The Land of Secret Salads

Long-term readers of this blog will know that I've been advocating for more places that offer quick, healthy food options in Forest Hills for quite some time. My hopes reached a pinnacle several years ago when I was contacted by one of the make-your-own salad chains with many stores in Manhattan about their interest in finding a suitable location in our neighborhood. Their interest lasted several months before they apparently gave up. I was never told why.

Since then, the availability of such healthier fare has come in fits and starts in Forest Hills. And now, the latest incarnation of it is rather clever, in my opinion. 

Since we did have a couple of small independent dedicated make-your-own salad restaurants open and then close several years ago, it seems either by strategy or just by coincidence this food option is now seeing a resurgence along Austin Street, albeit tucked away as often hard-to-discover parts of pre-existing businesses. It seems these store owners are not quite ready to trust Forest Hills residents at wanting much more than the calorie-laden pastries or ethnic cuisines that we are overflowing with. Thus, we all live in New York City's only Land of Secret Salads. The option is being offered by these places, often shyly and quietly, without the risk of financial failure that comes with a standalone shop. 

The latest option to join Natural's make-your-own salad bar, and other pre-made salad options available from the coffee shops, diners, Ripe and La Boulangerie, is a bit bolder, however. It even has its own name and sign!

I-CE-NY, the ice cream place next to Shake Shack on Austin Street, is now apparently also "efresh", offering a variety of soups, wraps, bowls, smoothies, and yes, customizable, make-your-own salads. I recently tried one of these salads and it was great - nice and fresh and tasty.  It's an extremely clever move by I-CE-NY, and I think they might just find it ends up eclipsing their ice cream business, as the demand for healthier food options remains quite high in Forest Hills. I discovered the place by finding their menu at NYSC. Another smart move to put it there so fit-conscious local residents can learn about it. (It would have been even smarter, by the way, if they had contacted their local blog, Edge of the City at edgeofthecity@gmail.com, but that's another story.) Kudos to I-CE-NY for understanding what Forest Hills really needs and being smart enough to provide it!

Two Things We Could Use in Forest Hills

A Make Your Own Salad place. Yes, I'm still hoping one of these opens in Forest Hills. We've come close - I know a major chain was interested in Forest Hills several years back. But still no takers. With Shake Shack, Bareburger and other chains now open on Austin Street, it's obvious there's certainly enough of a demand for a different kind of fast-casual lunch or dinner option in Forest Hills. Why it hasn't happened yet? Who knows. For now, anyone craving the healthy ease and convenience of something like a Chopt or a Just Salad can swing by Natural, where they have a make-your-own salad station, albeit quite awkwardly set up amidst the checkout line.

An indie bookshop: My calls for an indie coffee place resulted in not one but two opening in FoHi, and right across from each other on Austin Street no less. Surely, we can do the same with an indie bookshop? Now that indie bookstores are experiencing a resurgence as consumers realize e-books just don't always cut it, the thousands of readers here in Forest Hills are left with either going to the library, ordering on Amazon, visiting the newly-opened Kew & Willow bookshop in Kew Gardens or venturing over to one of the remaining Barnes & Nobles in Manhattan or somewhere else. But there is simply nothing like having your own local bookshop in your community. It can become a haven for book lovers, hosting author readings and other related events. And how delightful is it to escape a hot summer day by wandering into your local bookstore, and feeling that refreshing AC cool you down as you meander through the aisles, stopping here and there to pick up a book and just escape from the daily grind?

   

On the Cusp of Salad

My quest for an easy, effortless way to obtain a salad in Forest Hills is almost over, but not quite. Yes, this simple desire, so easily fulfilled in countless other neighborhoods in New York City, remains stubbornly out of reach of us Forest Hillers—unless, that is, you are willing to play by the rules.

For example, the wonderful new make-your-own salad bar at Natural is oh so inviting and a fantastic idea. But then there are its sketchy hours of operation—apparently they only make the salads during the day-time. And since no hours of operation are posted on the salad bar, when you are going to be delighted with a crisp, freshly customized salad of your own choosing, and when you'll be greeted by a sad empty metal salad space remains uncertain. Not the best way to plan your salad days.

The new wonderful cafe OvoSodo on Queens Blvd. near Ascan has a customized salad option. But it's not a salad bar. You have to order what you want off the menu. Not a salad option for us harried New Yorkers who want to see salad, point, mutter, and leave.

BareBurger has some incredibly complex, inventive and healthy salads. But, once again, sans bar. You have to order it off the menu like you would one of their scrumptious Bison Burgers.

In this age of Just Salad and Chop't, where freshly-built, custom-made salads are just a short line wait away for millions of other New Yorkers, I long for the day of a no-drama, streamlined salad operation that will bring Forest Hills truly into the 21st Century and help all of our waistlines. There are a lot of chubby Forest Hillers who are only getting chubbier.

Behold! Natural's new semi-open salad bar:

Make Me a Salad!

... someone, please! I think we're overdue for a salad place like a Chop't or Just Salad. Don't you all think it's about time? Why is this so hard? Our neighborhood can definitely support one of these places now (God knows we have tons of frozen yogurt, the same type of consumer!) Ok, I dare one of you guys to open up here in Forest Hills! I dare ya!