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There was nothing else like it, and the place's popularity launched the incredibly successful Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. and dozens of copycat restaurant concepts, including the now-defunct Sam Wilson's restaurants, a creation of Kansas City restaurateurs Joe Gilbert and Paul Robinson.
At some point in the late 1980s, though, salad bars became unfashionable and, in some cases, potentially scary (one popular Kansas City restaurant suffered a flurry of negative publicity when customers complained that they'd suffered food poisoning from its lavish salad-bar items; the restaurant closed a few months later). When salad bars started showing up in such fast-food joints as Wendy's, the party was over -- and even that chain had dropped the aging concept by the end of the '90s.
Today it's rare that a restaurant offers diners a salad bar (though the Ruby Tuesday chain has a decent one) as an added attraction to what's on the menu. But just when you thought the phenomenon was going the way of the Pet Rock, it's back -- in the form of buffet restaurants totally and enthusiastically devoted to the cult of the "healthy" salad.
Sweet Tomatoes, The Salad Buffet Restaurant, is the newest outpost of a San Diego-based salad buffet chain (in California, the restaurants are called Souplantation). Places like Sweet Tomatoes or its rival, Souper! Salad!, aren't exactly innovators in the world of salad bars. A decade ago, several former Gilbert-Robinson executives invested in a similar concept, The Soup Exchange, in Overland Park. That place lasted only a few years, but then again, so did the ill-fated Italian joint that took over the building after that.
Right now, Sweet Tomatoes is a hot scene, bustling with customers who pile up plastic trays with plates and bowls loaded with food that is hit-or-miss. On the plus side, the long line of fresh ingredients for whipping together a personal salad is terrific: fresh, flavorful, and attractively presented. The nine house-made dressings are delicious, and so are the clever pasta salads, especially cold mostaccioli in a light pesto-and-cream sauce or linguini noodles tossed up in a citrusy vinaigrette.
At Sweet Tomatoes, diners can pick up a handy chart titled "Information to Satisfy a Healthy Curiosity." It lists the calorie, fat, cholesterol, fiber, and sugar counts of nearly everything on the buffet, which is a lot of information because the clean, well-lighted restaurant heaps up mountains of food. But a salad is only as healthy as the stuff you pile onto it. It's one thing to eat a plate of fresh greens and a splash of fat-free dressing. But once the lettuce gets loaded with grated cheese, toasted croutons, a couple of spoonfuls of Zesty Tortellini Salad (15 grams of fat in a half cup), and a big dollop of Sweet Tomatoes' house ranch dressing (15 grams of fat in two tablespoons), you might as well eat a double cheeseburger.
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