Besides the house salad, the next-least value on the salad menu is the wedge salad. This plate consists of a wedge-shaped slice of iceberg—the lettuce with zero nutritional qualities—drizzled in fattening bleu cheese, sprinkled with some chopped tomatoes, and, if you’re lucky, maybe topped with a spray of diced red onion.
Bacon bits, which may or may not be actual bacon, are a required topping. These inexpensive ingredients make the salad profitable for the eatery. But the markup is just as high as the house salad, so, go ahead, and choose something else.
The Buffet . . .
The perfect place to swap germs. Food Safety News calls it the “Bacterial Buffet: All-You-Can-Eat Illness.” The reasons are different than you might think. Of course, we wonder if food safety regulations regarding food temperatures are upheld, but what, for instance, happens when a serving spoon gets dropped into the heap of food?
The entire platter must be discarded. Do you imagine that happens each time? Another issue involves the actual serving spoons. How many hands have touched that utensil before yours? Luckily, restaurants are required to change them every four hours, but still. Four hours is a long time for germs to spread.
Is the House Salad the Best Value?
Contrary to common sense, the house salad, generally a small pile of greens and shaved carrots, is not the best choice if you’re looking for some bang for your buck. The mark-up on those inexpensive vegetables is exponential.
If the menu price is around $10, you can bet the restaurant paid no more than $2 to make it. So, go ahead and order one with some nutritional value like nuts, cheese, avocado, or other yummies. The house salad may be the least expensive salad option, but you’re getting the least as well.
Seafood’s Little Secret
Most people do not know that fish markets are closed on weekends. So, if you order a seafood entrée on Monday, that little fillet may have been chilling on the ice for three days. Never order seafood on Mondays.
But don’t take my word. New York Times bestselling book, Kitchen Confidential by chef Anthony Bourdain said that he never ordered fish on Monday unless he was at a four-star restaurant.
Fresh Squeezed Pathogens
The freshest juices from the healthiest juice bars may be packed with more vitamins than a glass of Minute Maid orange juice could ever provide, but watch out for those pathogens! Most juices sold at stores are pasteurized. Pasteurization is a heating process that kills any harmful bacteria that may have entered the juice.
Foodborne contaminants like Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella are summarily removed. Another risk is pesticides. According to Food Safety News, strawberries, apples, nectarines, peaches, celery, grapes, cherries, spinach, and tomatoes contain the most toxic residue.