I enjoy a good salad bar. I have fond memories of the Diner down the street from where I grew up that had a salad bar with silver plates. In the 80’s it seemed like salad bars were everywhere. Salad was almost always included with every meal.

These days some places still have a decent salad bar. Ruby Tuesday is known for it’s salad bar, but over the years it has gone through many changes. They have changed the size of the plates numerous times. Possibly to force you to take less at a time, or more at a time depending on how much they want you to eat and spend. But it has also gotten smaller over time. I remember a time when the salad bar contained various pasta salads, tortilla chips, all sorts of different things. Now it seems everytime I see the Ruby salad bar, or almost any salad bar, it gets smaller and smaller and skimpier as well.

What happened to the salad bar? It used to be so plentiful! I went to a restaurant near my home that recently added a salad bar. The price was cheap, maybe $2.99 to add it to your meal? So I knew it would be skimpy. I had no idea. There was one container of lettuce, a thing of tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers and a dressing or two and that was about it. That does not constitute a salad bar people!

There is hope however. A salad-only cafe opened near my home. Yes it is overpriced but it is salad heaven. You design your own salad. They have tons of options to choose from if you need direction, otherwise you can just go to town. Are you in the mood for; Romaine, roasted red peppers, portobellos and mozzarella? Or perhaps you would rather; chicken, red onions, cheddar cheese and tomatoes? It is like a salad bar for the modern world. Only downside is they make it for you, you cannot touch any of the ingredients. I would prefer to make it myself, but hey I will take what I can get!

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