Delicious greens

Snappy Salads

5941 Greenville

214.361.7627 (SNAP) snappysalads.com

AMBIANCE: CASUAL

PRICE RANGE: $3.70-$14.55

HOURS:

MON-SAT: 11 A.M.-9P.M.

SUN: 11A.M.-3P.M.

Chris Dahlander, the founder and owner of Dallas-based Snappy Salads, worked for Brinker International as the marketing director for Romano’s Macaroni Grill for eight years. After a while, all the discounted food with Brinker started taking a toll on his waistline. “I was getting heavier and heavier, and I looked at myself in the mirror one day and thought, ‘Oh my God, I don’t want to be that way,’” Dalander explains. So he started eating salads, but most places made it difficult, if not impossible, for customers to customize their salad orders. “That really irritated me,” he says. Other places felt too “girly” or too aged, he says. Nothing seemed to fit his needs. Finally, while stuck on a flight, both hungry and frustrated, he began to brainstorm, jotting down things he wanted in a salad joint — create-your-own, high quality, fast. After plenty of research and more brainstorming, he finally took the plunge. In 2006, he opened his first location at Preston and Forest, followed by several others, including his latest location at Greenville and Southwestern. The stores are focused on being ecofriendly, from recycled tables and countertops, to hanging lights that use less than 350 watts of electricity in the entire dining area. The location on Greenville is cozy and comfortable, yet masculine enough to lull the salad-skittish male population. That, of course, shouldn’t be surprising, given the restaurant’s tagline: “So good, even guys like our salads.” The beauty of the create-your-own salad is that each one is whatever guests want it to be — heavy, light, generous, sparing, healthy, nutritious, flavorful. But one thing is standard: The salads are always fresh. Lettuce and other produce is cut daily. “Anything that looks like it’s been chopped, we chopped it,” Dahlander says. Each location also has a culinary manager who cooks fresh batches of soups every day. Perfect for cold, wintery days. —Brittany Nunn

1 Seasons 52

This NorthPark Center eatery has separate garlic-free, lactose-free and vegan menus for all sorts of diets. The lemongrass salmon salad, with mango, jicama and toasted sesame dressing, dispels the myth that salad is simply “rabbit food.”

8687 N. Central, Ste B307 214.361.5252 seasons52.com

2 Cedars Mediterranean Mezza and Grill

Don’t miss the salad bar, which is packed with hot and cold salads alike. The roasted cauliflower and the couscous salad are standouts.

8141 Walnut Hill, Ste 1200 214.373.8141 cedarsmezza.com

3 Enchilada’s

Tex-Mex doesn’t have to mean refried beans and greasy tortillas. Salad doesn’t have to mean tasteless greens. The fajita salad at Enchilada’s offers the perfect blend of fresh roughage, melty cheese and sizzling, spicy, hot-off-the-grill protein, all inside a crispy shell.

7050 Greenville 214.363.8969 enchiladasrestaurants.com

Grub Burger Bar

opened in November on the ground floor of Energy Square on Greenville at University to long lines of meat eaters. Grub originated in College Station and also has a Houston location. They serve upscale burgers ground daily from brisket and Angus chuck on buns baked hourly in-house. Homemade toppings and sauces include peanut butter Thai, tequila lime aioli and ghost chili pepper. The setting is casual chic with rusted-wire light fixtures, repurposed black subway tiles and raw wood two-by-fours. The joint’s best features are its epicenter square bar and its giant glass windows overlooking Greenville Avenue. The Front Porch, Grub’s standard house burger, runs $6. Variations include the Guacapotle burger, topped with chipotle aioli, guacamole ($7.50) and the Lockhart Legend with Applewood smoked bacon, Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce and Shiner Bock battered onion rings ($7.75). There also is the Burger of the Sea option, Ahi tuna with sprouts, arugula, pickled ginger and wasabi-teriyaki dressing, ($11). Top it off with a salted-caramel milkshake. The bar features Texas beer and wines, signature cocktails and spiked milkshakes. Unlike most Greenville Avenue retailers and restaurants, Grub has plenty of painfree parking in the Energy Square lot.

—Carol Toler

BonChon restaurant and bar

opened in December on Upper Greenville in Old Town Shopping Center. General manager Stewart Murray says the staff worked relentlessly to open doors before the winter holidays. Though BonChon has restaurants all over the world, there never has been one in Texas — or in the entire south central region, for that matter, Murray notes. BonChon’s chicken-centric Korean fusion fare is a worldwide hit. The chain, whose chicken wings Food & Wine magazine called the best in the U.S., also intends to gain the favor of craft beer connoisseurs, Murray says. “We have 18 draft beers. Two are regular domestics; the rest are craft beers.” The eatery serves not only an innovative style of fried chicken, but also Asian-inspired salads, potstickers and pancakes, to name a few. BonChon originated in Korea and has grown to include 30 U.S. stores and 70 scattered about Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.

—Christina Hughes Babb

5500 Greenville 214.346.WING (9464) bonchon.com

The three people he’d have dinner with are Jesus, Pope Francis and Rudy Ruettiger. Would rather be sleeping.

Thinks Jerry Jones the owner should fire Jerry Jones the general manager.

Ran the Boston Marathon.

Can’t find his girlfriend, who is the only reason he subjects himself to this running stuff.