For as long as I can remember, salads have been reliably budget-friendly. As a senior member of the Girl Dinner Dining Out Society (a group I’ve entirely made up), my prepay day restaurant order often consisted of a large salad, maybe an appetizer, and the always-reliable free bread.
And the salad bar? A $5 food-pyramid fever dream, piled high with ranch dressing, sunflower seeds, croutons and shredded cheese with a few wilted leaves of lettuce buried somewhere beneath the rubble. Salad days were both literal and figurative in my early dining years.
So, when I spotted a $25 “tapas salad” on the menu at Forestville’s Sonoma Pizza Co. last week, it seemed borderline absurd. Then I remembered that their stunning beet and burrata salad was $18 back in 2022. First, I choked a little. Then I ordered it.
It turned out to be one of the best salads I’ve had. And, yes, I would happily pay $25 for the privilege of eating it again…