Hemp milk in your smoothie? This L.A.-based juice bar opened its first Valley location
QWENCH has opened a new Clovis location — a new juice bar serving fresh-squeezed juices, smoothies, salads, acai bowls and more.
It’s a franchised restaurant based in Los Angeles, where most of its 18 locations are open. The first in the Valley opened last week in Clovis, run by a local owner at the corner of Fowler and Herndon avenues, next door to Butterfish.
It’s a little quick-service place, but there’s a lot going on on its menu.
Like ingredients that you don’t see very often at Fresno-area restaurants, such as hemp milk, granola made from hemp and red dried goji berries.
QWENCH makes its own hemp milk and almond milk daily, along with its own peanut butter and almond butter. It also squeezes its orange and apple juice daily.
The smoothies, called “blends” here, are made with hemp milk, almond milk or Greek yogurt.
What does hemp milk taste like?
That’s a really hard question to answer because it doesn’t taste like anything else out there. It’s a bit like almond milk, but with a refreshing flavor that’s reminiscent of cucumber. QWENCH’s version is thin and sweetened with vanilla.
But if all this talk of hemp has you skeptical, don’t worry. You can get a rice bowl with Sriracha chicken and other familiar ingredients. Or an “old school” (literally, that’s what it’s called on the menu) strawberry-banana smoothie.
A big selection of protein smoothies are on the menu too, made with whey or vegan protein.
Juices
“The most popular item we sell is the raw juices,” says owner Dhruv Doshi. “We squeeze them to order.”
So unlike some places where juices are made in the morning and you’re handed a bottle when you order, QWENCH’s are made after you order them.
There are at least six kinds of juices on the menu. Options include the “clean green” made with kale, spinach, apple and lemon, and the “ignition,” made with lemon, ginger, cayenne and orange juice.
Food
If something you can chew is more your style, QWENCH also serves various bowls of food.
There are acai bowls made from the tropical berry, and Greek yogurt bowls, both topped with options like hemp granola and all kinds of fruit.
You can build your own salads made with chicken, tuna, or tofu.
And those same ingredients can be served atop rice or quinoa with other healthy toppings.
Details: 1850 Herndon Ave. Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
