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.
Why? The ingredients were impeccable: thin curls of perfectly ripe honeydew melon and squares of sweet cantaloupe that hit that rare, elusive balance – neither too hard nor too soft, and bursting with flavor. End-of-the-season blackberries, freshly picked nasturtium blossoms, crushed Marcona almonds, crisp Journeyman Meat Co. pancetta and a drizzle of honey surrounded a perfect orb of burrata at the center, finished with a swirl of olive oil.
The salad haunts me. Was it truly the best I’ve ever had, or simply a ray of late-summer sunshine on an otherwise drizzly afternoon? Perhaps my shock over the price was softened by a concurrent lunch special: $15 for a slice of pizza and a side salad, a rare bargain by California standards. Or maybe my brain simply stalled at the concept of a giant ball of burrata paired with pancetta.
Clearly, a $20-plus salad isn’t an everyday indulgence. Until it is.
Last night, I ordered a $20 seasonal salad at Baci Cafe & Wine Bar in Healdsburg made with arugula, shaved fennel, dates, cantaloupe and endive. Not quite as transcendent as the Sonoma Pizza Co. salad, but still excellent — thoughtfully composed, beautifully presented and made with high-quality ingredients. (Watch for my Hidden Gem story on Baci in late October.)
Is this a trend? A survey of recent menus revealed no shortage of salads priced at $18, $19 and $20 — each elevated by premium ingredients and restaurant-level finesse.
This is no longer the Round Table salad bar, which apparently has gone away, once $9.99 with a slice of pizza.
Then again, Spoonbar in Healdsburg recently launched a “Girl Dinner” happy hour: $20 gets you a Caesar salad, deviled eggs, fries and a martini. Now that’s a $20 salad I can support.
What’s your take on the rising price of salads? And what would it take for you to splurge on a $25 plate of greens? Email me at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com.