When you’re dining out, you have a choice, and sometimes the choice is as clear as this: Do I go to the burger joint on the left or to the healthy café on the right?
When it’s still early(ish) in the new year—and your resolution to eat healthier is still twinging at your conscience—it doesn’t hurt to sometimes go to the right.
I’d never heard of Clean Eatz Café, a franchise located in the Sprouts shopping center off Crane Creek Drive. Not only does it serve up a full menu of flatbreads, burgers, wraps, bowls, protein smoothies and protein coffees, but it’s also a meal delivery service and offers a huge assortment of grab-and-go meals when you want to just grab a quick lunch or dinner.
My friend Amanda got there a few minutes ahead of me and had already decided to create a custom bowl. I needed a little more time, not only to decide what I wanted to try from the huge menu but also to soak it all in. The café is bright and open, spotlessly clean, with bursts of orange and red and green and slogans like “It’s a Lifestyle!” in huge letters to cheer you on your healthy eating journey.
Juices, fruit-flavored water and bottled drinks lined a couple walls, along with a tall shelf—a mini market—with protein coffees, seasonings and more. The seasonings were also available near the drinks so you could add any of your choice to your meal, plus each table had a bottle of sriracha.
You might expect just salads at a healthy food café. This one has them—but in the form of flatbreads, wraps, bowls and burgers, with plenty of protein to go with them. As I said, Amanda had already decided to build her own bowl with her choice of base, protein, veggies and sauce.
I was torn: Should it be a Clean Eatz burger on a potato bun with my choice of protein (turkey or bison for example)? How about a whole wheat wrap stuffed with blackened salmon and tzatziki sauce and greens, or the Southwest bison wrap with chipotle ranch sauce, queso, corn and black beans and tomato and lettuce? The turkey burnt end Cuban flatbread with Clean Eatz’s Epic sauce (its version of spicy mayo) was tempting too, or the bacon chicken ranch flatbread, topped with mozzarella. Then there were the giant Makin’ Muscle wraps packed with proteins like shredded beef with buffalo sauce or chicken and sweet chili sauce, both with brown rice and veggies.
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The menu is rounded out with kids’ meals (pepperoni pizza rolls, a turkey burger, boneless wings or mac and cheese), sides (sweet potato “fries,” seasoned steamed broccoli, apple slices with peanut butter dip, a veggie cup or mac and cheese) and the protein drinks, from coffees to smoothies.
Too many choices—but I decided to try the first thing that had jumped out at me: the Bang Bang Shrimp wrap, plus a side of mac and cheese. “It’s made with queso,” said the cashier with a grin, and I was sold.
Both of us chose fruit-filtered water. The fruit that day was a mix of berries, and with a hint of flavor from the fruit, I definitely felt healthier sipping it.
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Amanda’s medium bowl came out first (medium features six ounces of protein; the small has four and the large eight), followed closely by my wrap. Amanda had chosen a rosemary potato base, with black beans as her protein, mushrooms, brussels sprouts, onion and spinach (she added an extra veggie; three come with the bowl), and Thai peanut sauce. It was a bold combination. The black beans were actually cooked with corn and mixed with a Mexican spice, which didn’t necessarily go with the peanut sauce; Amanda had expected a scoop of plain black beans. So she ended up dividing her meal, enjoying the spicy peanut sauce with her veggies and having the black beans as a side.
My wrap was to have been tomato basil, but I believe it came with whole wheat. It was generously filed with spinach, cucumbers, carrots and a good amount of mild and slightly peppery shrimp. I didn’t get a lot of flavor from my first bite, but once I hit the sauce, it was good: a nice, light flavor, a little sweet and only a tiny bit spicy, so I added a little more bang with Sriracha, which made it perfect. It felt healthy eating it—especially with the crunchy raw carrot and cucumber—but it was also tasty.
As for my side, if you like whole wheat pasta and if you like queso, you’ll like this version of mac and cheese. How genius, I thought: Boil some pasta, dress it lightly with queso, and you’re done—and I decided to try it at home sometime. It tasted like a classic queso, made hearty with the whole wheat pasta—and I felt highly virtuous eating this healthy version of mac and cheese.
I haven’t done a great job being healthier this year, despite my best intentions. So, I love that a place like Clean Eatz is here in Augusta. At times when you might want to swing left (and go for the greasy burger), it makes it easy to make the right choice.
Make Your Reservation
Clean Eatz Café
630 Crane Creek Drive
Entrée cost: $9.29 to $12.29
