Salad Bars

[Fat Guy]

To address the original question a bit more directly, I don't think salad bars have gone the way of the dodo -- as in extinction. Rather, I think they have evolved into things that may not be immediately recognizable as salad bars: buffets. You don't find a lot of pure salad bars anymore. What you find are buffets with a zillion items, with a salad bar as a subset, like at Bonanza/Poderosa, Sizzler, Golden Corral, et al. Some places will allow you to get just the salad bar part of the buffet without paying for the rest, but not many. Then again it's not like the whole buffet is expensive. These buffets are usually under $10, sometimes closer to $5 at lunchtime especially with coupons.

One of our old road-trip salad bar standbys used to be Wendy's. There was a time, maybe around 1990, when there was a salad bar at most every Wendy's. Then they started expanding the salad bar into the Super Bar, which had all sorts of prepared foods in it. Then they axed the concept -- now you can't find a salad bar at a Wendy's to save your life. Pizza Hut was another, but their salad bars really suck.

I think it's worth looking for a moment at the health issue as well. Salad bars sound healthful in theory, however when you take a plate of lettuce, tomato and cucumber and cover it in eight ounces of blue-cheese-and-mayo dressing and maybe some coleslaw, potato salad and egg salad, you have a seriously caloric plate of food -- you'd be better off, calorie-wise, eating a hamburger.

[Daddy-A]

Salad bars sound healthful in theory, however when you take a plate of lettuce, tomato and cucumber and cover it in eight ounces of blue-cheese-and-mayo dressing and maybe some coleslaw, potato salad and egg salad, you have a seriously caloric plate of food -- you'd be better off, calorie-wise, eating a hamburger.

That's the fault of the diner, not the salad bar.

Many friends of mine worked at Wendy's during their "Salad Years" and the biggest trouble they had was keeping children's mitts out of the cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks!

A.

[Gigi4808]

A big thank you to Fat guy for the Souplantion link. All this week we have been mopping about that there where no souplantions near us- and low and behold!

Guess y'all know what I'm having for dinner.

[Kouign Aman]

Sizzler still has a salad bar too.

[Toliver]

I think it's worth looking for a moment at the health issue as well. Salad bars sound healthful in theory, however when you take a plate of lettuce, tomato and cucumber and cover it in eight ounces of blue-cheese-and-mayo dressing and maybe some coleslaw, potato salad and egg salad, you have a seriously caloric plate of food -- you'd be better off, calorie-wise, eating a hamburger.

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As I said before, it is possible to eat healthy at a salad bar/buffet. You just have to be aware of what you're eating, as mizducky pointed out.

At one time, the US Olympic Men's Volleyball team trained in San Diego at the Olympic Facility down there and had a dining/sponsorship deal with the Souplantation. We used to see team members at the Point Loma Souplantation on West Point Loma Boulevard (close to the beaches). I'm assuming they ate in a healthy manner at Souplantation.

[Fat Guy]

Sure, sure. The point is simply that the act of eating from a salad bar is not in and of itself nutritionally virtuous. You still have to make choices.

[Jason Perlow]

Oh hell, I could care less about the nutritious aspects. But sometimes, you just want a nice 'ol pile of raw vegetables with a creamy dressing and bacon bits.

[andiesenji]

Sizzler does have an extensive salad bar and seems to be adding items fairly often.

As Fat Guy said above, many of the "buffet" places offer salad bars.

I always liked the "smorgasborg" places - there used to be a place called Taste of Scandinavia on Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills that was wonderful.

These are the places that seem to have become extinct.

There are a few specialty buffet places around that are exceptional.

Whenever we go to Fairplex (L.A. County Fairgrounds) for an event, we try to get over to Grand Buffet on Euclid st, just off the San Bernardino freeway (I-10). I think it is in Upland.

The Claim Jumper restaurants have a pretty good salad bar.

[misstenacity]

Couple of places not yet mentioned - here in ABQ we have two "Brazilian Grill" joints, one of which has a fantastic salad bar - that would be Tucanos - that you can order without the meat-on-a-stick for $10. (With meat it is $18) BEST selection I've seen on any local salad bar, with gourmet items like quail eggs and herbed baby mozz balls, and spinach that doesn't look a week old.

(The other Brazilian place just has an OK salad bar)

We have a Sweet Tomatoes, and for my $8 lunch I was not excited. I think the variety is actually better at Souper Salad and they are $6. Sweet Tomatoes is the shiznitz if you want gorge on average pasta and pizza, however.

I WISH we had my favorite salad place of all, which exists in Tucson - Chopped. Its a local small chain that does "build your own chopped salad" to order. Fantastic stuff with great ingredients and it costs about $8 for a rather large salad (enough to get pretty full but not quite enough to split and take home for 2 meals).

We also have Il Vicino, a local chain that specializes in wood oven pizzas, but they have a fantastic and HUGE Cobb salad that masquerades under the name "Insalate Il Vicino" on their menu.

And I have also been burned by the Wild Oats & 'Food Hole' salad bar by building a $10 salad that was just OK.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Fat Guy]

My main problem with most salad bars is that there's no mechanism for tossing the salad. You just get an oval-shaped plate and you have to pile all your ingredients on it and then ladle dressing over them. When you eat it, you have to eat down awkwardly through the layers of stuff. I wish every salad bar had a stack of stainless steel bowls that could be used for tossing. Coating the salad evenly with a thin film of dressing makes it taste better yet uses less dressing.

[butterscotch]

i was thinking that's part of the reason that the salad for dinner thing has shifted over to become an at home thing- witness the endless bags of premixed greens available. you can control the type and amount of dressing, (and the heavy dressings did get a lot of bad press 10 years ago) and toss it. you can use your own really good dressing. plus, i do think the increasing availability of premixed green salad combos has taken some of the luster off going out for one.

maybe it's just me, but i want to order something i can't / won't make at home.

  Coating the salad evenly with a thin film of dressing makes it taste better yet uses less dressing.

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[ruthcooks]

About ten years ago, I was seated solo for lunch facing a Shoney's salad bar. After watching what transferences went on between diners and ingredients, I resolved never to eat at a salad bar again.

Edited to transfer rest of post to appropriate thread.

Edited July 6, 2006 by ruthcooks (log)

[Blanche Davidian]

For those in Austin, you can visit Baby Greens on South First.

[scubadoo97]

In our area we have Sweet Tomatoes, which I see is related to Souplantation. Salads, soups, breads, pasta, desserts....The typical all you can eat deal.

Okay for a change but in these places we always leave feeling stuffed as we over eat in an attempt to try a lot of what's offered.