Just a Salad

Lately, I have been listening to the No Doubt singles CD in my Jeep over and over again.  It is just singing to me and I love to jam out.  ‘Just a Girl’ has essentially become my motto.  So it is in that mindset that I tell you about Just a Salad.  A salad that was served far beyond the meal, and far beyond the rest of my party received their food.  A salad that had the potential of being really good but fell into the category of just plain.  A salad in which I could have made at home for half the price.  A salad that was Just a Salad.

Last week, we had a work lunch meeting and opted on L’Appetito.  The original L’Appetito location in Naples is minutes from my office.  While nearly everyone opted for pizza & wings, I ordered – what else – a salad.  Yes, I love pizza and wings (from Buffalo Chips) but, I also don’t like eating a big lunch.  And I prefer to save my pig-outs for items I really love.  So I ordered the Tossed Salad with Grilled Chicken.  I told the waitress that I would not be eating pizza and that this would be my meal.  That didn’t matter – she proceeded to bring it out a good 15 minutes before everyone received their food.  Shocker.

Once there was food on the table, I began to eat.  The grilled chicken, which there was a lot of, was okay.  It tasted like it was probably either cooked the day before or some of that chicken that you get pre-cooked and reheated.  It served its purpose but I would not need to eat it ever again.  As for the salad, the greens were a mixture of lettuces and spinach.  It was fresh but not too crunchy and, by the time I ate it, it was warm.  There were a number of toppings including banana peppers, roasted red peppers, black olives, tomatoes and cheese.  By far the best elements were the black olives & fresh cheese…both were tasty & fresh.  The tomatoes were mushy beyond belief and the banana & red peppers lacked any flavor.

I ate all of my salad…no shocker there…and was full at the end.  But, I just didn’t dig it at all.  I got blue cheese dressing and ate maybe a bite of it – it was watery and flavorless.  This salad served it’s purpose for sure.  But this salad was nothing special.  The usage of sub-par ingredients, on a salad served 15 minutes before the rest of the food, just was not a good fit for me.  Plus, the service was absolutely terrible as was the Diet Coke.  A lunch of pizza took us over 1.5 hours…simply insane.  I will have no desire to return to L’Appetito for salad.  While I may be Just a Girl, I prefer my salad to be more than Just a Salad.