On Food: Fork & Salad brings the ohana spirit of healthy eating to Orange

Aug. 8, 2019 3:16 PM PT

At the corner of Chapman Ave. and Lemon Street in Old Towne Orange, Fork & Salad is serving fresh salads in an assembly-line, build-your-own style.

“It’s basically Chipotle with salads,” said Ted McCann, one of the new partners in the business that was originally founded in Hawaii in 2016 by Travis Morrin, Cody Christopher and Jaron Blosser.

“We’re all surfers and chefs,” McCann said of the team. “That’s one thing we have in common.”

The Orange location is the Maui-based chain’s third and the first on the U.S. mainland.

Walking into Fork & Salad is not about fulfilling Hawaii stereotypes — you won’t find hula girls or ukulele music in the background — but more about the spirit of healthy eating and friendliness.

“It’s our ohana,” McCann said, referring to the Hawaiian term for family. “We are all in the same canoe. It’s a philosophy we carry.”

At Fork & Salad, you can choose from 10 signature salads, two grain bowls, six sandwiches and a daily rotation of soups.

But the most popular option is building your own salad, which sounds like an intimidating process — there are dozens of vegetables, grains, fruits, cheese, nuts and seeds to choose from — but it’s broken down into three steps.

First, diners chose their greens (romaine, spinach, kale or arugula), then a protein (chicken, ahi tuna, falafel, steak or shrimp) and a dressing (avocado lime, cilantro smoked chili, lemon herb, vegetarian green goddess and ranch).

Sandwiches include a smoky papaya chicken, ahi tuna melt, and shrimp and avocado club.

Most of the items are locally sourced from California farms.

McCann stressed that everything is made in-house, from scratch, including the salad dressings.

“Nothing comes out of a can,” he said. “That is a really big difference: the flavor.”

The salads can also be made into wraps.

“You can basically have a salad burrito,” McCann said, “which is perfect for Californians.”