The Truth About EARL

As a deli server, I hear one question asked far more than most: “will you be serving my favorite salad again sometime soon?” My answer to that question is generally an uncertain “maybe,” followed by a quick trip to the kitchen to talk with a cook. More often than not, if a salad is not currently available it may be quite some time before it returns; as a lover of food, nothing disappoints me more than having to inform someone that they will have to settle for second best. How can you be certain that the salad you're looking for will be available before you make your next trip to the Co-op? There are actually a few ways you can go about doing this, one of which will be through this very blog.

The easiest method is to call the store before you make your trip, and request to speak with someone at the deli counter. Our servers are happy to take a look inside the case for you, and, if the salad you're looking for is nowhere to be found, they can give you a brief description of what is available, hopefully giving your taste buds time to decide on something else you might like. If simply nothing else will do, you are welcome to place a special order with a cook. Special orders guarantee that your favorite salad will be ready and waiting for you when you arrive, but must be placed 48 hours in advance in order to give our cooks time to fit them into their busy schedules. Special orders are generally made for larger amounts of salad, but can often be made for smaller amounts as part of a larger batch, the remainder of which will be sold along with our other salads in the case. This is a win-win situation, as not only will you be able to enjoy your favorite salad, but so will anyone else who happens to walk by the case that day. This may not always be possible due to ingredient availability, so be sure to check with a cook before placing your order.

The newest method—something which I'm hoping to update on a regular basis—is to check our case salad rotation schedule (which we lovingly call EARL) right here on our kitchen blog. As it is not common knowledge, I'd like to explain how salad rotation works. Selected case salads are placed into two groups of five salads, each of which rotates on a bi-weekly basis. So as not to have all of our salads changing on the same day, the two groups are staggered so that one group is phased out every week, making room for five new salads. Those five salads will be featured for the next two weeks alongside our mainstays such as kale slaw, organic fruit salad and others. Salads on our rotation schedule are set a few weeks in advance, giving our kitchen buyer time to order any ingredients which may be required, and allowing you to be sure that these salads will be available for the time in which they are advertised. If one of our scheduled salads is unavailable, it has likely sold out and will be available again shortly.

Without further ado, I now present to you the case salad rotation schedule for the following two weeks:

October 10^th through October 23^rd:

• Egyptian Cucumber Salad

• Puget Sound Artichoke Salad

• Mega Omega

• Spicy Thai Noodle

• Red Curry Tofu

If the salad you're looking for isn't available, a new set of five salads will be featured beginning on the 17^th of October. Be sure to check back here for details!