Flower Child brings healthy food to Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade area. There's everything from salads to bowls, wraps and soups, and plenty of gluten free and vegan options.

Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade has been a food desert for the healthy eater. Yes, there are dozens of restaurants in the area, but it's a lot of mass produced, un-interesting food. I do love True Food Daily, but as big as that place is, there's always a wait. The folks there knew they had a big demand for people wanting healthier food, so they opened Flower Child just down the street.

Flower Child actually has several locations in Arizona, but their 2nd Street Santa Monica location is their first foray into CA. They also have plans to expand to Austin and Del Mar later this year. 

They capitalized on the Los Angeles sunshine with a large window that goes from the ground, straight up to the 2nd floor. Colorful murals bookend the walls, and add to the space's overall cheery vibe.

You order at a counter and your food is brought to you. The produce-heavy menu is largely organic and guided by the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen list so you can avoid eating any unnecessary pesticides. There's vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options, but you will also see meat from animals raised naturally, without additives.

Salads include all of the greens you can imagine, and have different things mixed in like grains, veggies, fruit, nuts and seasonal ingredients. The grains and greens gave me a good dose of kale, broccoli, snap peas, quinoa and a light, but zippy chia seed vinaigrette.

The Mediterranean Diet Salad is filled with organic greens, cucumber, tomato, peppadew, garbanzo, olive and an oregano vinaigrette. The portions are a modest, but nice size that doesn't tend to leave any food waste. 

Salads are priced at $9.25, but if you want to add protein like chicken, salmon, steak of tofu, prepare to pay an additional $4 - 7, which can make for a pretty pricey salad.

There's avocado toast with egg and black sesame and your choice of simple or avocado hummus.

You can play the mix and match game by combining 1 to 3 sides like roasted butternut squash, red chili glazed sweet potato, yuzu brussels sprouts, indian spiced cauliflower and sweet corn and quinoa.

There's also bowls with similar ingredients as the salads, sans raw greens. The forbidden rice is lightly spiced and loaded with snap peas, bok choy, broccoli, carrot, and toasted sesame.

Flower Child is a light and bright spot to spend an afternoon, eating healthy and delicious fare. You may pay a little extra for it, but it's well-sourced, quality ingredients.

Flower Child
1332 2nd St., Santa Monica
310.382.2901