Bites Nearby: Saladworks

Lunch can get a little monotonous after awhile. Whether you’re being economically savvy and brown-bagging it or you always visit the same pizza place with a handful of your fellow co-workers, the same old thing can start to taste a little stale, no matter how much you like the menu.

Luckily, Saladworks came to the Valley last year to help all of us in a lunchtime slump. The nationwide restaurant chain, located on Tilghman Street in Allentown, offers healthy and customizable soup, salad and sandwich offerings so that you won’t be stuck with a severe case of dining déjà vu.

The Dishes: Autumn Harvest Salad, Italian Wedding Soup, Turkey Continental Sandwich and Bently Salad.

What’s on the Plate: Both myself and my lunch buddy opted for the lunch combo offer, which is similar to Panera’s popular ‘You Pick Two’ lunch offer. At Saladworks, choose two of three options: half a sandwich, half a salad and a bowl of soup. Each lunch combo is served with your choice of a fruit cup, white or whole wheat roll or chips.

How’s it Taste? My go-to salad is the Autumn Harvest and, as usual, I wasn’t disappointed. The dish combines turkey, craisins, corn, carrots and sunflower seeds atop a bed of romaine lettuce. While all of that already makes a pretty delicious salad, what really makes Autumn Harvest so unique is that it’s topped not with croutons or bacon bits, but with crispy apple chips. If you’re a fan of dried fruit, definitely give this salad a try. You can opt for any dressing you’d like, but most Saladworks employees will recommend the raspberry vinaigrette, and I agree. It might sound like a fall dish, but it’s delicious any time of year. To round out my lunch combo, I chose Italian Wedding Soup. I’m usually a pretty big fan of Italian Wedding, but I was a little disappointed with Saladworks’ recipe; there was more broth than there was meat.

My friend’s combo included the Turkey Continental Sandwich and Bently Salad, neither of which I had heard of or tried before. The Bently was tossed with ham, roasted turkey, Swiss cheese, chopped eggs and tomatoes, which makes for a pretty basic lunch salad but, according to her, the ham and turkey make it a filling one. I was able to grab a couple of bites of her Turkey Continental, two pieces of grilled focaccia bread topped with roasted turkey, Swiss cheese, romaine lettuce and tomato. The sandwich was fresh and has me rethinking my allegiance to the half salad.

Eat This Because: It’s a healthy option on-the-go, and its soup, salads and sandwiches offer all of the flavor without all of the fat. There are plenty of ‘lite’ dressing options and every salad is completely customizable.

Tab: $21.00, including two fountain sodas.