CAVA: Another Healthy Eating Option
Plus: Upcoming Community Events, Kearny and Montgomery Middle Social Innovators, and Linda Vista "Village" Proposal
Last week we wrote about a restaurant that took corn dogs to a whole new level. That story generated the most feedback (mostly positive) since our article on Sushi Yorimichi, that great place on Ulric Street. Apparently, our readers like to eat and are willing to try things that are new to them. We try to find places that are in or close to Linda Vista, have good food, and sometimes we even feature food that may be healthy for you. Today’s restaurant meets all of those criteria. This restaurant is called CAVA and it is located in the Mission Valley Mall close to Nordstrom’s Rack. There are about 80 CAVA restaurants across the country, according to their website.
CAVA is a Mediterranean concept-type restaurant originally established in Maryland by three good friends who all grew up in Greek families and spent time gathering around food. The fun part of this restaurant is that you can customize your meal to fit your taste. You are given a wide choice of healthy greens, grains, proteins, dips, toppings and pita bread and you can build your own salad, bowl, pita sandwich, or you can choose from one of the chef-curated meals. These meals are created by chefs using ingredients they believe go together, thus taking away any fear you might have about picking the wrong protein with the wrong topping (I prefer to do my own picking and choosing, which adds to the fun and mystery).
Here is how you assemble your meal. As you go through the line you first ask for a base, which can be greens, grains, grains & greens, or Pita. If it is greens, it can be spinach, romaine, arugula, or other greens. The grains can be lentils, saffron basmati rice, brown rice or more. You can then choose up to three dips and spreads, to include roasted eggplant, tzatziki, hummus and many others. Next, a protein such as falafel, lamb meatballs grilled harissa chicken, braised lamb, chicken, vegetables and others. Then, toppings such as Persian cucumbers, avocado, olives, lentil tabbouleh, tomatoes and more. Lastly are dressings such as tahini Caesar, yogurt and greek vinaigrette, to name a few. The prices for the bowls, salads, and pita are about the same…$11.07. The chef curated meals are a little more. See entire menu here.
Our carnivore sidekick, who is very familiar with this restaurant, told me to be adventurous and get the falafel as my protein, which I did. That was the first time I have ever tried falafel and I liked it. I got the greens with eggplant, tzatziki, and hummus with toppings of Persian cucumber, feta, and olives, and tahini Caesar dressing. Even though I didn’t much know what I was doing, it came out pretty good and tasted very healthy. Steve avoided making all those decisions, selecting a chef curated Avocado and Lentil Bowl. It had lots of veggies and grains and lentils, so he was happy to have it selected for him, and he loves avocado. You also get a small piece of pita.
The carnivore has eaten at CAVA many times and his favorite is the harissa chicken with rice, spinach, harissa sauce, tzatziki, corn, lentils and tahini Caesar dressing. As you can see he likes things on the spicy side. He is not a fan of lamb, but also likes falafel. You can’t go wrong with all the toppings and dressings to add to your veggies, grain, and protein.
There is plenty of outdoor seating so you eat leisurely and people watch, eat indoors or order ahead and takeaway.
So, if you’ve had your fill of Korean corn dogs and need something very healthy to nourish your body and soul, try CAVA. Then tomorrow you can go for Sushi.
1652 Camino Del Rio N
San Diego, CA 92108
619-320-6320
Hours: Daily, 10:45am - 10pm
Upcoming Community Events
—Fish Fry: The Knights of Columbus will be sponsoring a Fish Fry this Friday April 8 at Holy Family Catholic Church from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.
—SD Loyal SC: The SD Loyal Soccer Team plays a home game (at USD’s Torero Stadium) against the Charleston Battery this Saturday April 9 at 7:00. You can get ticket information here.
—Memorial Event: The Linda Vista English Congregation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses will be conducting a memorial of Jesus’s death on Friday, April 15 at 7:00 pm. The event will be held at MARK TWAIN High School Auditorium, 6402 Linda Vista Road San Diego CA 92111. Those who prefer to attend virtually can call 858-560-9464. You can review details regarding this event, as well as an April 10 Special Bible Talk, here.
—Linda Vista Town Council General Meeting: The Linda Vista Town Council (LVTC) will conduct its monthly general meeting on Wednesday, April 20, at 6:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the Linda Vista Presbyterian Church (2130 Ulric Street). The general public is invited to attend. Attending the meeting is a great way to connect with other civic minded Linda Vista residents. Check out the below poster for more details.
—Family STEAM Night: On April 20, Carson Elementary STEAM Magnet School will celebrate its 80th Birthday with a Family STEAM Night. STEAM means Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. The event is open to the public. Here is the chance for Linda Vista residents to learn about all the great things occurring in one of our neighborhood schools. Check out the below poster for more details. You can go to https://bit.ly/STEAMNight2022 to register for attendance.
—Linda Vista Multi-Cultural Fair and Parade: Linda Vista’s favorite annual event will be held Saturday, April 23. The Fair begins at 10:00 am. The Parade begins at 11:00 am. Fair/Parade officials are still looking for residents with convertibles to drive local dignitaries down the parade route. If you would like to volunteer for this duty, please contact Fair coordinator Lauren Garces at LindaVistaFair@gmail.com.
—San Diego Wave FC: The SD Wave, San Diego’s new entry in the National Women’s Soccer Team, plays its next home game (at USD’s Torero Stadium) on April 23 at 7:00 pm. Check out ticket information here.
