Farmers Revival Salad Eats

August 9, 2013 by 6 Comments
Disclosure: This meal) was complimentary/provided by Farmers Revival, but they did not require that I write this review.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own, and I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences regardless of whether they were complimentary or not.

Remember how a week or so ago I wrote a post about salads (which is SHOCKING if you know me and how often I don’t eat salads) and Farmers Revival Salad Bistro’s Kickstarter? Sadly, it doesn’t look like the Kickstarter has enough momentum to probably pan out (unless there is a generous benefactor out there that comes through! Hey, it’s possible right?). Thank goodness, Dave Rose is determined to see this dream come true, and I am hoping he will succeed in finding funding in other ways. Meanwhile, Dave happened to host a Bloggers Dinner to continue to market the concept, and I was excited to be able to finally taste one of the world inspired salads I had been reading and seeing in photos.

I made the trek out to Gresham – see, true dedication and curiosity on the goodness of these salads, as it took me 1.5 hours to get there on the Max from my work location! There, we visited the location of this dinner, Mark’s Northwest Table, which is owned by his parents but happens to be closed on Mondays. And this is where I first find out that this restaurant serves high teas on certain days. WHAT! HOW ADORABLE.

But I was late (I got a little turned around by my slow phone’s GPS even though it was only .5 mi from the station) and last to the table, so I caught up with the other guests, which included Talk. Eat. Drink. Portland. with all three bloggers present!, meeting for the first time the lovely Jane of In the Pink and Green who just moved here (1 month!) to Portland, and Amy who had helped set up this dinner from Eating My Way Through Portland. We started with a little icebreaker that Dave suggested of listing our favorite restaurant, which again, so cute (as if we weren’t already all going to be talking about food the whole dang meal).

We also got to hear about Dave and how he first came up with the idea of the salad bistro and the research he has done. He was very forthcoming with noting obstacles he was having, seen and unforeseen, and realistic about the economics of a small business start-up, but also so passionate about he not only wanted to deliver flavorful food but also food that is really good for you, and that all the ingredients we were eating were fresh from the Gresham Farmers Market only a few blocks away. We also enjoyed his honesty about how many greens he has cleaned as he continues to basically eat salad and taste test recipes everyday, and how he really is putting in his 10,000 hours (per the book Outliers) to become a real expert!

Then, it was time for eating! We started with fresh warm bread, and a vegan minestrone soup which was full of flavors and vegetables galore- the photo doesn’t do it justice because it was before I started digging in and unveiled all the vegetable goodness. I should have taken a picture after spooning some of the goodness up the the surface… but instead I got wrapped up in talking and eating and then it was all gone! Dave explained that this soup will be a staple on his menu, because based on his focus groups everyone raved and said this was their favorite. Dave is planning to offer 3 soups daily though, so this will just be one of the fabulous options!
Fresh bread by Farmers Revival Vegan Minestrone Soup by Farmers Revival Vegan Minestrone Soup by Farmers Revival Vegan Minestrone Soup and fresh bread by Farmers Revival

We took a little break to check out Dave in the kitchen assembling the salads. Although he was painstakingly arranging them for our dinner, he explained that he did think carefully about the realities of lunch service, and estimated that Farmers Revival would be able to put together one of the set salad menu items in about 3 minutes! Obviously if you are requesting your own custom mix of ingredients for your salad, that would probably depend on what you select.
Farmers Revival Dave preparing the Indian Inspired Salads Farmers Revival Dave preparing the Indian Inspired Salads

And now, for the closeup of that salad before it gets enjoyed by yours truly. Dave and his family are vegetarian, and Dave explained that at first when he transitioned his daughters to this new diet, there was mixed success until he started making these salads- which the girls just loved eating and mealtime has never been a problem again. I definitely noticed how full I got from this salad too- it was fulfilling on all levels.

