Buffalo Salad

DAY 10: PROTEIN BAR

Protein Bar is one of my favorite places to grab a quick, super-healthy lunch. The original location of this small but growing Chicago-based chain opened a few years ago near the Willis Tower (which I stubbornly still refer to as the Sears Tower). It’s a sleek, modern, urban space designed to get busy people in and out during the lunch rush.

Protein Bar's Buffalo Salad

I love Protein Bar's story. After growing up overweight and losing his dad to a heart attack, the founder made a conscious decision to change his lifestyle. He adopted a high-protein diet and an exercise regimen, which led to a 50-pound weight loss. With a fit body and a new healthy lifestyle under his (smaller) belt, he was frustrated by the lack of healthy food options in the city, so he left his job and opened the first Protein Bar. Now there are several locations in Chicago, and the chain is expanding into other cities, including Washington, DC.

Meals are made to order at Protein Bar. You order and pay at one end of the counter, then pick up your food at at the other. Bottles of Cholula and Sriracha sauce are set out at the end of the counter for customers who want to kick up the spice of their meal, which is a nice touch. The line is usually really long, but it moves fast and the food is made quickly. I think it’s worth the 5-10 minute wait.

Protein Bar's menu includes their signature bar-ritos, bowls, salads, chili and smoothies. Organic all-natural ingredients and healthy choices flood the menu, starting with organic quinoa. This high-protein grain is in almost every dish. There are also lots of healthy sides and snacks like Skinny Pop popcorn, Kind bars, fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, Chobani Greek yogurt, nuts and more.

The Buffalo Bowl is my favorite entree. Warm quinoa is mixed with all-natural white meat chicken, cucumbers, celery, carrots, blue cheese and Protein Bar's homemade (and healthy) vegan buffalo sauce. I love it.

There’s also the Buffalo Salad. It combines the quinoa, chicken, blue cheese and buffalo sauce from the bowl with Protein Bar's “Super 6 Salad Mix” of romaine, spinach, broccoli, carrots, kale and purple cabbage. The menu says the mix “was specifically designed to capture the maximum amount of vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants and pack a hearty crunch!" Sounds good to me. Since I'm committed to salads this summer, I ordered the Buffalo Salad.

My view at lunch: The Sears/Willis Tower

The original Protein Bar location, which is where I like to go, is pretty tiny. There are a few tables for eat-in patrons, but most people take their lunch elsewhere. I took mine to a grassy park just across the street from the Sears/Willis Tower and soaked up some Vitamin D along with my protein.

Surprisingly, I love the Buffalo Salad as much as I love the Buffalo Bowl. There's plenty of tender chicken and creamy, salty cheese to make this salad substantial without being unhealthy. The chewy quinoa is sprinkled throughout the salad, enough so that it's in every bite but pretty much indistinguishable. The homemade buffalo sauce serves as salad dressing. It adds loads of wonderfully acidic flavor with a little heat, which I amplify with a liberal application of Mexican Cholula hot sauce.

Knowing how much I love the Buffalo Bowl, I was a little reluctant to order the salad. But I'm so glad that I did. With only a few more calories and lots more nutrients, the salad is a smart choice. It contains 409 calories compared to the bowl, which has 387 calories. The only downside is that it's a few dollars more than the bowl. But the quality and quantity of the added ingredients, in my opinion, justifies the added price.

Given the success of the today's adventure, I'm really looking forward to trying more Protein Bar salads this summer. Bring on the quinoa.

EATERY
Protein Bar, 235 South Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60606

ITEM
Buffalo Salad

MENU DESCRIPTION
All-natural chicken, organic quinoa, blue cheese, and our house-made vegan buffalo sauce over our Super 6 Salad Mix.

CALORIES
409

COST
$9.49 before sales tax

RECOMMEND
Definitely

Diana's Salad

DAY 6: FOODSTUFFS

One of the many things I appreciate about my job is the company's liberal work from home (WFH) policy. While I commute to the office on most days, I try to take one day a week to catch up on writing and editing in the peace and quiet of my home office, where I can focus without people wandering in and interrupting my flow.

Today was one of those WFH days.

I don't usually take much of a lunch break when I WFM. But we had decent weather today, so I ventured down the street and picked up a salad from a local grocer, Foodstuffs.

Foodstuffs has several locations scattered among the northern suburbs of Chicago. They have an extensive selection of prepared foods, baked goods, cheese, fresh seafood, wine and more. They also have lots of specialty items, like salad dressings and marinades made by local restaurants, gourmet potato chips and crisps, pricey pasta and sauces imported from Italy, specialty chocolates spiced with curry powder and other exotic ingredients...it's a fun place to shop if you're in the mood to splurge a bit.

In the back of the store is a counter where you can order salads and sandwiches. Everything is made fresh, and although there are several salads to choose from, customization and even complete deviation from the menu is encouraged.

Foodstuffs Diana's Salad

I was in a spinach mood, so I ordered a customized version of Diana's Salad. It's typically made with baby spinach, edamame, red onions, marinated mushrooms, goat cheese, sugared walnuts, dried cranberries and Foodstuffs balsamic vinaigrette. I omitted the marinated mushrooms and added grilled chicken.

Foodstuffs salads are priced by weight at $8.99/lb., so they will be happy to add more of the ingredients that you really like, or go easy on those that might be a bit indulgent. They'll chop your salad for you and dress it if you like, too, which I do.

My salad weighed in at a hefty 1.1 lbs. even though there was still room in the bowl for more ingredients. Most every salad I've had from Foodstuffs has come in around this weight, so if you go there and want something lighter, you'll have to coach them accordingly. A pound really is a lot of salad, but that meant that I had some left over to nibble when the pre-dinner hunger started to hit.

Speaking of hit, my salad hit the spot. In this arrangement, the fresh, deep-green baby spinach serves as a mild background for the sweet, chewy cranberries and crunchy sugared nuts. The creamy goat cheese delivers smooth saltiness and red onion contributes a sharp bite. The edamame adds a bit of earthy girth. And the grilled chicken provides substance that balances the delicateness of the spinach leaves—although the chicken doesn't seem to be seasoned much or at all. That would be the one thing I'd change, especially after eating chicken yesterday that was so fantastically flavored. But the rich flavor of the homemade balsamic vinaigrette makes up for the lack of pop in the protein department.

Overall, this is a very satisfying lunch even though it pushes past my $10 limit when tax is added. It might push past my 500 calorie limit, too, which I can't confirm with certainty because Foodstuffs doesn't publish calorie counts with their menu. Guessing on portions and using a caloiries calculator, I'd estimate this comes closer to 600 calories. But since I saved some of it to eat later in the day, I think that's ok.



Glencoe Beach on Lake Michigan, about 20 miles north of Chicago

 

By the way, how about the view from my "table" today? I'm lucky to live within walking distance from one of the most beautiful beaches in the Chicago area, and today I ate my lunch on a park bench overlooking Lake Michigan. If only Chicago could have summer year-round, this would be heaven on earth.

ITEM
Diana's Salad

EATERY
Foodstuffs, 338 Park Avenue, Glencoe, IL 60022

MENU DESCRIPTION
Baby spinach, edamame, onions, marinated mushrooms, goat cheese, sugared walnuts, dried cranberries and Foodstuffs balsamic vinaigrette. [Note I customized this by eliminating the marinated mushrooms and adding grilled chicken.]

CALORIES
Not listed; estimating >500

COST
$9.89 without tax

RECOMMEND?
Definitely