Juicey Lucy's Will Cure What Ails You

Juicey Lucy's

Turns out, you don't have to be a burlap-swaddled freegan or a yoga mom to love juicing. Juicey Lucy's, the thrice-weekly farmer's market star, dishes out a smattering of juices that make us feel so good we keep skipping back. There's no sacrifice of taste for health to be made here, and though the thoughtful and balanced blends sit on the cusp of conventional, they're saved by unexpected ingredients like daikon, pollen, and collard greens.

Granted, items like the Alkaline (4 ounches of straight-up greens) may not tickle everyone's fancy, but blends like the Moroccan Sunset (carrot, orange, beet, mint, ginger, fennel) and the Ginger Rogers (carrot, apple, orange, ginger) are cleansing and palatable. Delicious, actually.

Like most juice bars, this one has a liver cleanse (apple, beet, lemon, ginger) and lots of functional options like the stomach-soothing Surfer based on carrots and apples with tummy-calming add-ons such as ginger and parsley; or the über-fibrous Vegetable Vitality packed with greens, carrots, and beets. The date shakes are likewise creative and craveable, filled with dates, bananas, and alternative nut milks. Lucy's mixes up the classic recipe with warming spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, or packs a citrusy punch with fresh oranges.

Juicey Lucy's

Looking to kick a cold or cure a hangover? Just ask. The women behind the counter are impressively schooled in the functionally nutritious value of each herb, fruit, nut and vegetable they use. And for an extra few bucks you can get it all in old school mason jar with a handle.

For hungrier folks there are always good raw snacks of the fruit and nut variety, or vegan friendly wraps with tempeh, hummus, and sprouts, and a soup of the day slow-cooked with the best of the market produce. Everything here is relatively simple, but of excellent quality.

Juicey Lucy's floats between the Nopa, SF Kaiser, and Noe Valley farmers' markets, and also offers an array of juicing programs and cleanses that you can get delivered to your door daily by the Lucy's juice truck. While Juicey Lucy's blends are our favorite in San Francisco, the delivery programs are pricey enough to make us think a juicer might be a wiser investment (as long as we actually use it). Still, we swore our allegiance to the Mona Lisa long ago -- a ruby-hued fix of goodness that kicks your insides into gear.