At one time, salads may have been considered “diet food”: a health-conscious meal concession, high on nutrition but low on taste. Times have changed, and the lowly salad has been given an image makeover. Eye-poppingly fresh, huge in size, and chock full of exciting and hearty ingredients, salads have gone from afterthought to satisfying meal.
At Mango Mix, an all-organic, eco-friendly juice and salad bar, customers can create their own salad or choose one of the specialty salads. Among the selections: pesto chicken paradise with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, almonds, and red onion;, and the Mango Mix, packed with spinach, mango, avocado, cranberries, and sunflower seeds.
In Harrison, the endearingly named This Little Piggy serves up soups, sandwiches, and some killer salads. Not surprisingly, the robust Cobb is the most popular among the specialty salads. (Who doesn’t love chicken, avocado, bacon, and blue cheese?) For a pleasing crunch, there’s the Oriental salad, with grilled chicken, water chestnuts, snow peas, mandarin oranges, and crispy noodles.
What sets This Little Piggy apart though are its tossed-to-order salads: choose a lettuce and then pick from a wide selection of appetizing toss-ins, priced individually. Toss-ins include veggies, cheeses (Gorgonzola, feta, goat), nuts, meats (grilled steak, chicken cutlet, deli meats), and even marinated shrimp.
M.A.D Café draws raves for its ample salad bowls, filled to the brim with fresh ingredients. Bestsellers are the steam salad, loaded with apples, spicy walnuts, craisins, and blue cheese; and the Thai chicken salad, prepared with roasted peppers, carrots, cucumbers, peanuts, scallions, and Thai peanut dressing.
Like This Little Piggy, M.A.D Café offers customers the option to build their own salads, with price determined by the number of items (four, five, or six). Standouts to try on the toss-in list: chopped egg, portabella mushrooms, mozzarella, and spicy walnuts. To complete the salad, top it off with a unique dressing like the low fat mango and poppyseed. Lunch (or dinner) is served.
Mango Mix
130 Chatsworth Ave, Larchmont
914-833-8333
This Little Piggy
64 Halstead Ave, Harrison
914-835-1121
M.A.D Café
129 Wolfs Lane, Pelham
914-738-7395
