A salad near me search in the Arts District returns a large converted industrial space that is a restaurant, a juice bar and a yoga studio at the same time. The Springs serves an entirely plant-based menu inside a building that also runs classes and treatments, which is either an appealing proposition or an eye-roll depending on your tolerance for the word wellness. The food is better than the framing suggests.
The room does three things at once, so timing matters. Ask Karpo when The Springs is quiet enough to eat properly.
What the space is
It occupies a warehouse with a high ceiling, a great deal of natural light, extensive planting and a layout that puts the dining area, the juice counter and the studio spaces in the same volume. That openness is the reason people like it and also why it is loud when a class lets out.
The Arts District is full of buildings like this: early twentieth century industrial structures, high-bay warehouses and rail-adjacent manufacturing space, converted from the 2000s onward into galleries, lofts, breweries and restaurants. The scale is what you are paying for in this neighbourhood.
Practically, this means a weekday afternoon between classes is a completely different experience from a Saturday lunchtime. If you want to eat rather than to be in the middle of a scene, pick the former.
What to order
Salads and bowls are the substance of the menu: raw and roasted vegetables, grains, pulses, nuts and seeds, with dressings built from tahini, nuts or citrus. They are generously sized and priced accordingly.
There are also raw dishes, cooked plates, soups and a long list of juices, smoothies and tonics. The juices are legitimately good and freshly pressed; the more elaborate tonic offerings are where personal scepticism can reasonably be applied.
Order a salad or a bowl plus something cooked. A meal composed entirely of raw food is less satisfying than the same ingredients with one hot element, and the kitchen does hot dishes well.
Raw food, honestly
Raw preparation preserves some heat-sensitive vitamins, particularly vitamin C and certain B vitamins, and it keeps the texture and freshness of vegetables intact. Those are real benefits and they are the reason a raw plate can taste vivid in a way a cooked one does not.
Cooking, however, makes other nutrients more available, not less. Lycopene in tomatoes and beta-carotene in carrots are both more absorbable after heat, and cooking breaks down cell walls so the body can extract more from the same quantity. Neither approach is nutritionally superior across the board.
The sensible conclusion is to eat both, which is what a well-built bowl does anyway: something raw for freshness and bite, something roasted for sweetness and depth, and fat to carry the fat-soluble vitamins in either.
The Arts District around it
The neighbourhood runs east of Alameda Street, roughly between Little Tokyo and the river. It holds galleries, a concentration of breweries, coffee roasters, restaurants and a considerable amount of large-scale street art, and it is one of the few genuinely walkable pockets of Los Angeles.
It is also a neighbourhood whose transformation displaced industrial jobs and long-term residents, which is worth holding in mind rather than pretending the lofts appeared in a vacuum.
The Metro A and E lines serve Little Tokyo on the western edge, about a ten-minute walk. Parking is a mix of lots and metered street spaces and is easier on weekdays than weekends.
Timing and practicalities
Weekday lunches are calm. Weekend brunch is busy and loud. Class schedules drive the rhythm of the room, so the half hour after a popular class ends is the worst time to arrive hungry.
Check current hours, whether the kitchen and the studio are both operating, and whether reservations are taken. Multi-use spaces change their arrangements more often than restaurants do.
What a cold-pressed juice actually is
Cold pressing uses a hydraulic press rather than a spinning blade to extract juice. A centrifugal juicer generates heat and incorporates air, both of which accelerate oxidation and degrade some vitamins; a press does neither, which is why cold-pressed juice keeps its colour and flavour longer and why it costs more to produce.
What it is not is a nutritional transformation. Juicing removes the fibre, which is the part of a vegetable that slows sugar absorption and feeds gut bacteria. A green juice is a genuinely pleasant, vitamin-rich drink and a poor substitute for eating the vegetables it came from.
The practical advice is to treat juice as a drink rather than a meal, and to pick the ones weighted toward vegetables rather than fruit if the sugar load matters to you. A juice built mostly on apple and pineapple carries a great deal more sugar than its colour suggests.
Practical notes
The Springs, Arts District, Los Angeles. Plant-based restaurant with a juice bar and yoga studio in a converted warehouse, indoor and patio seating. Confirm current hours, menu and studio schedule before going.
Go on a weekday afternoon, order one salad or bowl plus one cooked dish, take a cold-pressed juice and skip the more elaborate tonics unless curious, and walk the street art blocks toward the river afterwards.
Tags: #LosAngeles #ArtsDistrict #TheSpringsLA #PlantBased #SaladNearMe #VeganLA #DowntownLA #JuiceBar #LAFood #LAEats #WellnessLA #WarehouseSpace #HealthyEating #LARestaurants
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Ask Karpo first
Want to know when The Springs is quiet and what is on the menu today? Ask Karpo for current hours, the class schedule clash, and an Arts District walk afterwards.
