Blogger Dinner at Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza & Grill La Jolla

Happy first day of spring!

As a vegetarian and healthy eater, I’m usually able to find a thing or two on the menu at a restaurant that seems to be both somewhat nutritious AND delicious. Fortunately, more & more I’m finding places that seem to be dedicated to including lots of menu items for health conscious diners. One restaurant in my area that’s doing this is Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza & Grill. The restaurant has numerous locations throughout California and Nevada. I was recently invited me to come try out some of their new healthy dishes at their location in La Jolla. With website taglines including: Eat Well. Feel Good.; We Like it Fresh; and Serving Healthy Global Cuisine, I knew it was a place I could get behind.

Last night, Adam and I headed to Sammy’s for a health blogger dinner. We chatted with a couple of cool bloggers, and had a great time trying out their yummy grub. I started off with a glass of Sicilian Pinot Noir:

Immediately the food started coming out. First we tried hummus with lettuce cups, which was a nice, light app. I make hummus often and typically eat it with pita chips or carrots, but I like the idea of hummus lettuce cups. For someone like myself who enjoys ordering a little something to nosh on before my main entree but doesn’t want to add an extra 800 calories to my meal, this type of plate is perfect.

 Two salads were served at dinner, both of which I loved. One was a chilled roasted vegetable salad, which included spinach, fresh mozzarella, edamame, artichoke, yellow tomato, red bell pepper, red onion, basil, lemon, balsamic vinegar and EVOO:

The other salad was a red quinoa dish, and included golden beets, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, wild arugula, parsley, almonds, mint, scallions and citrus chili vinaigrette:

Next up were the pizzas, both of which were veggie, but one I couldn’t eat because it had eggplant on it (silly food allergy!). The nice thing about their pizzas is that they offer nonfat cheese and gluten-free and whole wheat crusts. One of the pies, which included spinach, mushrooms, garlic, and red onion, was served with nonfat mozzarella and a gluten-free crust. Personally, I like my pizzas with a thicker, gluten-filled crust, but for anyone with a gluten sensitivity or who just likes to stay away from it, this is a nice option for you.

The other pizza had grilled eggplant, red onion, zucchini, red bell pepper, tomato, garlic, and smoked provolone on a whole wheat crust:

For all of you healthy meat eaters out there, here are the non-veggie menu items offered at the dinner:

My meat eating other half really liked the pasta with bolognese sauce. Mental note: Try making brown rice pasta sometime soon!

For dessert, we tried their orange blossom honey & sheep’s milk cheese pizza. As much of a cheese fan as I am, I typically don’t go for it for dessert. However, I do have to say that the combination of the sweet honey, mild, creamy cheese, and flaky crust made for a flavorful dish.

A big thank you to Sammy’s for having me as a dinner guest last night!