This article is part of our Nutrition + Dining series. Here we explore holistic health topics and share favorite dishes from aligned restaurants.
In search of the healthiest menu for Valentine's day: heathy for body, Earth, and soul
We’ve been celebrating a week of love in honor of Valentine’s day, starting with our latest new app feature (“better treats“) and with a spin around all those special Valentine’s menus!
Over the weeks leading up to Valentine’s, we collected as many menus as we could, with a focus on the 1,300+ nationwide restaurants on our ‘Healthy Anywhere-approved’ list, aligned with our ethos and standards. We sought Valentine’s-specific menus above and beyond the normal day-to-day.
In total, we reviewed over 490 special menus for Valentine’s day.
Healthiest Valentine's menus 2022: where we looked and what we found
The Valentine’s menu can be elusive… While many restaurants include these on their websites, we also surfaced menus from individual Facebook or Instagram posts, third-party reservation systems, etc.
Valentine’s day falling on a Monday brought an interesting situation for 2022. Some restaurants that normally would’ve been closed decided to open and offer a prix fixe. Others offered a special menu or event over the preceding weekend, and some extended the love for even longer.
Our quest: Find balanced Valentine’s menus that were delicious, sustainably sourced, and healthy. Prominent vegetables were a must, ideally including good “leafies”. Any omnivore selections needed to include sustainably-sourced seafood or exclusively-pasture-raised meats. And we didn’t begrudge dessert, although fruit, dark chocolate, and local pastured cheese were favored.
We of course saw a lot of “red” and “pink” – with various beets, radicchio (standard Chioggia, Treviso, and pale pink Rosa(!)), edible flowers, blood oranges, red pomelos, and more.
Pescatarian menus were popular and included the requisite aphrodisiac (and sustainable superstar), oysters!
There were many menus we were very excited about… until we got to the mains (bluefin tuna, monkfish, meat that’s not pasture-raised, etc.). Delicious though they may be, they didn’t jive with our values and standards.
Heavier courses with pasta, cream sauces, and the like were largely omitted as well, along with mains featuring commercially-processed fake meats.
And still… there were remarkably healthy options worth celebrating.
Albatross (Danville, CA). Winter citrus salad, Scallops, and seaweed. Fantastic options with add-ons like beet hummus with crudites and oysters.
Anaviv’s Table (Richmond, CA) Beautiful 4-course with Vegetarian or Omnivore options.
Anzu (San Francisco, CA). Winter citrus salad, local Marin Oysters & Pescatarian or Vegetarian options.
Aurum (Los Altos, CA) 3-course + amuse-bouche with wonderful options for appetizer & main
Cassava (San Francisco, CA) 4-courses with healthy options and good vegetables (and a relatively great price at $78)
Flea Street (Menlo Park, CA) Extended special menu for 8 days celebrating a week of love. Vegetable and sea-forward.
LIORA (Baltimore, MD) Exclusive whole-food plant-based menu.
Season’s Harvest Cafe (Cypress, TX) Farm-to-table Valentine’s event with grazing tables, house spreads + veggies straight from the farm, grass-fed beef, and more.
The Kebabery (Berkeley, CA) A “Crabby Valentines” with fresh local crab, artichokes, and greens.
The Town Company (Kansas City, MO) 4-course menu with great Pescatarian & Vegetarian options
Thomas Hill Organics (Paso Robles, CA) 3-course meal featuring healthy options
Tullibee at Hewing Hotel (Minneapolis, MN) Beet salad, wood-roasted carrots, rainbow trout. (Locally-sourced Nordic cuisine jives well with Vday.)
Village Pub (Woodside, CA) Refreshingly light options with all-vegetarian option available.
Maitake mushrooms & sunflower seeds
Valentine's at PLANT Miami
Vibrant, gut-friendly, anti-inflammatory
Valentine's at PLANT Miami
We found what we believe to be the healthiest Valentine’s menu in America, not in our home state of California — but in Miami, Florida. (Both surprising and not surprising at once)
PLANT Miami is a modern healthy oasis. Much of their 100% plant-based menu is sourced from their very own local regenerative organic farm.
With culinary direction by husband/wife power team Horacio Rivadero and Veronica Manolizi (he’s the Exec chef, she’s the pastry chef), PLANT is committed to offering enlightened, conscious cuisine – nourishing body, Earth, and soul.
You get all the feels just looking at their Valentine’s menu, with five courses thoughtfully designed to “delight the senses and nuture passion”.
Vibrant vegetable-forward dishes brim with beauty and nourishment, featuring a wide variety of colors and textures. Tempeh lends high-fiber, gut-friendly protein while sea vegetables bring thyroid-supportive nutrition, and fermented elements like kimchi and pickled roses provide extra punch and gut support.
Who’s ready to hop over and enjoy warmer temps and cooler living foods with me?!
Check out said Valentine’s menu for yourself below.
Raise your glass of biodynamic sparkling rose with us to PLANT Miami for a remarkable and beautifully healthy Valentine’s event!
Congratulations and much appreciation to the hard-working conscious chefs and the entire team at PLANT Miami.
Photos and Menu courtesy of PLANT Miami
Did we miss a healthy, delicious, and sustainable star for Valentine’s day? Did you spy any super healthy special menus?
Let us know in the comments further below!
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