Many people will open their refrigerator door and give it the hard eye over the first days of the new year, as is tried-and-true tradition.
We're told to clean our pantries, or at least dispose of old candy and other temptations, and the cookie jar? That has to be emptied ASAP.
But eating out as a new year dawns is another matter. Not every restaurant, or region, highlights our healthier longings come January, though one local burg makes the commitment to more conscious eating each and every year.
It's Santa Monica, and Eat Well Week, which begins a few days into January. Eat Well Week gives a flavorful framework to the group effort held on behalf of some city restaurants, restaurants that both want to get on board with their customers' early-in-the-year resolutions and highlight some interesting dishes.
That will be done, in 2016, via the star of the show: the artichoke. People dining out at participating eateries won't be eating the prickly favorite in its steamed, mostly nude form; rather, a variety of dishes, centered around the thistle, will get the Eat Well Week love.
That love'll be all around from Jan. 11 through 16, when Border Grill, Pono Burger, Rawvolution, The Albright, and other Santa Monica-based venues will serve up artichokes in numerous ways. Upper West is going with a chargrilled artichoke, complete with chimchurri, pomegranate, and other goodies, while FIG Restaurant has an Albacore Tuna Rice Bowl (the marinated artichokes up the entree's general zing).
There's a social media contest, too, which gives users a chance to pick the best dishes and nab a prize.
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Are you a through-and-through artichokean? The 2016 theme of Eat Well Week was picked just for you then. Trying all the various artichoke dishes at participating Santa Monica cafes does not, unfortunately, get you out of cleaning your own fridge, so best get on that before Jan. 11 arrives.
