New juice bar: Juice Box

A friend of mine (a paddler and Insanity Workout disciple), practically beat down the door of Juice Box when it opened last month. A juice bar is what she's always wanted in the neighborhood (Diamond Head). Apparently, she's not the only one. Young women, post workout, stream into Juice Box both times I visited.

Juice bars have spread from Los Angeles into other big cities ever since Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a documentary chronicling 310-pound Joe Cross and his path to health via a 60-day juice cleanse. I can't imagine that the frequenters of Juice Box, however, have ever looked like pre-juice cleanse Joe Cross.

Juice Box attracts the fit, healthy and beautiful. On the menu: fresh-pressed juices such as the Green Lemonade, a blend of kale, spinach, celery, apple, lemon and ginger; and the Red Queen, with beet, apple, kale, cabbage and grapes. Many people order the juices, but Juice Box also offers smoothies that cram in fruits and vegetables, most made creamy with almond milk. (The difference: juicers separate the juice from the pulp, whereas for smoothies, the entire fruit and vegetable is liquefied.) Add-ins include flax, chia and hemp seeds. Basically, Juice Box has the dream fridge and pantry of kale worshipping health nuts.

You see the juicing magic happen in front of you: a mound of fruits and veggies reduced into a cup. Hence the prices: $8.99 for 16 ounces, $13.49 for 24 ounces. Two pounds of organic produce, I'm guessing at an average of $2.50 a pound, means it's five dollars for the raw ingredients alone.

Juice Box, 3118 Monsarrat Ave.