The hustle and bustle of the holiday season may take you to the The Village in Woodland Hills, the new outdoor mall on Topanga Canyon. If you’re hungry, pop into Eatsa and check it out: it’s a fully automated little indentation in the Topanga side of things that makes healthy, delicious food to go.
When I visited last week, staff were on hand to educate passersby about this unique little eatery. Here’s how it works.
Order your food from the iPad – you can select from a number of creatively designed quinoa bowls or salads, or build your own. I chose the Burrito Bowl – Guacamole, Salsa Fresca, Queso Mexicano, Asada Portabello, Grilled Corn, Warm Lemon-Herb Toasted Quinoa, Tortilla Chips, Seasoned Pinto Beans, but because everything is customizable I removed the queso, since I wanted to be dairy-free.
Then I ordered a beverage too, eatsa’s popular cucumber and melon soda, that only has 9 grams of sugar per serving. Why not? You swipe your card alongside the screen to pay. Then your name shows up on a screen on the back wall above the food cubbies.
When your meal is ready, the screen on the door of a cubby flashes your name and number, saying “Tap twice to open.” Then the door opens upward like a garage door, and voila! Your meal is revealed.
Utensils and napkins are available in slots in the wall on the right. Tables for enjoying your meal are arranged outside, or you can take your food to go. There will be an app that you can use to order in advance, and then you can just go quickly pick up your food, parking in the special eatsa spaces out front.
While it is conceivable that this entire transaction can take place without looking at or speaking to a human, the local eatsa manager and other staff were lovely and helpful. So what about the food?
Well, as a recent convert into the quinoa-loving crow (I have a Pinterest board devoted to it, and I make this recipe several times a month), I told eatsa CEO Tim Young that I am the choir he is preaching to. Fast food doesn’t have to be unhealthy, he believes. (Or expensive. The bowls start at $6.95 each.) Eatsa serves up bowls made with nutritious ingredients. My burrito bowl was delicious and I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of it before I shook up the ingredients to combine them. So here is the eatsa photo:
All of the dishes are displayed on the iPad for you to see before you select. I was in the mood for guacamole that day, I guess. It was a combination of foods that I hadn’t thought of before and I LOVED it! Can’t wait to bring my kids, because they’ll dig the iPad ordering process, and my husband will definitely compare it to the Jetsons-type predictions of the future. Well, here it is. The future is now.
eatsa
at The Village at Westfield Topanga
6320 Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Woodland Hills
eatsa.com
