A Really Bad Salad

     Page Sixty-Five.
     Yesterday, I went to dinner with my sister at one of Cleveland oldest and most well known delicatessens. I wasn't real hungry so I just ordered some French Fries and a side salad. I was quite disappointed in the salad. It was a small bowl filled with a handful of light green iceberg lettuce, one small slice of soft tomato, two thin slices of peeled cucumber and a very light sprinkling of shredded carrot. It was $3.50. In who's dreams is that a good value and who even serves a boring, non-nutritious salad like that anymore?
     I don't know about anywhere else, but in the restaurants where I typically eat, here in Cleveland, Ohio, that type of salad hasn't been served in at least a decade and a half. Perhaps the fault is mine in that I naturally gravitate toward places that serve more interesting salads. But really, comparable delis in Cleveland don't even serve that type of plate anymore. My sister noticed it too and she eats out a lot.
     I almost could give them the benefit of the doubt and say it was a cost cutting thing. But romaine lettuce is no more money than iceberg anymore, two teaspoons of shredded carrots can't cost too much more than one teaspoon, a couple of grape tomatoes might increase the cost a touch but not a lot, a couple of slices of onion would've been nice, unpeeled cucumber has much needed fiber and doesn't increase cost at all and a very light sprinkling of nuts or dried berries might increase cost by $.25.
     While eating the salad, I said, "I would've loved this salad when I was ten years old. Perhaps that's specifically what they're trying to do: create a salad for a very unsophisticated palate. Who knows? And, again, this is a very well known deli here. They do a BIG business. Perhaps that's it. Maybe they figure, "why mess with success?" All I can tell you is, I'm never getting their salads ever again. (I should really write them a letter and let them know my concerns. But, who knows if I will?)