Spring is here—and with it comes Sweetgreen's spring specials menu. For those who don't know, Sweetgreen is a fast-casual salad chain that highlights seasonal and regional ingredients and menus. Sweetgreen combines fresh, healthy foods with a contemporary and bright design sensibility. This winning combination makes for a restaurant that's great to hang out at with friends or grab a to-go bowl when you are in a rush.
Its seasonal specials are on rotation, which keeps the options diverse. Its spring menu offers three bowls with radically different flavor profiles that happen to fit perfectly within three of the most popular diets—omnivore, vegetarian, and vegan.
For the Omnivore: Rustic Tomato Harvest Bowl
The Rustic Tomato Harvest Bowl is easily the heartiest of the bowls. It starts with a base of the sturdy and vitamin-rich green, kale. With blackened chicken thighs, local goat cheese, and raw walnut, it offers a generous serving of protein. Roasted tomatoes add sweetness, while basil, spring onions, and balsamic vinaigrette make the flavors pop. This salad is filling and delicious. The flavor combinations are classic pairings that promise to please most palettes, however, the next two dishes offer more unusual flavor profiles.
For the Vegetarian: Spring Burrata + Green Goddess
The Spring Burrata + Green Goddess salad is the most refreshing of the three and perfectly suits the season. The base greens consist of a mix of arugula and chopped romaine. Asparagus, snap peas, cucumbers, and shredded cabbage add crisp texture to the salad and za'atar breadcrumbs give it some extra crunch. The squeeze of lemon and the green goddess ranch are ultra-fresh, but what makes this salad unique is the burrata. Burrata is an Italian cheese made of mozzarella and cream. It has an outer shell of firm mozzarella cheese and the filling is soft and creamy.
I shared this salad with a friend, and I found the burrata so delicious that I couldn't help but steal bites of it throughout my meal.
For the Vegan: Superfood Bowl
This bowl is colorful and spicy. It starts with organic spinach and shredded cabbage. The orange of the shredded carrots and sweet potatoes juxtaposes perfectly against the purple cabbage. Raw asparagus gives this bowl a fresh crunch. The beet hummus is a bright fuchsia pop that is as delicious as it is beautiful. Black lentils bring the protein and toasted buckwheat adds texture as well as a warm, nutty flavor. What ties this salad together is the lemon ginger turmeric vinaigrette. It has a zesty kick that makes each of the vegetables shine and harmonizes the bowl.
Each of these bowls scored big points with me, as I have come to expect from Sweetgreen. They were all incredibly tasty and I do not think I could choose a single favorite. I think this shows that Sweetgreen has put a lot of thought into the spring menu—three radically different flavor profiles that suit different moods, diets, and nutritional needs. No matter what your dietary preference is, you absolutely cannot go wrong eating at Sweetgreens at springtime.
#SpoonTip: Order your salad with bread at no extra charge. You can top the bread with salad, make a sandwich, or sop up the extra dressing.