Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Salad at Bowl


A post for my wife


My wife is a petite person. She often reads my tales of gluttony in horror. Ten-course dinners. Barbecue tastings. Filipino buffets. Plates full of Peruvian beef hearts.

I try to convince her that all those meals are the exception. When she is not around, I usually eat a small salad. I just don't write posts about all those little salads because no one would read them.

For some reason, she doesn't believe me. So this post is for her.

Bowl

Bowl is a new little salad (and sandwich) shop on Richmond between US 59 and Montrose. For $7, you can order a salad with:

•Choice of greens (romaine, spinach, iceberg mix greens)
•Choice of 10 toppings (out of a list of 56)
•1 cheese (which I skipped, of course); and
•1 dressing

You can also add a light "protein" -- beef tenderloin, herb chicken, and shrimp -- for $2.

Sure, many folks would prefer a salad bar like Souper Salad because it is all-you-can-eat. But a salad from Bowl tastes better than most salad bars because its ingredients are higher quality. I particularly liked the lemon tarragon dressing, which was light yet full of citrus flavor.

Because the salads are not very large, Bowl helps me stick to my strict portion control.

Bowl also serves 7 kinds of sandwiches. For instance, a pulled pork sandwich on ciabatta has Thai coleslaw. The executive grilled cheese includes green apples, white cheddar, and bacon. They looked awfully good.

Of course, I haven't tried any of the sandwiches, since I usually eat a small salad for lunch.

Here's the proof:


Bowl opened a few weeks ago. It is not yet open at night, but soon it plans to stay open until 7 and offer some dinner specials.

If you have to eat a salad, and are near Montrose or the Museum District, I can't think of a better place to go than Bowl.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw! Sweet post! So does she believe you now? :)

I wish I lived/worked closer in to town; that place looks really cute and perfect for a weekday lunch.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's just me but 10 items in a salad sounds like overkill. It's just hard for me to imagine their food costs are going to kill them if they don't par that list down a bit. Then again, I bet a lot of it has a good shelf life.

anonymouseater said...

Sheeats: Of course she doesn't believe me. Do you?

Anonymous: Interesting point. Some of the best salads in town (Benjy's, for example) are fairly streamlined: green + fruit + nut + cheese + dressing. This approach causes the diner to focus on particular ingredients.

Yet other excellent salads have well over 10 ingredients. For instance, I had a fabulous farmer's market salad at Reef that must have had over 15 different ingredients. This approach causes each bite to be a new and different combination.

Of course, Bowl's salads don't rise to the level of salads at Benjy's or Reef. But they are much better than the average salad bar.

Ruthie Johnson Miller said...

I've been meaning to try this place! Now I have no excuse...

Anonymous said...

I went for lunch today and tried the grilled cheese, and it was delicious - I have been singing its praises all afternoon! The cheese is a wonderful sharp white cheddar melted almost to the consistency of fondue and the apples are a perfect kick.

Inner Trooper said...

I tried Bowl last week and The Executive Grilled Cheese was the perfect! I also had the Rosemary Red Potato salad that was decent and my friend had the 10item salad that he loved! My friend also mentioned how his wife was fall in love with the place.

It was clean inside and out and was decorated with art from four distinctly different local artists.

IT

Anonymous said...

You should have been a chef/restaurant owner and a writer/food critic! Love all the photos- food really is a wonderful piece of art!

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