croquettes filled with bulgur and ground meat—at DishDash
in Sunnyvale, for example. The SAJJ Mediterranean chain has
several South Bay locations and is a good place for grain bowls
and other healthy creations. In fact, the restaurants recently
began offering freekeh as a grain option, suggesting it be paired
with yummy accompaniments like chicken shawarma, cucumber
tomato salad and tzatziki, that wondrous Greek yogurt
sauce featuring dill and garlic.
“ANCIENT
GRAINS
HAVE BEEN
GETTING SO
MUCH BUZZ
THAT MAMMOTH
MAINSTREAM
FOOD PRODUCERS
ARE HOPPING
ON THE
BANDWAGON.”
Warm weather means salads, with whole grains amping them
up satisfyingly. The Lemonade chain makes a mean kale and farro
salad as well as zesty options like a red quinoa and Fuji apple
concoction. The local Veggie Grill locations deliver some alluring
grain bowls as well as an aptly named Quinoa Power Salad
composed of veggies, beans, nuts, fruit, hemp seeds and avocado
along with the healthy grain. New to the South Bay are locations
of the True Food Kitchen chain that not only offer delicious grain
bowls paired with appealing toppings but have even developed an
enjoyable quinoa burger that’s more flavorful than the cow kind.
South Bay restaurateur, author, spokesperson, consultant
and longtime healthy food proponent Jesse Cool has been
cooking with whole grains for decades. And she’s happy that
“the delicious qualities of whole grains” have lately been attracting
more chefs to this promising, healthy ingredient category.
“I love bulgur, wheat berries and whole oats” in particular, she
says, noting that “a small amount of whole grains offers such
good energy and nutrition.”
At the apex of coolness in the grains category are “ancient
grains,” which, unlike modern varieties that have been mutated
and crossbred, are largely unchanged from their ancestors.
These include varieties of wheat—spelt, kamut, freekeh, bulgar,
farro, einkorn and emmer—along with millet, barley, teff, oats
and sorghum. On this list are “grains” that are technically seeds
like quinoa, buckwheat and chia.
August/September 2019 77
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