RESTAURANT REVIEW: Healthy portions of flavor at downtown Juice Leaf

Juice bars have been popping up like mushrooms around town and now, for the downtown crowd, there's Juice Leaf. While the staff serves a variety of juices and smoothies, there's also food you have to chew.

And they give that food a lot of thought. According to the website, it's locally sourced as much as possible and much of it is organic (they provide a full list). For those on special diets, there are always vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. They also claim to employ a "resident certified health coach," helping create a menu of healthful options for a variety of needs and wants.

The eatery doesn't use sugar or any artificial ingredients. The condiment station isn't stocked with prepackaged sweeteners or "creamers" but with honey and pure agave. The refrigerator with drink bottles has coconut water and kombucha instead of Coke or Dr Pepper.

The menu has gone through several changes since the April opening, leading to some confusion for the staff, but the service we encountered was friendly and helpful when it came to explaining menu options. While items arrived piece by piece for one breakfast, the timeliness of our food's arrival improved at later visits.

Like the food and drinks, the interior is fresh and clean, done mostly in white and soft gray. It's not a large space, but there are plenty of seating options. Along one wall there's a padded wall bench with tables and sturdy white molded chairs. Against the other wall, smaller two-top tables stick out with low-backed upholstered chairs on each side. Taking up the middle of the room are a couple of upholstered, white modern chairs with a coffee table between them, plus larger tables.

There are two large white light fixtures and a collection of clear globes with tiny plants inside hanging from the ceiling.

With soft music and well-spaced seating, it's a good place for a visit or a casual business meeting over smoothies and muffins.

The smoothie menu is loaded with options for various physical or emotional needs: Energy Rock, DetoxiFlush, Workout Plan. A thorough ingredient list is given for each one.

Immune system needing a jolt? There's ImmunoBoost juice (grapefruit, carrot, ginger root, lemon, bell pepper, cabbage and pineapple, $6 for 12 ounces, $8 for 16 ounces). For a little intellectual stimulation, try Brain Blast (lemon, bell pepper, spinach, ginger root, turmeric root and matcha).

Not feeling in need of an energy boost or a detox, I decided to go for the more neutral sounding Live Your Life ($6 for 16 ounces, $8 for 20 ounces), made with green tea, berries, pineapple, spinach, ginger, turmeric, flax meal and a choice of almond or coconut milk. The result might not look terribly appetizing, with a greenish-brown color and thick texture reminiscent of mud, and it wasn't as sweet as someone conditioned for smoothies that are heavy on sugar might expect, but its subtle, complex flavor was still tasty and the consistency was satisfying.

Juice Leaf also serves smoothies in a bowl with a spoon, although the menu is different and the smoothies come with some of the ingredients served whole on top. My companion tried the Chocolate Heaven ($7), with banana, coconut yogurt, cocoa powder, cinnamon almond butter and maple syrup, topped with banana, cacao nibs and almond slices. She declared it delicious, like a chocolate pudding with a little bit of crunch.

The smoothies, juices and smoothie bowls all have a build-your-own option with a choice of five ingredients and 75 cents extra for each additional.

At breakfast, there is a selection of muffins and pastries from Arkansas Fresh Bakery ($3) but if you're craving baked goods, check before going. On one early morning visit, the bakery hadn't made its daily delivery yet and the pastry box was bare.

Morning is also when chia puddings ($4) are available: either chocolate cinnamon or vanilla almond. The vanilla almond was a bit like yogurt in texture -- creamy but not very firm with a taste that was sweet but not too sweet. The handful of blueberries, sliced strawberries and granola clusters on top added a nice texture and extra flavor to the pudding.

More recent additions are the hot breakfast items. My dining companion's sandwich (egg, cheese and turkey bacon on a whole grain English muffin, $3.99) was tasty and filling, although the muffin was a little overdone for his tastes and a sausage patty may have worked better than the chewy bacon.

The omelette ($5.99) has a choice of vegetable options and mine, stuffed with mushrooms, onion and green peppers, was cooked to fluffy perfection and packed with flavor.

For lunch, Juice Leaf offers a soup of the day ($3.50) and a house salad ($6) but most of the menu is taken up with wraps ($7-$8) in multigrain, lettuce and dosa varieties.

They didn't have dosa on the day we visited for lunch, so we both made do with multigrain.

My dining companion decided to try the turkey and peppers: turkey, pickled peppers, lettuce, tomato and Dijon mustard. He said the turkey was a little bland and it could have used more Dijon mustard.

Ultimately, "It was good, but I could have made it at home."

When our server asked if we needed a knife and fork, we said no but that may have been a mistake because my vegan barbecue wrap with barbecued jackfruit, sauteed onions and bell peppers, cabbage and pickled pepper slaw left a sizable pool of liquid on my plate.

It had a mild, sweet-tangy flavor that was pleasant but it definitely made a mess. Chicken and avocado can be added for an additional charge.

All wraps come with carrot slices and individual plastic cups of hummus. The hummus was good, but some of the carrot slices were cut so thickly they would have given Bugs Bunny pause.

Juice Leaf also now serves chicken ($9) and vegetable ($8) biryani (Indian fried rice) options and other Indian-theme daily specials.

Nothing is super-sweet or rich, but the food and drinks taste fresh and natural. One leaves feeling somewhat virtuous.

Weekend on 06/16/2016