This salad represents everything that Dave is aiming for: affordable and fast but healthy eating and delicious in that it touches all the taste senses, sourced locally and influenced by world cuisine. Dave is hoping to cover several countries in the set salad flavor choices on the menu, ranging from this Indian inspired one to Italy, Japan, Thai, and more! You can see this Indian inspired salad is chock full of baby spinach, red leaf, fresh mint and cilantro, but also golden beets, roasted cauliflower, curried quinoa for some umami as well as plays on textures, some sweet from the currants and yet that curry vinaigrette really kicks it up (Dave roasted spices to make that vinaigrette). I am not going to give away everything that is in this salad recipe, but let me tell you there are more than a dozen items in this salad. Dave’s genius is putting together combinations you would probably never even dream up, and when you see the list you may even wonder if you would like, but let me tell you, you will be surprised and the next thing you know, the bowl is empty.

Dave’s sister and mom have just started making mini-pies (these are available for now at Mark’s NW Table), and although Dave wants to offer healthy desserts such as yogurt with various toppings at Farmers Revival (and his daughters are helping to come up with some combinations for him!), I agree with him that since we just saved some calories, I have a little bit to spare on some homemade farmers apple pie. Yes, the ingredients are from the Farmers Market- this one is apple pie, but the ladies have also made peaches and marionberry! The crust was crumbly soft butteryness just adding a little bit of texture to the chunky apples inside.
Homemade apple pie mini-pie slice thanks to the mom/sister of Farmers Revival Dave Homemade apple pie mini-pie slice thanks to the mom/sister of Farmers Revival Dave

You can also read the viewpoints of this same meals here by my other fellow food bloggers!

I wish the best to Dave and his family, as well as hope we will be seeing Farmers Revival in the downtown area soon. I would be there on opening day, believe me, these are among the best salads I have ever had in my life! I would happily recommend it to anyone to grab a lunch who works downtown, and as often as I recommend food carts there is nothing quite like this. The flavor profiles that are in his salad creations really are complex and are more than any normal person would ever think to put together from any salad bar, and knowing the ingredients are coming from farmers is a good feeling. This is also so much better than any salad I have ever gotten catered for lunch. I would love to be able to drop in and grab some of these salads just to take home for a meal, or to take on a picnic or trip also. My mind even wandered to the idea that if Dave wasn’t so busy with fundraising, how amazing would these salads be with my upcoming wine/appetizers potluck gathering I am hosting- it would be so fun to pair different wines with these flavorful salads to bring out different profiles of them, and how often can you say that with a salad?

If you would like to find out more about Farmers Revival, visit here:

Disclosure: This meal was complimentary/provided by Farmers Revival, but they did not require that I write this review.  The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own, and I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences regardless of whether they were complimentary or not. 
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Kickstart Farmers Revival Salad Bistro PDX

July 26, 2013 by 1 Comment

First, I have to admit to you… I’m not really a salad lover. I rarely ever order them. I usually get tempted away by savory starters like soup, or something covered in cheese. If I get a salad, it always has cheese on it for a savory rich component, as well as some sort of nuts or seeds for texture, and hopefully either in the dressing or in additives a balance of acid but not too much.

I’m very aware of whether there is too little or too much dressing and how well it is distributed (I toss it with my own hands at home- though more often I end up using the greens in a main or side dish that is cooked or thrown in and wilted which tricks me to eating more of them). I also really pay attention to whether all the flavors and textures interplay well together or if I’m just eating a mixed bowl. There are very few salads that stand out in my food memories.

As an aside, just look at how my food photography has improved over time with these few salad photos that I have of amazing salads I still recall fondly…

Trattoria No 10. in Chicago Arugula Salad with pine nuts, mozzarella, grape tomatoes and Granny Smith apple slices in an oil-vinegar dressing (after I was done the plate was CLEAN, almost unheard of when me and salads meet). Square Kitchen (since closed, in Chicago)- The Warm Goat Cheese salad with mix greens, beets, apples, almonds, and balsamic vinaigrette is awesome: it not only has that lovely warm goat cheese which I loved the contrast in texture and temperature, but that dressing was absolutely outstanding Wildwood, Portland OR. Citrus and arugula salad with orange and grapefruit supremes, pine nuts, and mozzarella. If you know me you know I don't often rave about salads, but I ate every single little thing off the salad plate, the dressing was awesomely tangy to counteract the slight bitterness that arugula can have Noodles and Company- one of two special summer salads, this is the Backyard Barbecue Chicken Salad with pulled chicken breast with fresh cut corn, roma tomatoes, and red cabbed over mixed greens with a smoky coleslaw dressing

But, I wasn’t always someone who didn’t crave a salad. When I lived in Chicago, I used to at least once a week go to this place called Salad Spinners. Unlike most salads that I have experienced, the salads on their menu just burst with flavor instead of just being the taste of greens and dressing. Besides the salads on their menu, when you walked in there was a little notepad with a pencil, and you could build whatever kind of salad you wanted by checking items off.

