A vegan walks into a restaurant . . .
I have been to a few restaurants the last five years and have eaten some chunky salads. I think the chefs making the salads have never eaten a salad. I think they think salad should be eaten like a steak—with a knife and fork.
I remade the salads to show you what they looked like and how restaurants could do better.
The first photo shows a really big salad I had at some country food restaurant in my travels through California. It was a small, inland town so I guess they don’t eat salad. First, everything was so big, just sliced. Can’t they cut food in bite sizes? And why red onion? Please, no onions on a salad unless they are caramelized onions, which are cooked for a longtime in olive oil.
The second salad I ate at some fish house in a marina. The salad wasn’t bad, but again with the chopping of the veggies. Someone just haphazardly sliced the beets and cucumbers in not so pretty shapes and tossed it on there. Actually, the beets were probably from a can and were bigger.
The third salad was good, but it was tiny. What I liked about it was everything was bite sized with grated carrots and garbanzo beans. The vinaigrette had red pepper flakes added to it with probably oregano and thyme. I loved the red pepper flakes. If all I can eat is a salad, they should offer a larger salad.
All three salads used a balsamic vinaigrette, which I have no complaints about. Also, chefs, please make sure the sugar is vegan in the dressing. You can use agave or no sugar at all. Dried stevia leaves work too if you are mixing them in a blender with other herbs. Maybe they could offer other salad dressings that are made in house like my Avocado Dressing. Avocado dressing would have to be seasonal. Avocados are in season in the winter through the spring in California. I can usually pick them in January through March and then I have to start buying local avocados and sometimes avocados from Mexico. Though I have read any fruits and veggies coming over the boarder are irradiated which may or may not be safe. The USDA article says, “One popular misconception is that irradiation may make the food radioactive.”
Usually the city or fancier restaurants are good at making salads. One of my favorite salads is the Grilled Veggie Salad at Lotus Café and Juice Bar, but they could have cut the veggies up. Again, I needed a knife.
Since we are talking salads here are some more of my salads for those restaurant chefs.
Here is this very pretty, springtime salad called Horseradish Vinaigrette and Salad.
And here is my basic salad called Mean Salad.
That’s my rant on restaurant salad.
Happy Easter and Happy Vegan!
Recipes from blog of melissacrismon.com
Copyright 2023 Melissa Crismon
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