economie

I ordered build-your-own bowls from Cava and Sweetgreen. Both tasted delicious, but the winner didn’t charge for as many add-ons.

August 2, 20240
The chicken teriyaki burger at McDonald’s Global Restaurant in Chicago tasted great but left me in need of some vitamins.

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I attended a restaurant conference where I gorged on samples of vegan chicken, sushi, and brownies; I had a teriyaki burger and McPops at McDonald’s Global Restaurant; I tried the massive portions at the Cheesecake Factory; and I sampled fine dining at a Michelin-starred restaurant.

I was urgently in need of some vegetables and grains to balance it out, so I headed to rival salad chains Sweetgreen and Cava to stock up on vitamins.
The decor of the Sweetgreen I visited was airy, modern, and simple.

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Sweetgreen sells bowls, salads, and protein plates.
Sweetgreen had a list of suppliers if you were curious about the origins of your ingredients.

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Sweetgreen has five leaf and three grain bases to choose from.
There was a range of meat and vegetarian hot toppings.

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Nearly half of Sweetgreen’s toppings are listed as “premium” — meaning they incur extra charges.
I topped my bowl with a range of vegetables and tofu.

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These included kale, pickled onions, warm portobello mushrooms, roasted tofu, avocado, tomatoes, and breadcrumbs. I had to pay extra for the mushrooms, tofu, and avocado.

My bowl made it a bit tricky to choose a dressing, though.
Fortunately I got my dressing on the side.

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I’m so glad they did.

I’m a Brit who’s rarely eaten ranch — and I didn’t know what made the ranch green. Turns out it was cilantro and parsley, two of my least favorite herbs. After a few tastes, I had to throw the tub away.

The bowl looked really attractive with its vibrantly-colored vegetables.
I wished the avocado had been sliced.

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The quinoa was really clumpy, too, but this was probably because I visited late in the evening. Maybe the batch had been standing around for a while.
It was expensive for a salad bowl.

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I went to Cava at a similar time of day — around 8 p.m., but this time, on a Friday.
Customized grain bowls, salads, and pitas make up roughly 85% of Cava’s orders.

Grace Dean/Business Insider

Customized grain bowls, salads, and pitas make up roughly 85% of Cava’s orders. Prices for its most basic “curated” bowls start at $12.05, the same as a custom bowl with no paid-for add-ons.

Cava’s menu is focused on Mediterranean ingredients.
Many of the “mains” at Cava incurred extra charges.

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When I visited, three of the seven items described as “mains” — harissa honey chicken, braised lamb, and spicy lamb meatballs — incurred extra charges. Cava has now added grilled steak to this list, too.

But all the other toppings, apart from avocado, were free to add on.
For my mains I chose 50/50 roasted white sweet potato and falafel.

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I went for Cava’s SuperGreen mix topped with roasted white sweet potato, falafel, hummus, roasted eggplant dip, black olives, pickled pink onion, cabbage slaw, and garlic dressing. I also added Cava’s pita crisps for free. My bowl looked monstrous, but it tasted great.

The white sweet potato wasn’t as soft as I’d expected, and the pita chips soon became very soggy from the dressing, but other than that I loved my bowl.
I’m a big fan of build-your-own restaurants.

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I can avoid ingredients I don’t like, such as cilantro, parsley, and raw carrot — as well as the embarrassment of having to ask a member of staff if the restaurant could make a set menu item without these ingredients.

Both restaurants offered an extensive choice of ingredients — but Cava was the winner for me.
Most of the add-ons at Cava were free.

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Though Sweetgreen offered a cheaper basic bowl — $9.95 versus $12.05 — many more of the toppings incur extra costs. I loved that Cava’s falafel and sweet potato didn’t cost more. If you made a bowl at Sweetgreen without any of the add-ons, it would be tasty but lacking some oomph.