Cathy Olson (right), of Beech Island, shops in the New Life Natural Foods store on Washington Road. Ms. Olson says she decided to switch to more natural and raw foods for her family's health. The health food grocery store also has a restaurant tucked in back. (Trevor Frey/Staff)
Cafe offers healthy choices
It's like a mini grocery store of healthiness.
The store also has a restaurant - New Life Cafe - tucked in back that serves everything from ham and pesto sandwiches to caramel flavored all-natural frozen yogurt.
I had never eaten anything all-natural (except maybe the mint leaves I chewed on as a child), so this was a new experience.
A bit nervous at what I was getting myself into, I carefully looked over the menu, reading the ingredients of each dish. I chose a turkey and Granny Smith apple sandwich, with deli-style turkey and apple slices on sprouted grain bread. I must admit, the sprouted grain bread scared me at first. I thought biting the sandwich would be like biting into a brick. But It was delicious and I can't wait to go back and try the other sandwiches.
New Life Cafe also serves hummus wraps, vegan egg salad sandwiches, organic peanut butter and fruit spread sandwiches, Greek salads, couscous salads, garden herb salads and homemade vegetarian soups.
For dessert, I had a medium-size cup of caramel-flavored frozen yogurt. (The medium cup is huge. Go for the small or the kiddie-size cup.) The yogurt is a Wow Cow product and only has 9 calories per ounce. It's cholesterol-free and has a low amount of lactose. The all-natural ingredients include crystalline fructose, delactosed whey, cultured yogurt solids, guar seed gum, natural flavors and colors, dutch process cocoa in chocolate - yummy.
New Life Cafe also serves 12 flavors of smoothies made from fruit and soy milk.
One would think that eating in a restaurant inside a grocery store would be distracting and irritating, but it isn't. It's reminiscent of being at a backyard cookout.
The food is served on colorful plastic plates and the tables are covered with patterned, plastic tablecloths. Artificial foliage wraps through wooden trellises, colored lights hang from the ceiling and an assortment of all-natural beverages sit in a barrel filled with ice.
New Life Cafe is anything but noisy and aggravating. If you're a fan of eating healthy, this is the perfect place to dine.
NATURAL OPTION
The Eatery: New Life Cafe, 2825 Washington Road (map)
Ambiance: Relaxed and tranquil
Cost: $1.50 to $8
Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Phone: 737-8805
