At The Vine Mediterranean Café and Market on South Grand Boulevard, where falafel, baklava and tabouli are the main draws, it’s nice to find little treasures like fresh-pressed juices on the back page of the menu. And with the resurgence of the juicing craze, these cheap drinks are a tasty little treat.
The Vine offers orange, apple, mango, grape or carrot as single options ($2.49), all squeezed fresh while you wait. But it’s the smoothies – one in particular – that are the real deal here. The carrot smoothie is made from carrot juice pressed from huge juicing carrots, banana, honey and ice. It sounds like it could be packed with protein powders and other potions, but here it’s served simply using the purest of ingredients.
Milk or yogurt that usually make a smoothie a heartier snack is absent here in favor of a more refined beverage that’s more natural and less dense than what you’d find at a coffee shop or smoothie joint. Due to the absence of any dairy, the earthy carrot flavor really pops, its slight bitterness balanced by the sweetness from the banana and honey. Its consistency is a little pulpy from the ground carrot and a bit watery from the melting ice, but the pureness of the whole beta-carotene package is satisfying and entirely healthful. One size fits all for $2.99 a pop.
This article appears in Nov 1-30, 2010.