Where to Eat: Super Salads to Go @ The Crenshaw Farmer's Market

If you’ve been to one farmer’s market, you’ve been to them all. Or so you think. Yes, you can find a selection of fresh fruits and veggies, hard-to-find foods and specialty services at almost any farmer’s market. But you won’t find ethnic trinkets for sale, a DJ spinning R&B grooves or shoppers giddily doing the Cupid Shuffle at just anywhere. In fact, you’ll only find that at The Crenshaw Farmer’s Market.

While it may have moved from Leimert Park to the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw Shopping Center, this vibrant farmer's market did not lose its joie de vivre in the change of locations. It also didn’t lose one of its best vendors, Super Salads to Go. With fourteen unique – and very delicious – salads on the menu, owner Synovia Jones and her team makes eating greens fun, enjoyable and addicting. Their enormous salads, all made on the spot, playfully combine fruits, nuts, herbs and vegetables to create memorable meals that will ensure that you return again and again.

I first stumbled upon Synovia’s booth back in Leimert Park. I had never been much of a salad person, so I wanted to find out if her salads went beyond bland lettuce and stale croutons to go where no other salad had gone before: to being healthy and edible. In intense anticipation, I ordered the Mandarin Chicken Salad, watching as she tenderly tossed plump chicken slices with herbs, lettuce, cashews, wontons and corn.

The salad was a hit. It tasted fresh, as if the ingredients had been carefully selected from a garden. It was flavorful, bursting with bright colors and zesty spices. And, it was huge – that salad lasted for two meals. I also tried the Gingerade, a tangy yet refreshing blend of ginger and lemonade.

Now, whenever I crave a salad, I grab my dancing shoes and head down to the Crenshaw Farmer’s Market for a Super Salad. I eat it there (after doing the electric slide), or I take it with me (if the little kids start doing "the jerk" - I'm too old - can't get that low anymore).

And whether you can dance around me in circles or you have two left feet, I hope to see you there, eating a salad with me!


Pictured Below: The Kale salad. It is the most popular salad, with kale, cranberries, pinenuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds and red peppers. And no salad is complete without a lemonade blend! Choose from ginger, pineapple, pineapple-strawberry, berry or watermelon.


Pictured Below: The Crenshaw Farmer’s Market is a social gathering for the entire community.


Pictured Below: Synovia Jones, the owner herself. If you absolutely can’t make it to The Crenshaw Farmer’s Market, you can also find her at three other locations: Culver City Farmer’s Market, City Hall Farmer’s Market and Atwater Village Farmer’s Market.