Salad Days

Offering healthy ingredients from kale to quinoa, made-to-order salad restaurants are the trendy fast-food alternative. But—watch out!—these “green” go-tos sometimes pack more fat and calories than pizza and French fries. Here’s the leafy lowdown on how to make your midday meal a true power lunch.

- Joanna Powell

“YOU DON’T WIN FRIENDS WITH SALAD,” HOMER SIMPSON TAUNTED HIS VEGETARIAN DAUGHTER BACK IN THE ’ 90S . But fast-forward 20 years and—doh!—things could not be more different.

These days, old-school snipes about “rabbit food” and “sad sides” no longer apply to the elaborate green concoctions drawing the culinary spotlight. With chefs embracing vegetables and veganism on the rise, salad is having a moment—and the $300 million industry just keeps growing.

Thanks to the explosion of chains like Chopt, Sweetgreen, Saladworks, Tender Greens, Grabbagreen and Just Salad, to name a few, veggie-cravers who’ve long hungered for healthier fast fare now have new options (albeit with lines out the door). With their chic, Apple Store-esque decor, exotic fresh and local ingredients, and mezzaluna knives clacking in the background, these thriving fast-casual salad boîtes are striving to make us put down our sandwiches for good.

But are these “fast-casual” made-to-order salad places really as healthy as we like to tell ourselves? Or are we just piling up a big calorie bomb that leave us feeling (erroneously) virtuous? “For many people, it's a badge of honor when they eat a salad,” notes Wendy Bazilian, DrPH, RDN, and owner of Bazilian’s Health in San Diego. “Even if it’s 1,500 calories and equals a pizza and a soda in terms of calories and fat, you still get to say ‘salad.’”

People often get into trouble with extras such as cheeses and nuts, dried fruits, oils and dressings, which are otherwise nutritious but quickly rack up calories if you aren’t mindful of the sum total.