The line was always out the door for lunch, but it moved fast, and when I walked past it in the early morning before the markets open (at the time, I was working in the financial markets sector while going to school for my HCI degree in the evening- so probably almost 10 years ago), I would always see them busily prepping away all the new fresh ingredients. And there were so many ingredients- like two dozen little checkboxes. It took me quite a while to try everything, and I never could settle on a “regular order”, and I had to restrain myself from checking too many good things.

It looks like that idea might be coming to Portland… I can’t think of anything quite like the Salad Spinners concept in Portland, and even Salad Spinners has since closed/only does catering perhaps back in Chicago. A Kickstarter just started earlier this week for Farmers Revival and continues until August 19, and has the task of trying to raise $100,000 to start a Salad Bistro concept. This project by Dave Rose seems to be aiming for that same wonderful goal of promoting salads to the next level, as well as helping you explore lots of different salad combinations without you having to do the prep work of the cleaning and chopping and committing you to a large amount of ingredients in exploring what your perfect salad flavor combination is.

logo for Kickstart the Farmers Revival!

Besides the 8 signature salads or build your own salad, Farmers Revival Salad Bistro also will feature homemade soups, artisan breads, pastas, fresh pressed juices, local wines and beer, and frozen yogurt to wrap up as dessert, using locally sourced organic ingredients from Pacific Northwest farms. Sounds like a menu with lots of options for healthy choices, as well as supporting local. Dave grew up in a small rural town, and it seems he wants to give back and support the farm community, as well as celebrate the the produce, given the name of the place!

I also find it fascinating that Dave seems to have come from a career path in Information Technology in the healthcare industry, but he can’t shake his memories from his parents’ 20 year experience in the restaurant industry, and apparently wanting to emerge from behind the shiny computer screen and into the messy world of food, service, and lots of people!

I appreciate that he is coming at this with a very analytic, business focused perspective. For instance, his Kickstarter website reports that he followed “Lean Startup” methodology and conducted a series of focus groups that included ~ 40 taste testers who took part in hypothesis-driven experimentation, iterative product releases, and “validated learning.” So as someone with an HCI Masters and promoter of User Center Design and whose career is focused on user experience, I am already feeling very confident in Farmers Revival because of their research, especially with the result that “when asked to rate our salads on a scale of 1 through 4 (1 = Terrible, 2 = Average, 3 = Good, 4 = Excellent) 99% of the focus group scored them as a 4. The remaining 1% scored them as 3”

So clearly, they have some VERY TASTY salads. One of their promotional images includes this Indian inspired salad below with Indian salad with curried-quinoa, roasted cauliflower and a spicy curry vinaigrette. Apparently they try to do very innovative salads that are also inspired from around the world, such as Caribbean, Spanish, Italian, etc.

Indian inspired salad from the Farmers Revival

I also totally appreciate the little spreadsheet that helps explain how he came up with the $ amount for what he is trying to raise- again, it seems to be a proof of how carefully he has through this through. I appreciate those who know how to use spreadsheets. I’ll try to stop there with the spreadsheet love. The Kickstarter page is full of more proof about his passion about also pragmatic understanding that it’s also a business, the latter of which I often see a bit wanting in Kickstarters.

I wish Dave and his family and those involved with Farmers Revival the best of luck in their pursuit. I was not compensated in any way for this post, but I am enthused about this potential and really want them to become real so I can eat all their salads and restart my perfect salad experiments! I have embedded a video they have when they had various consultants try their salads and filmed it… hearing what they said really makes me wish I could taste one of those salads myself. Take a look at the Kickstarter for Farmers Revival Salad Bistro, and of course, come to your own decision. You can also check out the Farmers Revival Salad Bistro Facebook page.

Dinner With The Consultants from David Rose on Vimeo.

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