Eating Healthy at Greenspot Salad
Plus: Upcoming District 7 Townhall Meeting; Linda Vista History; Kearny High Basketball Update; and Linda Vista on Broadway!
After a weekend of seemingly non-stop wild card football games (including a horrible loss for my beloved Steelers), it occurred to me that there was not a lot of healthy eating going on in the Rodriguez household. Chips, including nachos, Cheetos, corn chips of varying colors, dips of all sorts, leftover Christmas cookies, tamales soda, beer – you get the picture. Obviously missing from this picture, anything resembling a fruit, vegetable, or salad. As the person responsible for putting the food on the table, I knew I had to do something drastic, but what? Turns out I found a fresh, healthy option.
The Get 1 free coupon magazine had just come in the mail, and I was looking through it to see if there were any new places the LV Update could write about, when there I saw it. A full page spread of nothing but healthy looking food citing custom salads, bowls, wraps and flatbreads. It was called Greenspot Salad Company. We had never tried this establishment. It is located in Mission Valley near Rubio’s on Camino DeLaReina, and the best part, there was a 25% off coupon. It almost sounded too good to be true. I could kill two birds with one stone – get an article and get some healthy food into our bodies.
I checked out their website and took a look at the menu. They have salads such as Superfood, Seasonal Spicy Antipasto, Cobb, Caesar, Greek, Farmhouse and Custom build your own.
They have flatbreads including Florentine, margherita, western BBQ and supreme.
The menu also included bowls such as Ichiban Steak, Rainbow tofu, Harvest and Zaatar chicken, Baja Steak and custom bowls, and much more. The pictures on line were very vibrant and the food almost jumped off the page. It looked that fresh.
Since it is only few minutes from our home and we wanted to see the items in person, we drove down to Mission Valley Center East where Greenspot sits next to Rubio’s. The staff all were wearing masks and gloves. The food was laid out beautifully and I knew that I could get what we needed to get off the junk food merry go round we had been on. You can see from the pictures how lovely everything looks.
Steve ordered the Superfood Salad. which included avocado, kale, quinoa, spinach, sweet potato, broccoli with olive oil and lemon juice, I opted for the flatbread Florentine with spinach, mushrooms and cheese (I know, somewhat like pizza but way more healthy.)
They also had a very nice selection of wraps, both vegetarian and meat based, and several sides. According to the website everything is hormone and antibiotic free and contains mostly local natural food. I did not see a fryer at the establishment.
Although you can eat outside, we ordered ours to take home. They also deliver. Prices are very reasonable.
Steve’s salad was not only beautiful, but delicious. You can have your choice of dressings but he went with the lemon olive oil. My flatbread was very good and such a big serving that it served as Steve’s dinner as well as my lunch.
CJ, the manager, told us they have been in that location for 2 years. The staff was very friendly and helpful and did not rush the patrons as they tried to make their selections from the large array of food.
I know we will go back and not only after football binge eating. Everything is fresh and looks very healthy, and who couldn’t do with more delicious salads in their lives?
They also have drinks including soda, smart water, and kombucha.
The Greenspot Salad Company
2075 Camino De La Reina, suite b
San Diego, California 92108
619-230-5946
Newsbrief
City Council District 7 Townhall Meeting
District 7 Councilmember Raul Campillo will host a virtual Townhall meeting on January 27 at 5:00 pm for Linda Vista and Mission Valley residents. Here is your chance to voice your local concerns to the Councilmember. We hope to see lots of LV Update readers at this virtual gathering!
You can register in advance to attend the meeting by clicking on the site below:
https://sandiego.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJIsc-ysrT0qGo9q7RQrLNlL_5P72Lt1q5c
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Linda Vista History Follow-up
A couple of LV Update readers recently submitted information to us about interesting Linda Vista historical-related items.
First, one of our readers let us know about an old Linda Vista map her family found. The reader wrote to us, “A few years ago a neighbor moved away and left some items at the curb for garbage pickup. We salvaged this old map of Linda Vista. There is a note on the lower right “Redrawn Feb. 4 1946”. Some of the street names are different than today, but it’s an interesting piece of history that now hangs in my laundry room.” The map is posted below.
Needless to say, it’s fascinating to look at this map and notice the many changes that have occurred since 1946. The first thing I did was to look for the location of my own residence, in a townhouse development first built in the late 1970’s. In its place I found a reservoir, a structure of which there is no longer any evidence.
One other LV Update reader—Carrie Beinert—prompted by last week’s post on a dearth of Linda Vista recent historical information (past 27 years) included in the community’s Wikipedia entry, let us know about a couple historically-related items that might be of interest to local history buffs. First, she informed us that the Linda Vista Library possesses a Historical Linda Vista Walking Tour Map, prepared for the community’s 75th anniversary celebration held a few years ago.
As shown in the above photo, the map features eleven historical locations, with brief summaries regarding their historical significance. You might want to check it out to familiarize yourself with local sites that are regularly taken for granted.
Carrie also let us know there is a special collection of Linda Vista historical information located behind the counter. I had a good time perusing through the section. One item I found rather interesting was a University of San Diego student’s masters thesis written on the history of Linda Vista from the years 1940 to 1954. In the thesis I found out that during World War II, rent for a one-bedroom house in the newly constructed Linda Vista federal housing area was a mere $27.50, for a two-bedroom house $30.00, and $32.50 for a three-bedroom house. What a deal!!! However, the thesis also mentioned that of the first 205 families that moved into this housing, 60% had incomes of less than $1,500 a year.
