Motivated Monday – Fresh local salads and kale/quinoa bowls at b.good

3 out of 5 stars

Right over in North Hills a new fast-casual restaurant, b.good, has opened the specializes in “real” fast food. They boast a commitment to local farmers, and show a map of the state and their farm partners to show it. And surprisingly, they do a pretty good job of making great salads and healthy foods as well as a juicy delectable burger.

the eats

b.good invited me to the newest location for a complimentary sampling of some of their offerings, and my friends and I tried a burger, a salad and a quinoa kale bowl, as well as a few side items. I selected the Adopted Luke, which has mushrooms, caramelized onions, smoked gouda and bbq sauce. This one was well done but still extremely juicy. Not juicy in a your-whole-plate-and-bun-are-soaked sorta way, but in a very rich mouthfeel way. The burger was a little smaller than I expected but not a bad size and comes on a whole wheat, white or gluten-free bun, which are baked in-house. Burgers are $7.99 but come with no sides. For the same price you can sub a chicken breast, turkey burger or veggie patty.

Kayla recommended we try the spicy avocado and lime quinoa bowl and we also tried the roasted butternut squash salad. One watch-out, though, is that the kale bowls have more calories than some of the burgers. They are probably healthier and more balanced calories (and you get a huge bowl) but just an FYI.  I wasn’t a fan of the spicy quinoa bowl but mostly because I don’t like kale or spicy food. Yeah, some foodie I am. My buddies loved the quinoa bowl and the spicy dressing, and that it’s enough for two meals. It came with a variety of veggies on top, including grilled corn, black beans, sautéed veggies, tomato and cilantro. We also liked the grilled chicken that you can add to the bowl. The kale quinoa bowls cost $8.99 + $2.29 if you want to add chicken.

The butternut squash salad was pretty good with lots of fresh veggies, but the price of the side salads at $5.99 are too high. The baked french fries of both varieties are fresh, but the sweet potato fries were a bit soggy. We enjoyed the regular baked fries more.

We didn’t sample the smoothies ($5.59) on this visit but we were given a sample of the Local Apple shake to try. The shake was a bit on the runny side and tasted mostly of vanilla ice cream and cinnamon and a little bit of apple. Shakes don’t rate high on my treat-o-meter, if I’m going to splurge, it’ll be on a brownie or cupcake. Especially in winter. But I’d like to try a smoothie next time, they sounded very colorful.

Sodas and beverage options are nice, with a selection of high fructose corn syrup-free sodas and funky lemonades and teas. The condiments are also HCFS free.

Want to eat guilt-free?

My take on what to order:

• Chicken Caesar Salad – 466 cals, 53g protein (could that be a typo!?), 10g carbs
• Spicy Avocado & Lime Quinoa Kale Bowl – 521 cals, 19g protein, 60g carbs
• Buffalo Chicken Sandwich – 453 cals, 39g protein, 44g carbs
• Crisp Veggie Side – 118 cals, 5g protein, 17g carbs
• Any other salad! – 284-506 cals

It’s nice to have healthy options AND some traditional “fast food” options at one place, and the use of local ingredients is laudable. In the end, I’d return here to try some of the other sandwich options and salads. However, you definitely pay the price for the ingredients here, given that the sides cost extra and you are not getting wait service. I appreciate that they have nutritional info on all the items so you can carefully construct your meal if you are on a diet plan. Also they have lots of gluten-free options.

You can even order your food (or catering) online. b.good is a good addition to the healthy-eating options in North Hills, and they plan to add more locations in the Triangle soon.

b.good

Midtown Park at North Hills

I-440 at Six Forks Road

Raleigh, NC

919-916-5410