Monday, May 24, 2010

Sante Grill!

I finally got to chance to try out Downtown's newest restaurant (twice actually). Located between Starbucks and what will soon be an expanded La Vic's, Sante Grill fills an important retail gap on Santa Clara Street at the entrance of San Pedro Square.

Sante Grill is a quick food concept focused on healthy eats. There's no fryer in the back as even the French fries are air baked. The first thing I noticed when walking in was a nutritional guide on the wall listing the calorie/fat/sodium content of the entire menu. Many of the numbers were shockingly low. In fact they have an entire set of complete meals under 360 calories. Even more shocking was that the food actually tastes good despite being in the "healthy" category. The wraps and salads we tried were delicious, as were the sides of fries, mashed yams, and crispy string beans (tastes like tempura, but they're baked and something like 130 calories). Next time I think I'll try the portabella sliders.

The icing on the (lowfat) cake is that they are open until midnight on Fri and Sat. While this is their first and only location, there is also a rumor that they are planning to open a second store in Palo Alto. Will this continue the legacy of Downtown San Jose launching new chains? (Togo's, Sonoma Chicken, Iguana's, and I'm sure there are more).











4 comments:

  1. I stumbled across this place about two weeks ago and was really impressed! It does a very good job with the "healthy fast food" concept, serving such entrees as bison burgers and green bean fries.

    Good business move to stay open late on weekends - I know for a fact a lot of people walking on Santa Clara street are looking for something to eat in the later hours of the night.

    I can see this place catching on, especially with my (mid to late twenties) generation.

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  2. Is "healthy" code for having plentiful vegan options?

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  3. They definitely had many vegetarian options, and I'm sure several vegan as well.

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  4. Très bon site. Je vous remercie du travail en Juillet.

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