A bevy of salad shops has sprouted up around Los Angeles, such as Greens Up!, California Monster Salads, Mixt Greens, and Saladish. This new crop of salad shops quickly serves up big, healthy salads the way you like it, for around $10.
California Monster Salads in downtown Santa Monica is one salad shop that bloomed from a love story.
Owner Daniel Radell told The Mirror that opening a salad shop was the dream that he and his wife shared during a time when she was battling cancer.
To get more medical treatment, the couple had moved their family from Southern California to Palm Beach, Florida. There they found a build-your-own salad shop they liked, and talked about opening a similar shop back in California.
“When you get better, we’re going to open up a place like this,” Radell told his wife.
Radell’s wife has passed on, but the pair’s dream lives and grows at California Monster Salads, which opened in June on Santa Monica Boulevard near Fourth Street.
“On the day we opened the store, we had so many customers we ran out of food,” Radell said.
It’s the first restaurant venture for Radell, who previously worked at the Showtime Networks cable television company.
Radell had looked at many Westside locations for his salad shop but lost out to competition from established businesses and fast food companies.
“Every realtor wants someone who’s established,” he said.
He credits the city’s strict fast-food zoning rules for his success in claiming a location in busy downtown Santa Monica.
The small shop is bright and airy, and the service friendly.
Radell and business partner Stacy Mahaffa are usually at the shop, making salads, greeting customers and helping them navigate the menu.
There are outside tables and a few indoor seats, but many customers move in and out of the shop quickly, taking their salads home or back to their desks at lunchtime.
On the menu are ten big signature...  http://ow.ly/i/jqee