After being on the road for a little over six hours, we settled in to our hotel and stopped at Cali, where they serve “California inspired bowls, brick oven pizzas, fresh wraps – all made to order.” There are four locations in South Florida all part of the Ciccio Restaurant Group, and this one in South Tampa was 5 minutes from our hotel.
We started with the “Golden State,” one of their house made juices, and is made from carrot, apple, ginger, and lemon; and the “Lavender Cacao” wellness latte, which is raw cacao, CBD oil, maca, and lavender simple syrup. I had mine with almondmilk, as dairy milk doesn’t exactly agree with me.
We also started with the Crispy Artichokes with lime Caesar dressing, which was fried in a tempura batter and very delicious.
For their Cali bowls (which is very customizable), you first pick a bowl itself, followed by a base, and finally a protein. My mom chose the Thai bowl, which consists of mango, scallions, jicama, carrots, cilantro, crispy wontons, peanut aioli, and togarashi (a Japanese spice blend). She went with the suggested base and protein of Udon noodles and chargrilled chicken.
For mine, I chose the Mexican bowl, which had black beans, cheddar (they also note that you can replace cheese in any menu item with vegan cheese with no extra cost), pico de gallo, smashed avocado, lime sour cream, and a side of salsa. I opted for a base of mixed greens and jackfruit carnitas for my protein, and added pickled jalapeños to the mix.
Everything was very fresh, tasty, and not too heavy, and the perfect end to a very long road trip day. My only con? That they don’t have one near me!