Top 9 Healthiest Restaurants in L.A.

Scientifically speaking, you spend nearly 4 years of your life eating. It's a necessary process that your body needs to survive so shouldn't you feed yourself good food? It stands to reason that eating healthy will keep you healthy and restaurants like these L.A. based creations make healthy eating happy eating. Check out the top nine healthiest restaurants on your next group trip to Los Angeles.

1. M.B. Post

The Manhattan Beach Post, so named for its location in a refurbished post office, is a restaurant of ingredient-conscious menus with locally sourced, rustic, soulful, and creative small plates. While the menu changes seasonally, and by chef's order, you can always find delicious in-house made breads, a fantastic cheese menu with source labels, cured meats, a veggie menu, and menus of sustainable meats and fish. Check out the steamed mussels with green curry and Chinese sausage, the grilled lamb meatballs, fried squash blossoms in herb ricotta, or even duck prosciutto from Indianapolis.

2. Inn of the Seventh Ray

A sublimely romantic venue situated in Topanga Canyon among giant trees, babbling brooks, and the bustling wildlife of Southern California, Inn of the Seventh Ray is a leading healthy restaurant for their sustainable, natural, locally sourced ingredients and creative menus. The enchanted woodland setting makes this a prime destination for weddings and special events but nothing tops their seasonal menus featuring plates like the Jidori chicken breast, wagyu beef tartare, or the vegan options like the daily soups, salads, and veggie-based inspirations.

3. Cafe Gratitude

A franchise of 100% organic, fresh gourmet plant-based restaurants, Cafe Gratitude nicknames their plates based on the feeling it invokes. Try the "I am...Extraordinary" house BLT with coconut bacon, avocado, and tomato, or the "I am...Bountiful" quinoa pasta with marinated eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and a number of veggie ingredients. From meals labeled "Liberated" to "Transformed," "Magical," and "Fabulous," Cafe Gratitude focuses on making you feel captivated and healthy from their plates.

4. Cabana

Allow yourself to be served poolside on the fourth floor of the Los Angeles Four Seasons hotel at the Cabana restaurant. Serving fresh California cuisine with only the tastiest sustainable ingredients, Cabana offers a menu separated into four sections: Indulgent, Comfort, Antioxidant, and Energy Booster. Try out plates like the delicious and refreshing watermelon and feta salad with cucumber, mint, basil, and olives, or the avocado tacos, banana leaf-wrapped snapper, or the antioxidant salad with black kale and a number of super-fruits.

5. SQIRL

A hip little healthy hideaway in the Silver Lake neighborhood, SQIRL is an organic alternative to everyday eating joints. Instead of hopping down to McDonald's for breakfast, try SQIRL's "famed ricotta toast," daily frittatas or quiche, or the "green eggs and jam tartine." Their lunch menu will get you gourmet plates like ratatouille, roasted lamb sandwiches, and more depending on the season. SQIRL also sells its famous jams for whenever you're craving that sweet, organic taste. This vegan-friendly restaurant (that serves bacon on occasion) offers up their delicious breakfast menu until 4 pm daily.

6. The Veggie Grill

Simply put, this vegetarian chain was created to celebrate vegetables. With filling plates of locally sourced vegetables, inspirational creations, and delicious foods, The Veggie Grill is a Los Angeles staple for meat-eaters and vegans alike. Knowing that your body still needs protein, The Veggie Grill offers a meatless protein alternative in ingredients like nuts, kale, and others. Try out their panko-breaded fresh cauliflower apps with a sweet and spicy orange dipping sauce or their chicken' plates made with non-GMO soy, wheat, and peas. Everything here is devoted to veggies, and to making you feel healthy and satisfied.

7. M Cafe

With three L.A. locations, M Cafe makes it easy for you to try their "contemporary macrobiotic cuisine" featuring no refined sugars, eggs, dairy, red meat or poultry. Macrobiotics, as they say, is a practice for health maintenance as well as healing, focusing on whole, natural foods ranging the whole omnivorous diet. Their plates focus on creative healthiness, a balanced diet, and dietary happiness. Try the grilled tuna burger, classic udon noodle bowls with your choice of protein, the Kushi bento box, or the king salmon salad wrap among other delectable dishes.

8. Real Food Daily

Also featuring three locations, Real Food Daily focuses on gourmet whole food cuisine featuring 100% organic plant-based menus. A fast-casual restaurant with taking out and online ordering, Real Food Daily makes it easy for you to eat healthily. Instead of french fries, RFD's lunch entrees are served with a standard side salad or a vegetable alternative of your choice. Check out their lunch/dinner menu with items including the supreme burrito with tempeh bacon and tofu sour cream, the refreshing Mediterranean bowl salad, and the Caribbean quesadillas made with grilled plantains, coconut lentil puree, and mango salsa.

9. Seed Kitchen

A Venice based organic, vegan eatery, Seed wows both avid meat-eaters and pleases devoted vegans with creative dishes and vegan-version traditional meals. Like M Cafe, Seed Kitchen features a, slightly skewed, vegan macrobiotic menu without any meat, refined sugar, egg or dairy products. Instead, you get meals like the sans-beef BBQ seitan sirloin burger, the Italian soysage panini, San Felipe tacos with corn batter-fried zucchini, and even desserts like Madonna's coconut mousse.

 

L.A. is an absolutely huge city with almost anything you can think of. The West Coast devotion to healthy eating, fitness, and a general focus on well-being means that healthy restaurants are everywhere and make for the perfect charming L.A. destination for your group to try on your next trip to Tinseltown.