Get ready to let yourself fall head over heals, quickly! LYFE Kitchen has opened its 19th restaurant in the nation, right here in the heart of the Runway at Playa Vista. With easy accessibility and quick, friendly service, you can begin to indulge your palate and mind in healthy meals that will please your body and your wallet. Having pride in delivering fresh and wholesome meals to the community, quite simply, “LYFE Kitchen enables you to Feed. Your. Self,” if not your soul.

 

I love all of the yummy, fresh, beautifully crafted vegan and vegetarian options, mostly organic ingredients, fresh herbs, spices and house-made sauces, and their commitment to using only sustainable, recyclable or compostable products. It’s exciting to find a fabulous local “go to” spot to get a quick fix! Dine in or take out of this brightly lit, modern diner-esque restaurant. Either way, your taste buds and your belly will thank you because it’s all tasty and healthy! And for an extra perk… LYFE Kitchen’s standards require that all dishes on the menu contain fewer than 600 calories and 1,000 mg of sodium, with most containing much less.

LYFE Kitchen exists to provide the vigor-restoring benefits of mindful eating to everyone in our communities through meals that incorporate wholesome ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and exciting flavors – resulting in the most satisfying dining experience in the world.

Established in 2011 in 6 states around our country to date, LYFE Kitchen is as they say a “premier fast-fine dining experience that fans of LYFE Kitchen have come to expect.”

“LYFE Kitchen was created to fill a need we are all seeking in our busy lifestyles,” says Chance Carlisle, president and CEO of LYFE Kitchen. “Our restaurant provides the benefits of mindful eating to everyone in our communities through meals that incorporate wholesome ingredients, thoughtful preparation and enticing flavors.”

It’s no wonder every item I sampled was beautifully balanced and lovely! LYFE Kitchen has had an Executive Chef and Culinary Director since May of 2015 that is, dare I say, la creme de la creme. Executive Chef Faye Greenberg is a graduate of University Nevada Las Vegas with a bachelor’s in Hotel/Restaurant Management who then went on to graduate from the esteemed Le Cordon Bleu Academy De Cuisine De Paris with a Masters in Culinary Arts. Not only that, she was awarded the prestigious “Tres Bien” (perfect score) and the President’s Award. She lovingly lends her recognized industry talent to LYFE Kitchen leading recipe research and development, consulting on store layout and design, training, processes, new concept and discovery development, equipment spec and design, menu copy development, and product mix.

Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps
The taste and texture of the teriyaki tofu is awesome. It made me look twice at the menu to make sure it was truly vegan. The dish is so well-balanced. The interier is filled with deep spicy flavors and lovely warmth, cradled by the light fresh crunch of lettuce. And I love the chili ginger sauce, reminiscent of an orange chicken sauce. It’s hearty and light all at the same time! Yum!! I’ll bet it would be super fantastic paired with one of their local brews on tap.

Farmers Salad with Vegan Cheese and Tofu

This Farmers salad has a sweet cacophony of subtle flavors and textures, complete with a variety of soft lettuces including arugula, frisée, fennel, blackberries, pickled onions, soft marinated tofu, and pecans. It is served at a perfect neutral temperature. The pecans give an earthy spice to counter the sweetness provided by the combination of ripe blackberries, onions and balsamic dressing. In all actuality, the goat cheese (which is part of the original recipe) probably adds a very nice balance as well.

Signature LYFE Waters
Light, crisp and refreshing, LYFE Kitchen’s Signature Cucumber Mint and Hibiscus Beet Waters are great pallet cleansers or stand alone hydrators. Plus, LYFE dishes out a generous portion, which is always a plus! “Super Size” me, please!

Chocolate Bundino, Banana Coconut Bundino and a Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie
OMG!!!!! The Chocolate Bundino is rich, smooth, sinfully decadent and all vegan! It’s totally unreal!
Lighter, but still oh so sweet, the carmelized bits atop the Coconut Bundino give a gorgeous addition of crunch to its overall cloud like experience. Wow! The warm Chocolate Chip Cookie tastes likes it’s home-made and fresh out of the oven, because it practically is. It’s perfect! I don’t remember when I dove into the dessert experience like this, but I can hardly wait to go back and do it again!