Something Fresh and New: Seasons 52

The week after Thanksgiving I went to lunch with Vivian and Paula. We were celebrating Paula's birthday and decided to try something new. Seasons 52 in the newly remodeled UTC, had just opened. Vivian had been invited to the soft opening, loved the place, and thought it would be the perfect place to celebrate. It was. I was recently in LA and noticed that a Seasons 52 was under construction in the Century City mall. I said to myself that whoever is behind this restaurant group must have a lot of money. I was right. Seasons 52 is part of the Darden group, which includes such chains as Olive Garden and Red Lobster. However, when I walked in the restaurant it didn't have that "chain" feeling. It was beautiful, a little dark, with lots of comfortable booths, and several private rooms for small to medium private dinner parties. The picture here is of one of the small private rooms. The kitchen is open, the servers are very well trained, and the food is delicious. The concept of Seasons 52 chain (17 restaurants and counting) is to serve fresh, contemporary food in a relaxed atmosphere, with an emphasis on offering no food item over 475 calories. They want to offer an alternative to diners that want a healthy meal. Also, the menu changes seasonally, and there are weekly specials, so there is a great deal of variety. We ordered a flatbread and two salads, and split everything between the three of us. The artichoke and goat cheese flatbread was delicious, and very thin. (what I like). We had a seared ahi tuna salad and a barbeque chicken salad. The salads were beautifully displayed and the taste was great. The ingredients used in the salad were so fresh you could taste every bit of the salad. No cheese laden, dressing laden salads at this establishment. Salads were lightly dressed, cheese was used sparingly, nuts were toasted instead of sugar coated. That's how you get a salad for under 475 calories. The desserts were the highlight. They serve mini desserts in little glass containers, which they bring to your table, so tempting you cannot resist. I had a lemon mousse and poundcake. It was so good I wanted to lick the bowl. Other choices were a pumpkin pie in a glass, chocolate mousse, and several other exotic choices. Be sure and save room for dessert. I can't wait to go back for dinner, where the menu is a bit more expansive, including trout, several steaks, shrimp and penne and lamb chops. This is a restaurant you can go to for a special night out without breaking the bank. Oh, they also have free valet parking right in front of the restaurant, so don't stress about trying to find a parking space. Catch a movie at Arclight, the new movie theatres in UTC and you've got a perfect evening.