Culinary Connoisseur: Good Earth Restaurant
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 21, 2007 9:08 p.m.
Good Earth Restaurant
1037 Broxton Ave.
$8-$14
3 Out Of 5 Paws
Talk about strength in numbers.
Good Earth Restaurant offers a nine-vegetable saute, 10-grain toast and 10-grain hotcakes in addition to 143 other menu items.
But 15 years ago, their extensive menu offerings could not combat the hip newcomers inundating Westwood.
Once a bastion of a bustling college social scene, Good Earth Restaurant re-debuted after a decade-and-a-half absence from Westwood Village. After remodeling the vacancy once housing the Madison Bar and Grill, the establishment seeks to recapture its glory days in its new location on Broxton Avenue.
The restaurant celebrated a quiet opening on Jan. 15, but has become busier as L.A. health nuts and veteran Earth-goers tap into their curiosity.
It’s not the ideal date spot ““ don’t anticipate an intimate dining experience ““ but its wide variety makes it worth at least one visit.
Most restaurants try to perfect simple and focused menus. Good Earth’s success, however, will depend on whether it can maintain high quality across its unfocused, complex menu.
On a broader scale, Good Earth features traditional deli-style entrees, including an array of soups, sandwiches and salads, as well as an all-day breakfast selection.
For those looking for an ethnic flare, this may be the first and only time you come across pad thai, chicken marsala and enchiladas on the same menu.
It’s not haute cuisine. The menu items are more hit than miss. They do whip up divine omelet dishes, though, and decent burgers.
However, it takes a bona fide health nut to appreciate some items on the menu, such as the bland 10-grain hotcakes and steamed vegetable platter.
The restaurant prides itself on serving food prepared “better for you,” and generally it does ““ though in some instances, “hearty serving” is a better phrase to describe dishes than “low calorie.”
The reasonably priced entrees will either leave you with a half-satisfied stomach or a heavy take-out box.
Nowhere else can you order a generous platter of juevos rancheros with a choice of grilled potatoes, azuki and pinto beans, or brown rice pilaf served with two pancakes at no additional charge.
But order the chicken taco salad and be prepared to leave hungry.
Good Earth’s attentive and sprightly servers compensate for their slower-than-average kitchen staff, which should become more efficient as the new restaurant eases into a routine.
The restaurant’s decor has less personality than the dining room of a three-star hotel. It involves little more than modest wrought-iron furnishings and mosaic-dotted walls, but the casual ambiance provides for a good brunch destination. Whether customers dine indoors or outside on the sidewalk patio, the restaurant provides for a cozy dining experience.
The verdict? It may never acquire the cool hangout status it once claimed, but this time, Good Earth will stick around.
A maverick among its chic, commercialized counterparts, this modest health haven may just be what Los Angeles needs.
E-mail Wong at [email protected].
