Dining Review: Surprising finds at a local shop
I work from a home office and, after two days of meeting deadlines while tending a flu-infested teenager, who claimed to be in such dire straits that venturing from their bed for water was out of the question, I was ready to run shrieking into the void.
I fled the house to shop at that large, known-for-its-organics grocery chain, but its parking lot proved to be a challenge of Mt. Everest proportions. I fled again, from Glendale to Burbank, where I found a spot directly in front of the doors of the Full O’ Life Market on Magnolia Boulevard.
Family-owned and in business since 1959, Full O’ Life is known for its carefully curated organic offerings and stellar vitamin and personal-care aisles. It also has a homespun, 1970s style “Natural Food Restaurant,” complete with a remarkably cheerful wait staff.
A side salad with shredded beets at Full O’ Life Restaurant in Burbank on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
Having spent two days inside, mopping brows, cooling fevers and cleaning up, I spotted a smiling waitress, realized I needed a brief respite and took a seat at the retro lunch counter.
The menu has a wide variety of vegetarian options, as well as chicken, fish and turkey entrees. I quickly fixed on the Swedish meatballs. My side salad, served first and very generously sized, had a colorful pile of shredded beets on top. The restaurant’s house-made lemon dill dressing is well worth noting.
The meatballs didn’t look like much on the plate, but they were gems. Blanketed in silky gravy and served over a bed of fluffy rice, they’re made with ground turkey, speckled with parsley and have rich hints of garlic, cheese and shallot.
These are the dense beauties we reminisce about grandma making, if grandma were Swedish and not a stout Lithuanian, who preferred her ground meats wrapped in cabbage. I nearly finished the entire serving before realizing that food needed to be brought home. I ordered a bowl of vegetable barley soup for the sick one, a grilled barbecue tofu sandwich for the sometime vegetarian one and a raw vegetable salad for the rest of us.
Back at home, I managed a taste or two of the soup, a light vegetable broth that was packed with barley. Flu kid roused from their sickly slumber and made off with the bowl, finishing it in what seemed like seconds.
The dine-in counter at Full O’ Life Restaurant in Burbank on Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
I took a peek inside the box that held the sandwich; a thick slab of tofu, covered in grilled onions and slathered in barbecue sauce, sat majestically on a whole wheat bun. It looked way too good to leave there. Without thinking about the feelings of the sometime vegetarian, I cut myself a largish chunk. The sauce was a perfect mix of vinegar sweet and had a steamy kick of pepper which complemented the coolness of the tofu.
I would have finished it had I not been interrupted by the sick one, who wanted more to eat. Sensing recovery, I handed the rest of the sandwich over.
This left the raw salad, which could easily feed two. Comprised of equal sized mounds of shredded beets, carrots, zucchini, alfalfa sprouts and a simple coleslaw, it is pretty to look at but ultimately just a plate of fresh vegetables. That being said, there was lemon dill dressing to liven things up.
The salad ended up a satisfying accompaniment to a variety of leftovers culled from the refrigerator. By now, the less sick one had retreated to their room to rest, and I thought it best to not bring up the barbecue sandwich to the others. If they had known how good it was, things might have gotten technical.
I told the tale of pretend Swedish grandma’s meatballs instead and gave everyone a little something to look forward to.
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What: Full O’ Life Restaurant
Where: 2515 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank
Restaurant hours: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Saturday
More info: (818) 845-7411, fullolife.tflmag.com
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Greenbaum Kasson is a contributor to Times Community News.