fruit, which they did, but for an additional cost. The salad had a great mix of greens and it was enormous, and for some reason, they decided to serve it in those annoying slanted salad bowls that look really pretty, but are terrible for actually mixing the toppings and dressing in. Which would have been a problem except there was a more pressing issue in my way -- they had run out of forks! It was very odd. So we had to wait around for a while until they could find forks, which I thought was weird that it took so long, since they are basically located inside a grocery store which surely sells some sort of fork. The fruit was fine.

Owen got the turkey cranberry sandwich, which is served on German rye bread. And it was just the type of sandwich we both love -- the kind that you look forward to making after Thanksgiving with your extra turkey, and the bread was just the right amount of heartiness to support all of the sandwich's inner goodness. It came with salsa and chips on the side, which were tasty as well.

What You Should Do: I have to admit, I'm a little divided on this one. It's places like this that I wish I could give half stars, because I probably would give 2.5 stars. The service was not great (who runs out of forks, when half of your menu is salads and you aren't even very busy?), but the SOUP and Owen's sandwich were so good. My salad was also pretty good -- I thought the sunflower seeds were a little weird, but I'm a jicama-aholic (say that 10x fast), so I was mostly sold. I'm going to say I like it. It's not the best soup/sandwich/salad joint, but if you're already on your way buying chia seeds or Veganaise, then you won't be disappointed for a quick lunch.

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Pendulum Court

Where: Pendulum Court, Eyring Science Center, Brigham Young University

Who Went: Chelsey & Devynne

Number of Visits: 3

What We Ordered: Mediterranean Chicken Pasta, Beef Taco Salad, Tuxedo Cheesecake (we've also tried the Macadamia Chicken, Lasagna Soup, and a few other things)

What It Cost: $5.75 for one entrée, about $7/person


What We Thought:

Though it has crazy limited hours and you have to make a reservation before going, I think that the Pendulum Court may be my overall favorite place to eat on BYU campus. It's totally inconvenient, but if you can make it, you're in for a somewhat reasonably priced and usually healthy meal. The PenCourt is run by students who major in Nutrition and Food Science (or other related majors), so they try to focus on making the meals well-rounded and balanced. They include healthy things like whole grain pasta, lean meats, sides of fruits, and low-fat dairy products. And even though it's usually just students putting on the whole show, it is usually pretty well prepared and tastes fantastic.

When we visited the other day, Devynne got the Mediterranean Chicken Pasta. Pros: A rather large portion, good tasting cream sauce, and a nice touch of artichoke hearts. Cons: We could count the number of chicken pieces on one hand. And it's not because they were particularly large pieces either...Oh well. They are on a BYU budget, I get it. It was still pretty good overall, and very satisfying.

The beef taco salad is a choice that they offer everyday, and was a lot better this time than what I remembered. The beef is not ground (thankfully), but is shredded, marinated, and pretty juicy overall. They use plenty of crisp, fresh Romaine lettuce, and the cheese, though clearly pre-processed, actually had some flavor. I've had both dressings and enjoyed both options - the jalapeño ranch being my favorite choice.

And the cheesecake, wow. This was a good cheesecake. It has marvelous flavor, rich and luxurious texture, and just enough chocolate sauce to make it perfect. My only regret is that I had to wolf down this amazing treat in 2 minutes so that I could rush to class since they have such limited hours!

What You Should Do: Definitely go. Of all places on campus to have lunch, I like the food best here of all. They serve healthy, well-balanced options, and even though it's not super cheap, it's modestly priced compared to other on-campus locations. Just make sure to check their limited schedule of hours, and make a reservation!