There’s a new lunch spot in downtown Orlando called Greentbeat, and with a location just across the street from the Orange County Courthouse, it’s a good option for people serving on jury duty. Though deciding the fate of the people on trial might be easier than choosing their lunch items.
Yep, we have another assemblage restaurant, this time with salads. Here, you have to pick two “bases,” meaning the type of lettuce or even nonlettuce, given that quinoa and rice are also options.
Then you get to add four toppings, and just to make it interesting, the menu board behind the counter shows only small photo icons of the available ingredients. So I guess you’re supposed to say, “I want some of the cheese from the wedgy looking one but not from the one the looks like a cylinder.”
Actually, that process might be easier than choosing the dressing in the next step. I mean, what is “Summer Lemon & Dill” and how does it compare to Spring Lemon & Dill? And I can’t even imagine what Pomegranate Molasses tastes like (even if pomegranate had been spelled correctly). The only other choice is if you want to add a premium, like portobello mushrooms or chicken, which for some reason costs a buck less than hummus, $2 compared to $3.
I avoided the whole dilemma by choosing one of the preordained salads, the Orlando Cobb. It came with romaine lettuce and purple cabbage, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, red onions, sweet corn, black beans and roasted chicken with ranch and basil lime dressings. There wasn’t a thing I had to add or decide. I love it.
Liked the salad a lot, too. It was all fresh tasting, the lettuce and leaves crisp and with just the right amount of dressing. It needed a bit of basic salt and pepper, and there were none on the tables. But the woman at the cash register cheerily fetched some when I asked.
Actually, everybody working there was cheery, more so than you would expect people to be who keep tossing greens and ingredients into big metal bowls, one right after the other.
And I’m only teasing — just a little — about the process. Salads are one of the few items where assemblage makes sense. It’s sort of like being at a salad bar but with a much bigger sneeze plate between the customer and the food, and some behind the counter as human salad tongs.
The cost for the basic assembly is $7, quite reasonable. My cobb was $10.50.
The small space is bright and as cheery as the staff. If you choose to dine in, I recommend one of the separate chairs rather than the “designed to keep you from lingering” hardwood bench banquette.
Greenbeat is a local business with one other location at the Premium Outlets on Vineland. It’s a smooth operation and worthy of your patronage. At least that’s my verdict.
Greenbeat is in the Crescent Central Station, 486 N. Orange Ave., Orlando. It is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. The phone number is 407-730-6416.
