Daniel L.
Yelp
When I worked downtown before the pandemic came, the Leaf & Grain's original location in the Park Shops was the gentlesir's favourite lunch destination on the one day every few weeks I could burn billable time to get out of the office for a tasty treat. At the Park Shops location the service was always friendly and the food was always delightful. The only complaint I had in pre-covid days was that the line spilled out of the front door onto the fourth floor concourse, because everyone else knew that was the place to go for friendly service and great food for lunch. Before they opened there was always a good line at Salata. After they opened, everyone went up to the fourth floor for the tasty treats.
I was down the street the other day on a fool's errand and had a happy coincidence since I do not spend a lot of time in this area. I was rolling by on Wesleyan heading into Bellaire and saw the fabled sign saying that my old lunch joint had a new location in this part of town. I resolved to come in and give them the bidness.
The first thing I noticed is that the menu was a lot different from the downtown location. There was no Cobb salad option. That's fine, they have other options. Everything has that essential glamour of being locally owned, scratch made, fresh ingredients, and all the other good things that makes you love the brand they put out there, in contrast to Salata and the other mid brands that do the least for your rabbit food.
They have expanded the menu so much from the downtown location with the additional floor space and larger kitchen. They now do soups, build your own bowls, smoothies, and more. That largely mirrors the growth and success of the brand from starting in 2016 to winning best healthy restaurant in the Houston Chron in both 2021 and 2022.
Without the Cobb on deck (a good salad, also one of the lesser characters of Inception the film) I opted for the Caesar salad (pretty good dictator once he crossed the Rubicon all things considered, also a pretty terrible faction leader in Fallout: New Vegas).
The Caesar, a gastronomic investigation in seven parts today. If you play Fallout: New Vegas only you and I know whether I am pronouncing Caesar the correct way, or the incorrect way. Slide into my DMs if you want to share your thoughts on the NCR of course.
Kale: this is how you do kale, a spice of life, rather than the main character.
Romaine: she sure is romaine.
Chicken: juicy, tender, this broke my vegan/veg preference for good cause.
Shaved Parmesan: yes!
Croutons: there were a lot. They were great, but there were a lot up in the mix.
Parmesan crisps: absolutely delightful.
Dressing: perfect, although I had to order the heavy saucing to make it appropriately dressed.
Food was amazing. Service at the assembly line was mostly pleasant, it was just not Elisa making the salad with love as happened at the downtown location. But then at the cashier zone the service deteriorated when I asked for a lid for my salad I got a very strange question asking me why. I love absurdist situations so I was running through all of the calculations in my mind of why I was getting asked that and how much of my life story she wanted to know. I planned to eat some and take the rest to go since I eat like a delicate birb so I can fully propound on birb law at the same time, but I'm cheap and don't like being wasteful, so I will finish the second half of this yuge salad later?
My only other complaint with this location is that one of the male workers was "cleaning up" the dining room area by basically slamming chairs, grating metal feet of the tables, and sliding heavy chairs/tables across the floor, thereby making a whole lot of discordant noise which did not seem necessary to make that much disquieting noise during bidness hours and which really ruined the atmosphere enough I made quicker use of the lid on my salad and took the rest to go. So if I had given my full life story to the young lady at the register I would have needed to go back up to the register and supplement my earlier answer on why I needed a lid, if I could have shouted loud enough over all the screeching, jarring noise to fully amend my earlier answer on why I was now making use of this lid much earlier than anticipated. Up until then the dining room had been a calming space to relax and eat some fashionable sàlad in peace.
Every joint is free to have a bit of an off day as long as the food is great, the ingredients are fresh, everything is scratch made, and the brand is one you love supporting. I will definitely be back next time I now plan my fool's errand nearby during lunching hours on purpose so I can deploy my fork & knife (the early-aughts band Brand New's best track) upon these leafs, and occasionally, grains.