Spork and Knife

For years I have wondered when somebody was going to catch on to the fact that some of us enjoy a good salad as a quick meal.  Fast doesn’t have to mean fried and recently businesses in DC have caught on. 

On top of Sweetgreen in Georgetown, the New York base Chop’t has made its way to our fair city.  The idea driving this “creative salad company” is a place where people can go to enjoy something fresh and healthy with enough variety that a person doesn’t have to eat the same thing over and over again.

I made my way to the 7th street (Chinatown) location last Friday to test their concept out.  Turning the corner from H street there was literally a line out the door.  Seriously.  Since I’d already walked a solid seven blocks to get there, I pulled my coat a little tighter and waited to make my way through the front doors. 

Once inside I found myself amidst a contolled chaos.  To paint the scene, imagine a Chipotle only instead of a grill as a backdrop, just bins and bins of different types of lettuce.  Mesclun, spinach, arugula, iceberg or romain, you choose your favorite.  Along the toppings…er “choppings” bar were rows and rows of possible salad fillers.  Avacado, edamame, grilled asparagus, hearts of palm, red potatoes and sundried tomatoes were some that caught my eye. 

The jist, as I understood it was…you walk up to the “chopping” bar and order either a custom salad, chef designed salad or salad sandwich and a dressing of your choice.  From there you let the menu be your guide.  Since the line was out the door I thought I’d give the chef designed salads a-whirl and ordered the grilled asian with chicken. (”A blend of spinach and romaine lettuce, carrots, slivered almonds, oranges, snow peas and crispy chinese noodles)   I watched as my salad assembler (for lack of a better word) put everything in a big silver bowl and handed it off to the line of choppers (I think I’m making that name up) who proceeded to dump the salad onto the chopping block and hack away with a mezzaluna knife.

Once my chopper (Seriously, are they called something else?) finished dicing my salad to minuscule proportions (makes for better probability that something gets stuck in your teeth) I chose a dressing from Chop’ts homemade dressing menu.  Wanting to go light I passed over their “exotic” recommendations of 5 flavor Asian and carrot ginger and ordered the ”spa” (AKA fat free) balsamic vinaigrette.  If you could care less about light and/or health conscious, the selection of classic dressings was voluminous and tempting. 

Finally, I was handed my pleasantly large salad and complementary roll and made my way to the register.  Eight dollars later I sat down to see what the fuss was all about. 

Thoughts

First off, my salad was large.  That’s a plus.  A second positive, the ingredients seemed fresh and full of flavor.  I did think they skimped on the amount of crunch (in this instance Chinese noodles) so they lost points in that category and the dressing I chose was almost too light.  While many would probably appreciate that fact, next time I’ll go with one of the suggested selections.

Overall, Chop’t is a great addition to the city.  Specifically to the hungry lunch crowds downtown.  Hopefully the initial craze will die down and the lines won’t be out the door for long.  I plan to head back and play around with their custom craft menu and their array of creative dressings.