A few weeks ago, I was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, and based on the accounts I follow, I was probably just liking pictures of salad. But sometimes I get REAL DEEP into the Instagram Explore page and land on some pretty awesome accounts. It’s rare that these accounts make an appearance or an impact in my real life, but when I found The Source Cafe, I had a feeling it would be different. And by ‘different’, I mean ‘gonna eat here every other day’.
Like every restaurant I go to, I look at the menu online a couple days before. If you don’t already do this, you should. It’ll give you a good idea of what the restaurant is all about and they’ll often call out certain practices they’re proud of like serving local produce, hormone free meat, or GMO-free canola oil. The canola oil is definitely not something to brag about, but that’s another rant for another time.
The Source Cafe is all GMO-free and they really do believe in the power of real food. Real food meaning paleo cookies, which is something I can definitely get behind. Their menu is suitable for vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters alike. A few dishes are specifically called out as paleo, which was my initial reason for going.
First impressions: I want to move in. The space has a home-y but modern feel with gorgeous wood tables. It’s bright, airy, and welcoming. Despite it’s sleek finishes, The Source Cafe manages to maintain the small town restaurant feel with quirks like having a bathroom key attached to a frothing pitcher. And I appreciate that.
They have both indoor and outdoor seating, which is convenient for those rough LA winters. But it was a beautiful day in Hermosa Beach, so we sat outside. It’s a fast casual kind of place, so you order up front and bring your food to the table. Most restaurants should be this way. Best to minimize the chit chat and get to what I really came here for. Food. And lots of it.
I ordered the paleo chicken salad over greens (and a cookie, obviously, but I’ll get to that later). With all the tuna and salmon salad I eat, you’d think chicken salad would be in my regular rotation by now. But it’s not. And after trying this delightful dish, I now realize what a waste that plain-ass chicken breast I used to eat was. This chicken salad was mixed with various crunchy bits, which provided a nice texture differentiation. But the real star of this salad was the pecan pesto. Let’s be real for a sec. Pecans are the best nut out there and I think we all know it. Hello – pecan pie. Case closed. Wonder if this place makes pie around the Holidays. If so, I’m buying stock. Anyways, the pecan flavor in the pesto was nicely accompanied by crushed pecans in the salad. The portion size was modest, which is something us Americans are not used to. That’s why we all have diabetes, am I right? I enjoy when restaurants give me a normal portion size so I don’t have to unbutton my pants before I leave. Kudos.
Overall rating: 10/10
Tanner, Madonna’s #1 fan and my gay bestie, ordered the paleo chicken salad panini. It was essentially exactly what I ordered, but sub the pesto for some flax bread. I personally enjoy flax bread on occasion, but bread of any kind is not part of my regular life. Flax doesn’t raise while baking, like other breads, making it more flat and dense. I’m into it, but it can be an acquired taste if you’re used to Wonderbread. But if you’re still eating Wonderbread, you have other issues. A lot of them. Back to flax. It’s a very nutty taste, which based on my one bite of Tanner’s panini, complimented the chicken salad nicely. Because I loved the chicken salad so much, I would have liked pesto in the panini as well. That’s my only complaint. Paired with a simple arugula salad, this is a great lunch option. Unless you’re Tanner and one lunch simply isn’t enough. He ordered more.
Overall rating: 9/10
His next dish was the smoked salmon toast. This dish featured the same flax bread topped with a hefty serving of smoked salmon and gribiche sauce. I had no idea what gribiche sauce was, but that’s what Google is for, right? Here’s a recipe if you’re interested. I would have liked more sauce on the toast. The flavors of the flax, salmon, and gribiche were fantastic, but a little unbalanced. Lots of salmon, not much else. But I guess that isn’t a bad thing when you’re paying $16 for some toast.
Overall rating: 7/10
But here comes the best part. The Source Cafe has a display of cookies and other treats, right when you walk in the door. Clearly my mind was on the cookies, because I don’t even remember what else was staring me in the face. Tanner and I both ordered the paleo hazelnut chocolate chip cookies. Now, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, which is great because I suck at baking. Like seriously…it’s bad. So if I ever bring you baked goods, it’s in your best interest to feed them to a squirrel. Long story short, I don’t eat sweets often. BUT. If I’m at a paleo friendly restaurant 
with paleo friendly desserts, I almost always order something. It’s guaranteed to be good, or at least better than my melting fudge. And these cookies did not disappoint. They were plenty moist and had the perfect ratio of chocolate chip to cookie. The hazelnut flavor was light, but present. And the presentation was perfect – simply placed on an individual wood cutting board. These cookies were sweetened with stevia, which I generally don’t do. Zero calorie sweeteners, regardless of how natural they may be, are not part of my life (anymore). But the cookies weren’t overly sweetened and little bit of stevia now and then won’t kill ya.
Overall rating: 10/10
Final Thoughts: You should eat here. There’s something for everyone and you’re almost guaranteed to find something you dig. It’s in Hermosa Beach, only a short walk to the water. If you live elsewhere, you should move there. Specifically across the street from The Source Cafe. That’s certainly my plan.
Check them out online: http://thesourcecafehb.com/