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We tried a Chinese chicken salad, turkey-avocado melt, and a tuna salad panini to get as wide a range as possible. Most of the items here are the same few ingredients combined with very slight variations – sprouts, carrots, and cucumber are in virtually every item. We liked it enough to go back, and when deciding what to order noticed the limitations of the menu. Still, if you like natural flavors subtly enhanced, this is a nice entrée, and the portion is generous. I wish they hadn’t cut up the roll because while the preparation is pretty, it’s not easy to eat neatly because it falls apart after the first bite. You get your choice of protein, and I picked the salmon poke, which has a mild marinade enlivened with sesame seeds. I must say it’s a good dressing with sesame oil and a peppery kick. Health Nut’s version is an undressed salad in a flavorless wrap until you add the protein and some of their spicy Asian dressing.

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The traditional version usually includes basil, cilantro, mint, or other sharply flavored herbs, plus a dash of tangy fish sauce or vinegar. It’s a riff on the Vietnamese classic, which is often called a summer roll to distinguish it from a fried roll. The spring roll is a salad of carrots, cucumbers, and bean and alfalfa sprouts stuffed into a slightly chewy rice flour wrap, and cut into eight pieces. The spring roll and noodle soup at Health Nut. About the only thing I would change is the very large chunks of potato, which should have been cut smaller to make spooning them up easier. Neither noodles, tofu, or skinless chicken breast add a lot of flavor, but they do lend some different textures. Diners get their choice of tuna, chicken or tofu as a protein, and the soup is served with noodles on the side that you add to taste. It’s very good, with a delicate ginger flavor that adds interest to the mild vegetarian herb stock. On our first visit we ordered the spring roll, and the Health Nut noodle soup, which one of the counter staff assured me was one of the most popular dishes. It’s a balancing act, and though they do some things very well here, they don’t always hit the mark. At the same time, the people who design these recipes need to be pretty inventive to keep everything from tasting alike. That’s a plus with this type of restaurant because when everything on the menu focuses on the flavors of fresh vegetables, there’s the potential for a lot of wastage due to the short shelf life. The menu has a fairly long list of items, but when I looked at it closely, I noticed it is the economical chef’s dream, with many of the same ingredients used in every dish. Though they opened in the former Jamba Juice location, they don’t make smoothies, but do have a few simple beverages like lemonade, and fruit tea. Health Nut is a small chain of restaurants serving exactly what you’d expect from the name – calorie and nutrition-conscious salads, sandwiches, and noodle bowls.

The recently opened Health Nut took over the former Jamba Juice location in downtown Manhattan Beach.