Our Green Affair bowl.jpeg
When Jeanette Gaitsman was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, her family of self-described foodies refused to let her joy for food get wiped out. And this summer, that family project will spin off its third fast-casual health food restaurant.
“We were making things at home, trying to see what Jeannette could eat,” says her sister, Jackie. “She could eat a lot—but it had to be from scratch.”
The family opened the first Our Green Affair location on Garnet Avenue in PB in 2020. Then the second popped up in Hillcrest. The new arrival this summer will hit Solana Beach in the Loma Santa Fe Plaza. And all of them have a very clear mission. “We are trying to rebrand the idea of health,” Jackie says. “We want people to have a more promiscuous palette, where they’re open to exploring a variety of textures and flavors. We want to spark a conversation.”
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Some of those sparks come from suggestive neon signage (“Professional Salad Tossers”) and playful menu items like their Thai Me Up wrap and Avocuddle Toast. The entire menu—salads, wraps, marinades, dressings, you name it—is made from scratch, honoring the type of cooking that birthed the concept. “It’s not about being sugar-free or super restrictive,” explains Jackie, who heads recipe development. “We want to make sure things are minimally processed, and we want to be able to vouch for what people are putting in their bodies. I do things by trial and error and I love experimenting.”
Our Green Affair sources local ingredients when possible, receiving regular shipments from Specialty Produce, Charlie’s Best Bread, and seafood purveyors Catalina Offshore. The sisters say the benefits are twofold: They can support local businesses without becoming too reliant on any one supplier.
Jackie and Jeanette insist the Solana Beach spot will take on a character of its own. “The concepts are meant to be sisters, not twins—they grasp from the community and environment they’re in,” Jeanette says. “The Solana Beach location will be less raunchy, more cutesy.”
