Urban Eats

Urban Eats strikes me as a restaurant that serves fresh ingredients in healthy entrees based on the name and atmosphere alone. The restaurant is surrounded by large window-walls looking onto the Magnolia Park district of Burbank. Antique shops line the streets and the area is rather bustling with people walking on a Saturday afternoon such as today. There are a bunch of tables as well as a few choice outdoor spots. You order either off the chalkboard or from one of the paper menus at the counter--they don't rush you. Most of the kitchen is in your view if you want to watch. When your food is ready they call your name.

I went to the restaurant alone, but it gave me an opportunity to look around and really soak up the atmosphere and I was able to look at other dishes being served around the restaurant. It was 2pm and there was a steady stream of diners throughout my whole meal.

The menu consists of a large selection of salads, some sandwiches, and a variety of hot dinner entrees plus some daily specials. There is also a large beer and wine selection. In short, there is a lot of variety.

I ordered the Salad Niscoisi which is one of my all time favorite salads. Generally, Salad Niscoisi, is a non-lettuce peasant salad from the French countryside. It features vegetables that a French peasant may have had in their gardens such as potatoes and beans.

This niscoisi put a friendly twist on the old classic by using a mixed lettuce base. The same things that make a salad niscoise are featured as accents rather than the base in the salad. The salad came beautifully presented on a dinner plate with the few green beans wrapped in a strip of roasted red pepper. On the edge were three piles of different ingredients--one good sized, perfectly cooked new potato, one hardboiled egg, and a pile of tomato. I must pause to highlight the tomato which was incredibly flavorful as though it had been taken straight from the vine. The salad was sprinkled with Kalmata olives.

The tuna was sesame seed crusted and perfectly seared and sliced with a nice texture. The salad dressing, which they apparently made fresh for my salad, was a slightly sweet creamy vinaigrette. I also ordered an iced tea to go with my meal and the whole thing was about $12.

As I said, it took a little bit of time for my order to come but they apologized and said they were freshly making the salad dressing--and it was worth the wait. Everything tated delicious and the ice tea was very refreshing. I glanced around at some other diner's dishes and they all looked great--especially the salmon and rice special and the roasted vegetable sandwich on very fresh looking focaccia.

I read somewhere that Urban Eats' cooks are from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Pasadena. I am not sure if that is accurate, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is indeed the case based on the presentation and age of the cooks. The food was good and the light atmosphere matched it. The only complaints I had were that they had little salt and pepper packets instead of shakers on each table--I think their dishes were low salt too because I needed salt on mine and I saw several other people using the packets. I think they could get some nice shakers at IKEA for little investment. I also scratched myself slightly on the unfinished underside of the bench. I recommend Urban Eats if you are looking for a light-medium dinner or lunch that is healthier and has fresh ingredients.





Urban Eats
3501 W. Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505
Map