RESTAURANT REVIEW:

Bella Terra Mall is deceptively large, and walking around the area can build up a hunger.

At least it did for me. I was forced to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond with a friend so she could have another opinion on a sheet set she was looking at.

It wasn’t my input she wanted, but my brawn. I was brought along to lug around her purchases.

At the 90-minute mark (45 of which I swear was deciding on a white or off-white bed sham) I was ready for lunch.

Sorry, but this pack mule was done, I told her. I sat on a bench and wasn’t budging until I was fed.

Fortunately I got to make the decision on lunch or our meal might have turned into dinner.

Tacone Flavor Grill caught my eye. The menu out front looked promising, so we gave it a try.

Though they are open until 9 p.m., this would be a much better spot for lunch than dinner.

The menu is primarily sandwiches, salads and wraps, though there are a couple of heavier items, such as the global grill platters that would be appropriate for dinner.

The platters have chicken, shrimp, steak or turkey and come with salad and a choice of fries, chips, rice, coleslaw, black beans or chips and salsa.

We started with a four-cheese quesadilla. It is one of three quesadillas, the others being tomato, mozzarella and pesto and barbecue chicken.

The four-cheese quesadilla is basically the barbecue chicken without the meat. It has smoked Gouda, cheddar, Monterey jack and Mexican cojita.

Added in the grilled flour tortilla is pico de gallo salsa, which adds flavor, but at the expense of the cheeses. I would order this without the salsa next time so I could get the full taste of the cheeses.

My selection for lunch was the Chick-A-Boom grilled sandwich. It had grilled chicken breast, turkey bacon, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, melted jack cheese and a creamy balsamic dressing.

It was quite a tasty sandwich, and the bread was not so heavy that took away from the meat and other ingredients.

It is one of four panini sandwiches offered. There is also a roasted turkey with chopped cilantro and a veggie sandwich that has grilled zucchini, squash, onions and bell peppers.

If I wanted really light, I should have gone with one of the 11 wraps.

The most popular is the Malibu melt. It grilled or breaded chicken, Swiss cheese, avocado romaine lettuce, tomato and honey mustard dressing. My friend got the Thai cone wrap, which has grilled chicken, jasmine rice, peanut sauce and Thai cucumber salad.

The other wrap that looked appealing was the perfect 10, which had black beans, sautéed onions, bell peppers, avocados, shredded cabbage, salsa, cilantro, cheddar cheese and Tacone rice. The Tacone rice is a saffron rice.

I was surprised there weren’t more salads on the menu, and the four they had were variations of the wraps. In fact, the salads can be made into wraps if requested.

It was refreshing to see an alternative to soda for a drink. There are five smoothies on the menu. I had the Blue Voodoo, which is blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, low-fat yogurt and apple juice.

Our meal did not last as long as I would have liked. My friend was ready to tackle Kohls and Burlington Coat Factory. At least I was well nourished for the excursion.

TACONE FLAVOR GRILL

Address: 7811 Edinger Ave., Huntington Beach

Phone: (714) 893-1864

Cuisine: fast food

Alcohol served: none

Price range of entrees: $4.99 to $7.99

Family friendly: yes, kid’s menu with four items

Credit cards accepted: American Express, Visa and MasterCard

Rating: ** 1/2 out of 4

JOHN REGER reviews restaurants for the Independent.