There's a Killer Secret Menu, Plus 10 Other Things You Should Know About Tender Greens

When Tender Greens quietly launched its first store in Culver City 10 years ago, no one could have predicted that it would be -- in its own under-the-radar way -- one of the the most influential restaurant launches in recent LA history. That may sound like hyperbole, but think about it: without the fast-casual chain's runaway success, an entire ecosystem of similar (and similarly great) bedrocks of LA food culture, from Mendocino Farms to Lemonade, would never exist; Tender Greens virtually defined the category of healthy, quick, fresh, local eats. Which is why we're honoring them, with this list of 11 (well, sort of 12) things you didn't know about the company:

It was a hit out of the gates -- no surprise, since at that point in time Culver City was sort of a food desert. 

They hated what was going on in food at that time in LA and dropped everything to start Tender Greens: one of the guys went from being a food & beverage director to literally working as a poolboy when they were getting the restaurant off the ground.

Unlike chains with industrial kitchens and paint-by-numbers recipes, each location has its own chef who's a pretty big deal -- like Executive Chef Elderoy Arendse, who was trained at Angelini Osteria and ran the kitchen at Fraiche (and won Chopped!), and West Hollywood exec chef Ali Ohta, who helped open Nobu.

Yep, it's true: when they were starting out, the interaction between shopowners and customers at SF's infamous Mission taquerias was how they wanted to interact with customers in their stores.

Though a lot of people think of salads as their, uh, bread-and-butter, it turns out that they sell more Backyard Steak Hot Plates (w/ Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and salad) than anything else.

So, yeah, even though Danny Meyer doesn't really have any restaurants in LA other than the Shake Shack in West Hollywood... he kinda does.

It's made by their San Diego executive regional chef Pete Balistreri, and it's available not just at Tender Greens, but at select Trader Joe's and specialty stores. In keeping with the "their chefs are big deals" entry, Pete is also a member of the Butcher’s Guild and was featured in the book Primal Cuts: Cooking with America’s Best Butchers.

Say WHAT?? Yep: ask for any sandwich Oaxacan-style and it'll come with avocado, queso fresco, and hot sauce; ask for an Angry Vegan and it'll be their vegan salad -- plus bacon.

Yep, it's not just presidential candidates who are siphoning money to themselves: Scarborough Farms in Oxnard provides most of the lettuce to the restaurants, and is also a stakeholder in the company (yes, we are aware that this is not a sketchy business practice at all).

Literally: there's a farm in San Diego that raises Mangalitsa pigs, a very rare breed of heritage pig that's been described as the Kobe beef of pigs, exclusively for Tender Greens locations in SD. They make a big effort to use them snout-to-tail in everything from porchetta to bacon, and team members are encouraged to visit the farm, and the pigs. No word on how many are named Babe.

OK, you probably sort of subconsciously knew this, but it's a huge part of their philosophy to keep everything affordable. Which is clearly why you keep going back.

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