The boyfriend & I tried a new place near the house last night; there are two other locations in the area, but this one opened where our favorite breakfast place (a diner-ish thing) used to be. They completely remodeled the building.

Anyway, they don't have a website, but the menu is pretty neat and innovative for where we are. They have a huge number of sandwiches and wraps (and have sourdough bread shipped in from San Francisco and rye bread from NYC). City's Cafe and Marketplace, if you're near Tampa/St Pete and want to look them up.

Okay, I'm getting to it, the neat part. Create your own salad. $5.50, Field Greens, Fresh Spinach, or Romaine. That comes with 5 of any of the following for free (and more than that are $.50 each): alfalfa sprouts, broccoli, black beans, beets, black olives, croutons, carrots, cauliflower, chick peas, chopped eggs, corn, cucumbers, green peas, green peppers, sliced mushrooms, mandarin oranges, raisins, roasted peppers, walnuts, red onions, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, tomato.

Whew. AND THEN..for $1.00 each, Maytag blue cheese, chopped feta, pecorino romano, Vermont cheddar, pine nuts, avocado, grilled asparagus, grilled zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated tofu.

I know! For $2.00 each, Chevre goat cheese, albacore tuna, blackened chicken, chicken salad, applewood bacon, turkey breast, grilled chicken breast, honey maple ham.

For $3.00 each, grilled tuna steak, grilled salmon, grilled sirloin steak, grilled shrimp.

And dressings: buttermilk ranch, balsamic vinaigrette, honey mustard, caesar, blue cheese, sherry vinaigrette, hoisin sesame, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Because everything's made on site that can be, you can ask for, say, balsamic vinegar and oil on the side to make your own dressing (and they're all served on the side anyway). Plus they've got a beer/wine license, so in theory, I could go in, have a salad and a glass of wine and get out for under $10. The kitchen's open, so you can see them cooking and assembling, which I (personally) prefer in a "fast-food" environment. It's not rush in, rush out, but our dinner last night took about 10 minutes to get to us (you walk up and order, then they bring it to you), and they have call-ahead.

I grabbed a menu and plan on using it to inspire some salads in the future--I get stuck in ruts as far as those go and will eat the same thing until I get sick of it. Maybe it'll inspire a couple of others (which is why I posted that big ol' list of food!).

there's a place like that here called Salatas

I think its a national chain, but I can't find their web site.

quote:

Originally posted by Preciousmew:
Wish I lived in Florida..Or maybe they will bring these up to GA...There by Publix...New restaurant called Crispers..

Here's a link
http://www.crispers.com/index.php

Heather

Heather,
Try "Doc Greens", they are all over the Atlanta Metro area. I ate there yesterday for lunch and had the build your own salad.

I had romaine, cukes, granny smith apples, grapes,sunflower seeds, feta cheese and grilled chicken. I had it with balsamic vinaigrette, but asked for half the amount they normally use. It was a GREAT salad.

Dawn

Wish I lived in Florida..Or maybe they will bring these up to GA...There by Publix...New restaurant called Crispers..

Here's a link
http://www.crispers.com/index.php

Heather

I love the idea. I would eat at a restaurant like this two or three days a week if we had one here.

We have a similar restaurant here in the Atlanta area, but not as many sandwiches and wraps, but with the create your own salads.

It is called "Doc Green's" and the slogan is "Healthy as you want to be".

I like it pretty well.

Dawn