Table at Third & Fairfax is a weekly dining column in 2023 where Food and Drink editor Patricia Kelly Yeo will eat her way through the Original Farmers Market. Each column will drop on Thursday for a week-by-week recap of her journey through the classic L.A. tourist attraction. Last week, Kelly tried Roxy and Jo’s.
Usually, following five nights of nonstop work dinners, the last thing I want is another decadent meal chock full of oil, butter and salt. After a five-mile morning hike near Echo Mountain on Tuesday, I know exactly where I’m going at the Original Farmers Market: the Salad Bar (est. sometime in the 1980s), home of no-nonsense salads, sandwiches and wraps. Now that Rick’s Produce is closed, the Salad Bar is also the only place in the market where you can find made-to-order smoothies and juices.
While waiting in the short line, I consider drinks like the Hawaiian Lost, which combines strawberries, banana, pineapple and coconut milk and try to decide if I want a salad, a sandwich or a wrap. The Salad Bar has a surprisingly limited online footprint, so I wasn't at all familiar with the offerings before I walked in to find a woman eating a green-tinted pita wrap when I walked in. Hungry and covered in a thin layer of dried sweat, I end up ordering a 16-ounce mixed berry Razzle Dazzle ($8.99) and the chicken strip wrap ($12.99), which ends up to be the same exact thing.
Within 10 minutes, my order is ready. The smoothie is pleasingly purple; the chicken strip wrap, cut in half, comes with a few green apple slices. In truth, I’m strangely fond of almost flavorless sandwich wraps—a product of my mother’s years-long subscription to Zone Diet weekly meal plans, some of which she occasionally used to send along with me to school. Biting into my wrap, I’m reminded of my childhood days eating chicken breast and lettuce in a whole wheat wrap with a sour, almost oil-free vinaigrette dressing. I take a sip of the smoothie, which tastes mildly sweet and has a bit of texture due to the raspberry seeds.
Made with what tastes like Thousand Island dressing, I enjoy the rest of the wrap before leaving, even attracting the attention of one woman passing by. “Excuse me, where did you get that?” she asks, in a heavy French accent. I point in the direction of the Salad Bar, just a few feet away from me. Taking the rest of my smoothie to go, I head for my car in record time, eager to go home and shower.
Whenever I’m not in the mood to cook, don’t have a work-related meal and want something healthy, my usual go-to is the salad and hot bar at the Beverly Boulevard Erewhon, which is just down the street from the Farmers Market. More recently, I ventured to try a delivery lunch from Goop Kitchen, which has outposts in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. Both places offer quick, nutrient-rich and great-tasting meal options, but neither of them are particularly cheap; before fees, taxes and tip, Goop Kitchen’s two-piece barbecue tofu summer roll cost almost $20, a shockingly high amount when you consider the usual price of a Vietnamese summer roll appetizer.
While the wrap and smoothie from the Salad Bar admittedly didn’t have much flavor compared to similar fare from Erewhon and Goop Kitchen, they’re also a little bit cheaper. All wraps and wheat bread sandwiches ring in at a flat $12.99, and will definitely satisfy if you’re looking for a light lunch. The smoothies, ranging from $8.99 for a 16-ounce standard to $11.99 for a 20-ounce protein-packed drink, come nowhere close to the infamously pricey $20 smoothies you’ll find at Erewhon, but they also lack the supplemental powders and whatnot that the bougie grocery store packs into its drinks. I wouldn’t go out of my way for the Salad Bar, but if you find yourself at the market for any reason and are crunched for time, it’s a great way to eat something healthy without breaking the bank.
Meals from Table at Third & Fairfax fall into three categories: Skip It, Worth Trying and Must Have.
Vendor: The Salad Bar
Order: A chicken strip wrap and the Razzle Dazzle smoothie
Verdict: Worth Trying. If you’re looking for a somewhat inexpensive and healthy choice at the market, the Salad Bar is definitely worth visiting.