CLEAN SLATE FOOD CO.

Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★

Cafe w/ health-conscious plates and to-go options

Perfect For: Breakfast/Brunch; Casual Dining; Takeout; Vegan Options

Standout Dishes: Shaved Pork Loin Sandwich; Daily special; Carnitas Rice Bowl; Pork Enchiladas

Eating out and eating healthy rarely go hand in hand. The amount of butter, cream, salt, and fat that goes into most restaurant dishes is a double-edged sword: it tastes awesome, but it’s going to cost you some extra time at the gym.

So when Clean Slate Food Co., a Lincoln-based meal delivery company, opened a brick and mortar space in Millwork Commons, it made a bold statement: here you could not only find tasty dishes, but ones that wouldn’t break your diet.

It’s safe to say they’ve succeeded. Health-conscious food has no business tasting this good.

There are 3 ways to access Clean Slate’s food (all of which include vegan options):

Order weekly menus online that are delivered to your home
Order from the menu inside Millwork Commons and enjoy your meal in the cafe
Snag some of Clean Slate’s grab-and-go meals out of the fridge and eat them at your convenience at work or home

While all three offer a delicious, healthy experience, food is best experienced hot, fresh, and recently created by the chefs. If you want to experience this food at its finest, you need to visit the cafe.

Clean Slate’s cafe is small, with only seating for about 25 people, but it’s cozy and well-lit. The menu is limited, with only about a dozen items (half breakfast, half lunch, though all are available throughout the day).

What the options lack in depth they make up for in care and execution. Each has been carefully crafted and executed, and they provide great examples of what one can expect when ordering a meal plan from Clean Slate.

The most popular, according to the owners, is the Shaved Pork Loin Sandwich, and it’s not hard to see why. This item is a perfect encapsulation of what Clean Slate does really well: on the surface, it’s a pork tenderloin sandwich. That’s not too exciting, right?

But Clean Slate adds flavor without layering on the fat and calories. That tender, juicy pork is draped with smoked gouda and topped with a creamy garlic mustard aioli.

But the dominant flavor is the punchy citrus chimichurri, which adds a fresh, vibrant pop that brings this sandwich to life, and a crusty sourdough ciabatta roll absorbs every drop of sauce-y goodness.

One might think a restaurant dedicated to health-conscious food would be overflowing with salads, but Clean Slate’s menu has just one: the Fennel Citrus Salad. And given the flavor, it’s not hard to see why they stuck with one offering. Spinach and baby kale are interspersed with punchy chunks of grapefruit, sweet roasted beets, tangy goat cheese, and crunchy seeded crackers.

Clean Slate also offers daily specials, typically one entree and a soup. Check this board before ordering; this is where the chefs really get to display their creativity and showcase what they’re inspired by. On one of my visits, that resulted in a Swordfish plate, featuring a flaky steak that was seared masterfully. The mild flesh was amped up by a vibrant lemon caper sauce. And the cous cous was cooked perfectly: these pearls were so tender and creamy you barely had to chew them.

Don’t have time to eat in the cafe or need meals throughout the week? Clean Slate’s grab-and-go meals heat remarkably well, requiring only a few minutes in the microwave in their safe containers. The lids include not only the ingredients used in each dish, but also macronutrient counts.

The Carnitas Rice Bowl features succulent pork, fluffy basmati rice, and a vibrant green chile sauce I’d happily enjoy on just about anything. The Pork Enchiladas too employ tender pig, but encased with cheese and corn inside tortillas and topped with a zesty chipotle crema.

If you’re avoiding meat, Clean Slate’s vegan-friendly meals don’t sacrifice on flavor. The Sweet Potato Rice Bowl offers all the flavorful elements of the carnitas version, but with caramelized hunks of sweet potato replacing the swine. And the Buffalo Cauliflower Wrap is no everyday veggie wrap; the hearty cauliflower adds a touch of heat to complement the fresh veggies, all wrapped in a griddle tortilla.

The offerings inside of Clean Slate’s to-go fridge change weekly. Though there are staples you’ll consistently find, the chefs are constantly coming up with new dishes that defy expectations.

Most entrees at Clean Slate are between 400-700 calories, helping them fit into a healthy lifestyle. The portion sizes are a bit smaller than you’ll find at most restaurants, but that speaks more to the overabundance that other joints put on a plate than to Clean Slate not giving you enough.

The best way I can sum up Clean Slate is this: after each meal, whether in person or through a to-go meal, I’ve felt three things: full, clean, and satisfied. That’s a rare combo when it comes to eating out, but it’s a goal that Clean Slate achieves.