I strongly recommend stopping by the library to review the contents of this collection.
As the result of studying this information, I’m now twice as motivated to think about how Linda Vista’s more recent history can be effectively updated on Wikipedia.
Kearny Boys Basketball Continues Winning Ways
The Kearny High Boys Basketball team gained another league win Tuesday night with a 61-54 victory over Crawford High. The Komets now have an overall record of 10-4, and a Central League record of 3-1.
In this game against Crawford, the Komets got off to a slow offensive start, while still leading at the end of the first quarter with a score of 11-7. They were later able to pick up the scoring pace and take a decisive half-time lead of 36-22.
The leading scorers for the Komets included Ubay Hussein with 22 points, Devon Dennis with 14 points, and Isaiah Sutton with 11 points.
Kearny High’s next game will be held tonight at Valley Center (Escondido) at 7:00 pm, followed by a Saturday night game at Escondido Charter. The next home league game will be Friday January 28 (7:30 pm) against Clairemont High.
Commentary
Linda Vista Hit the Broadway Stage in 2019, and No One Told Me!
Imagine a TV show, Broadway play, or full-length movie set right here in Linda Vista. Do you think Linda Vista has whatever it takes to serve as the backdrop for an exciting Netflix drama or witty NBC comedy? It seems like most shows/movies/plays take place in either New York City, Chicago, or Los Angeles, but I’ve long thought that if The Office can take place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and if The Simpsons can take place in the obscure town of Springfield, then our community of Linda Vista could also serve as an effective setting. I always pictured our location as potentially evoking the right mood or atmosphere to satisfy Hollywood.
But it turns out I don’t have to wonder any longer. Much to my big surprise, I just recently found out while searching the internet that our community of Linda Vista recently served as a backdrop for a Broadway play. No, I’m not kidding! It actually happened!!!
The play, appropriately titled Linda Vista, written by famous playwright Tracy Letts, actually spent a few weeks on Broadway (at the Helen Hayes Theatre) during 2019. It was performed earlier that year in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum. I can’t recall what I was doing in 2019, but it’s hard to believe I was so busy that I totally missed hearing about this play. In fact, I never heard anyone in Linda Vista brag about our community’s newfound fame…no one saying, “We hit the big time!” And no gawking tourist ever stopped me on the sidewalk and asked “Hey, can you show me where the play Linda Vista takes place?”
Reviews describe the three-hour play’s premise as follows…”Fifty-year-old Wheeler is moving into his own apartment after a nasty divorce. With a blend of humor and humanity, Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Tracy Letts demonstrates the ultimate midlife crisis: the bewildering search for self-discovery once you’ve already grown up.” Of course, the main character’s apartment happens to be located in “the San Diego community of Linda Vista.” Other reviews describe the play as one of “middle life desperation,” centered on a guy “falling off the high cliffs of purposeless masculinity, possessed by an unsuccessful stoicism that’s rotted into bitter, frustrated and desperate hopelessness for the second half of his life.” Another describes Wheeler as “a divorcee, an absent father, and a haphazard womanizer bent on mining his own self-worth from shallow intimacy.”
The play describes the main character’s Linda Vista apartment as rather sterile—nothing in particular evoking a sense of our community—but the script does give him a young female Vietnamese immigrant as one of his romantic attachments, so you might say there is indeed a degree of Linda Vista “feel” to it.
Overall, the play sounds like very deep, serious stuff. When I read parts of the script I noticed lots of anger, bitterness and cussing in the play. Not exactly what I envisioned for a play taking place in Linda Vista.
In retrospect, though I’m shocked that I missed seeing Linda Vista back in 2019, I don’t think I missed too much.
I’ll keep hoping Hollywood or Broadway finds another production to take place in Linda Vista. Here are a few ideas that might work:
(1) A movie titled 1942: a murder mystery starring Denzel Washington as a hard-boiled private eye assigned to investigate a World War II-era murder taking place in the new Federal housing community of Linda Vista. Washington’s character must carry out his task in the face of crooked politicians, corrupt construction bosses, and undercover Nazi agents attempting to sabotage the wartime efforts of local defense plant workers.
(2) A Hallmark Network romance movie titled Love Loaned and Lost at the Linda Vista Library. Not only would this be the most alliterative title featured on Hallmark, but by being set in Linda Vista, it would be guaranteed to be the most ethnically/racially diverse movie ever featured on this diversity-challenged network.
(3) It’s Never Sunny in Mission Valley: A play about a Mission Valley office full of 20-something hipsters who work for a tyrannical boss during the day, but who spend their off-work hours sharing a quirky Linda Vista apartment. They make comical and oftentimes astute observations about life, while trying to find romance, new jobs, and the ultimate Ramen eating establishment.
(4) The Taco Food Truck Wars: Each week in this reality TV show, controversial chef Gordon Ramsey pays a visit to a different Linda Vista food truck to do a make-over of the food truck’s operation. In each episode, we laugh and cringe as Ramsey yells and cusses at the hesitant food truck operators.
If readers have any other ideas for movies, plays or TV concepts pertaining to Linda Vista, please forward them to this newsletter. We will keep them on file, because you never know when Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg will be in the area.
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