Tasty Beach Cafe

Look around at what's on the tables of the hordes who pack tiny Tasty, and it's a cinch to see that ersatz junk food is not the main draw. The most popular plates are salads — and no wonder; the produce isn't wilted salad-bar stuff, but wonderfully fresh. Especially appealing is the Garden D-Lite, which comes in two sizes. This signature salad features vine-ripe tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, red and green pepper strips, a big crescent of creamy avocado, and a sprinkling of pine nuts. There are salads that add fairly low-fat protein to the produce: a light though intensely herbed tuna; a binder-free egg. And some sandwiches are really just the cafe's salads on its very good bread; the reinterpreted buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad, for instance.