$9 The Clover chain is down to five locations after its scrape with a shutdown in May, but three of those stores are in Cambridge and are still serving good, fresh and healthy food, including a bunch of sides below our $10 cutoff and one item that is essentially a small meal: eight falafel balls with tahini, hummus, pickles and cabbage. (A pita is an obvious addition here but is $1.50, going over our limit; still, it’s worth noting this deconstructed combo compares with buying Clover’s “chickpea fritter” sandwich for $11.) This is a lot for the money, and very good – everything is as you’d want it, including the crisp, hot falafel and pleasant hummus, drizzled with oil. The surprise here is the purple cabbage, which is only mildly pickled and serves as a soft but vibrant salad so good it’s distracting. Good thing Clover provides so much of it.
Clover, 496 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge; 1 Oxford St. inside the Harvard Science Center, Baldwin near Harvard Square, Cambridge; and 290 Main St. inside the Eastern Edge food hall, Kendall Square, Cambridge
