Tuesday, July 25, 2006
In a New York Minute
Lunch in midtown Manhattan is pure and utter chaos. Lines are outrageously long and food service employees move at lightning speed to accomodate us frenzied New Yorkers, eager to get our food and return to our desks. The most chaotic of the chaos is The Salad Bar. I don't remember how salad bars worked outside of New York (are they self serve?) - but I remember being TERRIFIED of them when I first moved here. It was months before I would approach one and that was only after observing for quite some time and with L at my side to help guide me.
Here's how it works. You choose a plastic container of lettuce- options are generally baby spinach, mixed greens and romaine. Extra points to you if you choose baby spinach, this means you are extra healthy. You hand over your lettuce to the nice man behind the salad counter and he dumps it out into a stainless steel bowl and then looks at you expectantly. At this point, you tell him what you want in your salad, and there is NO ROOM for hesitation. They are very quick on the draw and don't like to be held up. The options are endless. Chick peas, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, tandoori chicken, feta cheese, kidney beans, walnuts, pine nuts, carrots, croutons, mozzarella cheese, apples, raisins, pears, tofu, chopped tomatoes, plum tomatoes, on and on and on. Each item costs anywhere from $.25 to $2.00 (shrimp and special kinds of tuna). Then you tell them what dressing to put on and they mix it all up with tongs and dump it back in the plastic container and pass you down to the register where you then proceed to pay an exorbitant amount of money.
And although it's never spoken out loud, the salad bar is one giant competition to see who can create the healthiest salad. Cheddar cheese? FORGET IT. You choose that to go on your salad and you can practically here the collective gasp of horror from all the women in line behind you. Feta or gorgonzola are really the only acceptable cheeses, but it's really better if you skip the cheese altogether. I don't know why they even bother stocking ranch dressing at salad bars because I have NEVER seen it requested, except by me before I understood the guerrilla warfare that is The Salad Bar. The only dressing options ever chosen are anything reduced fat or fat free. Karen, my best friend, actually beats everyone at the salad dressing game by choosing absolutely no dressing at all. Yes, she is a little crazy.
Today my salad consisted of: mixed greens (not quite up to par with baby spinach, but it's better than romaine), cranberries, pistachios, gorgonzola, grapes, pears and reduced fat sherry-shallot dressing. It you had told me 3 years ago that I would one day find this combination to be delicious I would have accused you of smoking crack for the past 24 hours straight. But after a few years of acclimating myself to Salad Culture in New York City, I have to admit that it was TASTY.
The chocolate chip cookie for dessert helped.....
Here's how it works. You choose a plastic container of lettuce- options are generally baby spinach, mixed greens and romaine. Extra points to you if you choose baby spinach, this means you are extra healthy. You hand over your lettuce to the nice man behind the salad counter and he dumps it out into a stainless steel bowl and then looks at you expectantly. At this point, you tell him what you want in your salad, and there is NO ROOM for hesitation. They are very quick on the draw and don't like to be held up. The options are endless. Chick peas, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, tandoori chicken, feta cheese, kidney beans, walnuts, pine nuts, carrots, croutons, mozzarella cheese, apples, raisins, pears, tofu, chopped tomatoes, plum tomatoes, on and on and on. Each item costs anywhere from $.25 to $2.00 (shrimp and special kinds of tuna). Then you tell them what dressing to put on and they mix it all up with tongs and dump it back in the plastic container and pass you down to the register where you then proceed to pay an exorbitant amount of money.
And although it's never spoken out loud, the salad bar is one giant competition to see who can create the healthiest salad. Cheddar cheese? FORGET IT. You choose that to go on your salad and you can practically here the collective gasp of horror from all the women in line behind you. Feta or gorgonzola are really the only acceptable cheeses, but it's really better if you skip the cheese altogether. I don't know why they even bother stocking ranch dressing at salad bars because I have NEVER seen it requested, except by me before I understood the guerrilla warfare that is The Salad Bar. The only dressing options ever chosen are anything reduced fat or fat free. Karen, my best friend, actually beats everyone at the salad dressing game by choosing absolutely no dressing at all. Yes, she is a little crazy.
Today my salad consisted of: mixed greens (not quite up to par with baby spinach, but it's better than romaine), cranberries, pistachios, gorgonzola, grapes, pears and reduced fat sherry-shallot dressing. It you had told me 3 years ago that I would one day find this combination to be delicious I would have accused you of smoking crack for the past 24 hours straight. But after a few years of acclimating myself to Salad Culture in New York City, I have to admit that it was TASTY.
The chocolate chip cookie for dessert helped.....
