For delicious, fresh, healthy comfort food, Santa Monica’s diminutive Chomp Eatery can’t be beat. Perfect for picnics and take out, the brick walled, bright cafe is fine for a casual dine-in, too. The flat-out delicious and good for you cold-pressed juices are one fine reason to make a stop, but there are veggie burgers, grass-fed burgers, wraps, breakfast burritos, salads, and crisp fries, too. Co-owner and chef Rolan Pongpuntara serves up a wide range of menu options, and each one of them is tasty and fresh.
Chomp’s made-to-order breakfast burrito is, according to Pongpuntara, the number one item served for brunch. We had it vegetarian style, fluffy scrambled eggs, crisp tater tots, American cheese, avocado, Chomp’s own zingy salsa, tomatoes, and red onions – a meal in a tortilla.
Waffle cut sweet potato fries, left, are a tasty addition.
A lighter option, the beet salad is a classy SoCal classic: arugula, soft goat cheese, golden and red beets, toasted pine nuts, mandarin oranges, and a light apple cider vinaigrette dressing.
Have to say that the juices – which come served in-house with ice filled mason jaws – will bring us back again and again. I’m a cold-pressed juice fanatic, and this topped just about every place in town. The Hawaiian Paradise, featuring orange, pineapple, straberry, green apple, and pear juice was simply phenomenal. And yes, the green juice, Balance, was a perfect iteration of green goodness.
Served cute on faux newsprint, the vegan Earth Burger was awesome. No plain veggie patty here: the burger comes dressed wtih grilled red onions, grilled bell pepper, grilled jalapeño, fresh arugula, tomatoes, pickles, fresh avocado, and a really, really good homemade basil aioli – all served on a brioche bun.
Pongpuntara says her background is in pharmaceuticals and natural remedies.”I wanted a palce where people from area businesses and homes could have a one stop shop for food. From a healthy salad to a breakfast burrito to juices, I wanted it all to be in one place. I brought in a friend who is a chef o perfect our menu. We’ve been open just over a year and a half, and we;re constantly tweaking the menu to give people exactly what they’re looking for.”
She makes over 33 different juices and constructs individualized juice cleanses, and also serves more than ten house-made fresh almond milk flavors. Flavors change seasonally. Don’t miss their smoothies, either, which run the gamut from the fairly traditional, like the agave, mango, and orange juice Mango Dream, to the far less so – the Paleo Cacao Avocado is grand, crafted with almond milk, banana, avocado, organic almond butter, organic raw cacao and raw honey.
Now go chomp down!
- Genie Davis; All Photos: Jack Burke