311 Broadway
Newport, RI 02840
(401) 619-5266
June 20, 2014
Working in Newport has been strange. Although I enjoy the city, I think it’s more
on a “wouldn’t want to live there” scale.
I’m more of a Cape Cod gal at heart.
I find it much less pretentious. For
this edition of Laura’s Lunch, I decided to take myself to a place that all the
cool kids at work like to frequent – Keenwah (that’s “quinoa” in hipster).
At first I thought the purposeful misspelling was cute,
but now it just irks me – especially after eating there. I pulled into the parking lot and stepped
inside to look over the menu since they don’t have a working website (annoying
when you just want to pop in and out during a lunch break). There was a lot to choose from, but it was
all … odd. Now please don’t think that
my fat ass has never been in a “super food eatery” before. I’ve eaten healthy food; I’ve seen healthy food. My problem was that there were SO many
ingredients in each item that I had a funny feeling the overall taste would be
flavorless.
I decided to order an acai energy smoothie ($7) which
consisted of organic acai puree and powder, strawberries, bananas, green tea
and soymilk. I also chose “The Macchu
Picchu” burrito ($8), which was organic quinoa, spinach, sundried tomatoes,
non-dairy walnut pesto, feta cheese and choice of scrambled eggs, tofu or
tempeh in a sprouted wheat wrap served with sweet potato home fries or fries and
orange wedges. My total came to $16.20,
which shocked the hell out of me because I hadn’t been paying attention to the
prices. I know that’s an insane amount
for one person’s lunch, but I was hoping for a good experience.
I waited quite a while because they were making
everything fresh, which was a good thing.
I looked over the menu and noticed that they seem to cater to people
with food allergies or those on restrictive diets (i.e., gluten-free, vegetarian,
etc.). I should mention that the
interior was very cute and trendy and outdoor seating is also available. The staff was also very friendly, especially
when I had realized at the last minute that I never did choose between
scrambled eggs, tofu or tempeh in my burrito.
The waitress informed me that scrambled eggs (which I don’t even like)
were going in by default. My mistake.
When my food arrived, the waitress brought it over to me
in a little cardboard box. I took a
quick sip of the acai smoothie and it was very thick and had a strong berry
taste. I couldn’t recognize any other
flavor. It was like a mixed berry
yogurt, but that’s pretty tasty so I had no problems with the smoothie. I did think it was a little small for
$7.
I returned to work and opened the box of food. It seemed like they kind of just threw
everything inside, but whatever. I was
hungry. For my sides they gave me sweet
potato home fries and orange wedges. The
orange wedges were OK, but I’m not really a fan. The sweet potato home fries were good, but
they were cold and a little too mushy.
This actually could have been an awesome side dish if they had been
cooked a little more because I love the taste of sweet potatoes.
As for my burrito – bleh.
I mean, I wasn’t disgusted or anything.
It wasn’t the worst thing that I’ve ever had. I just didn’t like the flavor combination and
unfortunately I found out that I don’t like quinoa! It looked like fish eggs and had a gritty/grainy
taste and texture. My mouth had a weird
aftertaste for the entire day. There was
almost no feta cheese (my favorite) except for one pathetic attempt to include
a piece at the very bottom of the burrito.
The eggs were eggs (nothing special, but they were a little cold) and
everything else tasted strange. I will
say that for $8, you do get a pretty large burrito. I was full until the evening and I guess the
only good thing that came out of my lunch is that it kept me from snacking
before dinner.
- Minutes from the office: One.
- Cost of the meal with drink: $16.20 (ridiculous!)
Will I be going to Keenwah again? Only for the smoothies. There are a couple of other ones I’d like to
try but I definitely won’t be ordering the food again. It’s just not my style. If I’m doing healthy, I’d want a piece of fish
with a side of vegetables or a big salad with grilled chicken. Different strokes for different folks, I
guess.