Kearny High and Montgomery Middle Students Train to Become Social Innovators
Kearny High and Montgomery Middle School students recently completed a week-long camp that involved engaging in social good innovation. The Impactful Teen Innovation Sandbox, a camp experience hosted by the University of San Diego’s Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education, was conducted over spring break from March 28 to April 1. As explained on USD’s web site, the camp involved “design thinking, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and podcasting to promote civic engagement and create local impact.
According to Dr. Shannon Garcia, principal of Kearny’s School of Biomedical Science and Technology, “students collaborated with their small groups to design a social project and produce a podcast by interviewing a local leader.” The idea was to develop an innovator’s mind along with the necessary skills to create solutions for local and global problems.
You can watch their recorded pitch videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0a098F8WTnJnUvqTtukqb2PLeZb4_B8g
As pointed out in the USD website, Dr Lisa Dawley, Executive Director of the Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education said the program’s goals were “for every student is to leave the camp identifying as a social innovator who can make positive change in the world, and give them the skills, tools and connections to make that happen.”
You can read a KPBS article that details what the students did during the week. Just click here: https://www.kpbs.org/news/education/2022/04/01/teens-use-podcasts-to-innovate-solutions-during-spring-break
This program was coordinated by The Jacobs Institute for Innovation in Education, Cloudcast Media, and the San Diego County Office of Education.
Commentary
Hanging Out in the Village, or the Town Center?
I spent the past weekend milling around the Linda Vista Village—shopping, people watching, and eating at a restaurant!
“Wait a minute,” you might be asking…“Where in the heck is Linda Vista’s Village area?” Before I answer that question, you’ll have to admit that just saying the words “the Linda Vista Village” makes any shopping or eating experience sound posh and trendy, bringing to mind an elegant but cool business district like the one in La Jolla, or a slightly more bohemian one like New York’s famous Greenwich Village. Readers, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that assigning the use of the term “Village” to any type of business district has the immediate effect of adding an aura of hipness and class to an otherwise ordinary collection of storefronts. That is why I am recommending we turn our focus to the area of Linda Vista located between Ulric Street, Comstock Street and Linda Vista Road— the business area that houses all the shops and venues in the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center, as well as the shops sitting in adjoining street corners — and study how assigning the area a new name could in all likelihood elevate its reputation and attract many more businesses. This area of Linda Vista, which is lacking an official name, is in need of a remake involving a new appearance, new businesses, and new customers, and the way to start with such a remake is to come up with a new flashy name. To paraphrase the movie Field of Dreams…”rename it and they will come.”
In actuality, I didn’t spend the weekend in Linda Vista’s non-existent Village, but I did pay a visit to downtown Chula Vista’s burgeoning “3rd Avenue Village” business district. Chula Vista’s Village is a serious attempt to create a hip, popular, and pedestrian friendly shopping and eating district. In addition to the restaurants, I was impressed by the numerous craft beer pubs that lined the streets (craft beer pubs being one of the ultimate symbols of hipness in today’s society). I was amazed at how merely renaming the area “the Village” seemed to work hand in hand with attracting all kinds of new businesses.
Now, in addition to branding the area with a new name, Chula Vista also went so far as to install an iconic “street sign, like the ones seen at other hip areas in San Diego county. In fact, in a recent article, we proposed the possibility of such a sign for Linda Vista Road and many of our readers agreed, believing such a sign is required to make Linda Vista a popular destination. But I think re-naming the area will also help immensely with upping the reputation of this crucial area of Linda Vista. And fortunately, we don’t need to be limited to the label of “Village.“ There are numerous re-branding options at our disposal.
How about Linda Vista Town Center? People might begin mentioning us in the same breath as the high class University Town Center. If we spell Town with an “e” at the end, as in Towne Center, or switch the “e” in Center to Centre, this will also go far in adding more classiness. Don’t ask me to explain why, that’s just the way the English language works.
We could also go with a name that has a European flair like Linda Vista Centrum. Every big European city has a downtown area known as the Centrum.
On the other hand, if you don’t like Europeans, we could look once more to Manhattan as a role model, and go with the name Linda Vista Mid-Town. “I’m doing lunch in Linda Vista Mid-Town this afternoon,” has a certain elitist ring to it that most Linda Vistans would definitely enjoy flaunting to friends in Bay Park and Clairemont.
The use of initials sometimes works at emitting a special aura, so how about referring to this area as the LVCBD…meaning the Linda Vista Central Business District? Unfortunately, one drawback to this name is the fact that CBD also stands for “cannabidiol” which is a central ingredient of marijuana. I think Linda Vista visitors might draw the wrong conclusion if we chose this option.
Finally, there is also the Linda Vista Quarter” as a possible name. We have the French Quarter in New Orleans, and the Latin Quarter in Paris. In this sense, we are just one name away from being like New Orleans or Paris.
So, readers, let’s give some serious thought to this proposition. I believe Shakespeare had it wrong… a part of town by any other name, doesn’t necessarily smell as sweet. Some rebranding is necessary. If you have a suggestion or two regarding a new name, let us know. We’ll see what the rest of our readers think.
In the meantime, I hope to see you sometime in the LV Village.
Subscribe to the Linda Vista Update
If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to the Linda Vista Update. It’s free. Just click on the “Subscribe now” button located below. Once you do so, you will be on automatic distribution for all future posts. Stay informed. Join our growing readership.
The Linda Vista Update is a weekly digital newsletter that publishes informative, interesting and fun news about Linda Vista and its neighboring communities.
The Linda Vista Update just gets better and better. It’s informative, clever, humorous and well-written. We are very fortunate to have these great authors of the written word