Salad

SCHOOL LUNCH MENU GLENDALE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT Today: Nachos and sunflower seeds or chicken patty on a bun or ham and cheese on a French roll or chef salad and low-fat yogurt, includes salad bar with juice and milk. Wednesday: Bean and cheese burrito or hamburger or turkey ham and cheese deli stick or chef salad and low-fat yogurt, includes salad bar with juice and milk. Thursday: Barbecue beef on a bun or chicken nuggets or turkey ham and cheese on a croissant or chef salad and low-fat yogurt, includes ice cream cup, and salad bar with juice and milk.

class Tony Kienitz and Andy Olson know how to add some spice to a salad, and they'll share their secrets on Saturday. Kienitz and Olson will lead a two-hour class at Descanso Gardens on using unusual salad and sandwich ingredients, such as sunflower leaves, sesame leaves, shiso leaves, leeks and other summer vegetables. They'll also explore oils, vinaigrette and other dressings. Kienitz is the owner of Vegetare, an edible landscape design company.

As the summer comes to an end, one of my favorite recipe developers, Dana Jacobi, realizes that the abundance of crops appearing at local farmer's markets will soon diminish. "It makes me want to get my fill by eating like a farmer, which means serving inch-thick slabs of tomato cut from two-pound beefsteaks, whole-wheat crostini spread with fresh goat cheese and showered with chopped fresh basil, and a surfeit of sugar-sweet corn," Dana writes. "To savor even more of the sun-soaked rainbow of vegetables so abundant at the end of the summer, I make a succulent salad."

Menu for Sept. 5 to 11. Meals served at 11:30 a.m. daily at: ? Adult Recreation Center 201 E. Colorado St. Glendale (818) 548-3778 ? Maple Park 821 Maple St. Glendale (818) 548-2788 ? Sparr Heights Recreation Center 1613 Glencoe Way Glendale (818) 548-2187 ? WEDNESDAY: Chicken Caesar salad, vegetable soup, carrot-pineapple salad, wheat roll, citrus fruit cup. ? THURSDAY: Turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, cucumber-tomato salad, wheat bread, ice cream.

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District offers menu choices each day at elementary schools. Students may choose a vegetarian entree. The selection varies and may either be a salad, sandwich or hot entree. Here's what's being served this week: TODAY: Munchable lunch salad with fruit yogurt or pepperoni hot pocket, crisp green salad with ranch, Tree Top flat fruit, choice of milk. WEDNESDAY: Munchable lunch salad or two mini cheeseburgers, lettuce and pickles, fresh pear, choice of milk.

The new Giuseppe’s in Montrose hits all the right notes. The owners transformed the interior of the old DaFranco’s Italian restaurant to reflect what the Montrose community is all about — family, friends and conversation. They kept the quaint brick-lined coves and wine-barrel motifs, but added long wooden tables, giant mirrors and warm lighting. They also added good, modern, affordable Italian fare. Owner Michelle Capozzoli is the daughter of Bob and Patricia Capozzoli, proprietors of the former Giuseppe’s in Glendale, so Italian food is in her blood.

This location is a tough sell, I thought as I walked across the parking lot toward the entrance of the Pizza Grill Factory in Burbank. Parking is a problem, and most of it will be dominated by Subway in the same strip mall at the corner of Olive Avenue and Victory Boulevard. Once inside the small eatery, I was impressed by its cleanliness and hospitality, and last but not least, the quality of its food. I had the Pizza by the Slice (two slices) lunch special ($3.99) that included a small drink or a salad.

GLENDALE— Kathy Allen and Lupe Bourden picked up their pasta and salad and left in a flash. The Glendale police dispatchers had to return to the phones and were unable to linger around police and firefighters who were treated to a catered lunch by the Olive Garden in Glendale on Labor Day. "We've got to get back to dispatch," Allen said. The Italian restaurant chain donated and catered lunches to local fire and police offices throughout the nation Monday. It's one way the company can thank public servants, service assistant Deborah Sanford said.

For 33 years, members of the Church Women United of Glendale have been presenting its Meals on Wheels benefit salad bar luncheon. This year's was July 20 at the United Methodist Church. All 144 seats were filled for a mere $7 a lunch — seconds allowed. Event co-coordinators Evelyn Horigan and Karil Drake supervised about 20 volunteers from local and Glendale and Burbank churches. Among the volunteers was Judy Gorham , president of the Patrons Club of Glendale Community College.

There is a chain of chicken restaurants (whose name begins with a Z) that has led the market in succulent, finger-smacking roasted chicken for years. It's definitely delicious, but the next time I'm hankering for garlicky chicken, hummus and pita, I'll be going to the brand new Frechicko. Admittedly, the main reason is that it's closer to my home in La Crescenta. But secondly, this chicken is less greasy and more flavorful. They use a multistep, multiday process to create this wonderful flavor.

T he charm of Sweetsalt Food Shop in Toluca Lake begins with the wooden sign outside advertising its name, evoking the feeling that you've been transported to a wonderful experience of a forgotten era. And it continues when you step inside and view marble and wood-topped tables against a wall with a wainscot bottom. This place has an aura of sensory pleasure, which is akin to the meal in which you are soon to partake. The menu is not extensive but well designed so that there is enough variety to give people choices without assaulting them.

F olks who work in the cluster of office buildings in the 400 block of North Brand Boulevard have something new to cheer about. Just outside their front door lies the Beyond the Stars Cafe, a small but mighty sandwich, salad and coffee spot with quality that is a notch above the ordinary. Perhaps you've seen the historic Beyond the Stars Palace. This supper-club-type theater can be rented for large social and business events. They also have the occasional public performance.

Imagine this scenario: You?ve just received a call from your best friend from high school, the one who always puts on a beautiful dinner when you visit. She?s coming tonight or maybe tomorrow, she?s not sure. You have a report to finish for work, a California Mission project to help your fourth-grader with, and you sure would like to go to that Zumba class. But you?d love to treat her to a nice meal at home. What to do? Enter the Spot. The Spot, recently transplanted from Pasadena to Glendale, is a unique dining establishment.