On the Yahara A-Z

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Nueske's bacon on the 'Cultured Cob Salad' at Forage Restaurant. The Madison food scene is an open range where ideas that seem good often turn to reality.  Forage is another part of this food network that might go something like this: how can we serve good, whole, high protein, unprocessed food….fast!

We've seen salad bars before and many of them very good, but to turn the salad or the grain bowl purposefully into the main star and have it made right in front of you, on the go, is an upward moving trend.  Forage, then, isn't just concept but good high octain food, full of beans and grain and, as was the case with the

'Cultured Cob Salad,' full of chicken and bacon to round out this menu selection as a full-on meal for any time of day.  It's component parts are shredded romaine, lemon herb chicken, roasted tomatoes, fresh corn, avocado, chopped egg, chives, Nueske's bacon, gorgonzola and finally red wine vinaigrette.  So much for salad as rabbit food; this was one of the more filling meals I've had in some time.  As food culture

begins to shift back around to simple raw ingredients, it's dawning on us again, full circle, that primitive foods like beans, eggs, and avocado are clean, packed with proteins and cholesterols that are critical for us.  'The Power Bowl,' another order we made on this trip, is another raw powerhouse: lentils, roasted sweet potatoes, poblano slaw, guac, jerk chicken and goddess dressing.  Much like a dinner out to a steak fry, none of us finished our meals but had to take them along with us as we finished sipping our 'Lean Mean and Green' juices while thinking about the Forage sister restaurant Roasted across the street.