Salad. Bar. Raised.Salad. Bar. Raised.
The Salad Bar has finally opened in City Center in downtown Minneapolis. This is important news for those of us who troll the skyway in search of good greens and maybe some hearts of palm.
The salad kiosk concept is very Chipotle-esque. You get in line and start by choosing your greens (arugula, spinach, iceberg, or romaine) for a custom salad or by choosing from the menu of specialty salads (i.e. Cobb, Greek, etc.). They move your salad bowl down the line so that you may add veggies and grains, then proteins and cheeses. Finally, with your bowl brimming, they dump it on a cutting board and chop the bajeezus out of it with a mezzaluna. They scrape that into a metal bowl and toss it with your dressing of choice before putting it back into the deep, tulip-shaped plastic bowl. And there it is, you're gone. A basic salad with four veggie/grain toppings starts at $6, with protein, premiums, and cheese adding to the bill. My spinach salad with tomatoes, onions, celery, avocado, feta, and grilled chicken was $9, and it was a pretty big bowl.
My salad was good and fresh, some of the things I would have picked (cucumbers, hearts of palm!) were out, but there was still A LOT of goodies to choose from. As a shortish human, I will add that the plexiglass sneeze-guards seem a bit high, so high that I found it hard to communicate with the shortish humans on the other side making my salad. That, coupled with the chopping noise from the choppers, made communication a bit rough (leading to some unfortunate beets on my salad) ... but Amazons and Nordic Olympians should be fine. I will certainly go back (especially when shopping for shiny baubles at nearby Len) and am excited to try a few of the specialties.My salad was good and fresh, some of the things I would have picked (cucumbers, hearts of palm!) were out, but there was still A LOT of goodies to choose from. As a shortish human, I will add that the plexiglass sneeze-guards seem a bit high, so high that I found it hard to communicate with the shortish humans on the other side making my salad. That, coupled with the chopping noise from the choppers, made communication a bit rough (leading to some unfortunate beets on my salad) ... but Amazons and Nordic Olympians should be fine. I will certainly go back (especially when shopping for shiny baubles at nearby Len) and am excited to try a few of the specialties.
