The Saladman cometh...and cometh back...and back again...and again...

If you've spent any time at the Western Idaho Fair or other local festivals, then the name "Saladman" probably rings a bell.  Chris was a longtime vendor at those sorts of events, turning out wraps, sandwiches, fried things, and of course, salads.  Some of the more in-the-know people might recall that when he wasn't at the Fair, Chris had his shack set up in a few different places in Boise to serve the lunch crowd, the last of which was on State Street.  Eventually he decided to give up the food truck/shack life for a brick and mortar restaurant called Chris' on Broadway (guess where that was located), but it wasn't long before location issues reared their ugly head and drove him to the other side of Boise.  Chris finally landed in a strip at, of all places, Emerald and Maple Grove.  I didn't hold high hopes for his success, seeing as how many restaurants have tried and failed in that strip.

Somehow, he's been making it work so far, odd location and limited hours aside.  The new spot is open only for breakfast and lunch, and only on weekdays.  If you haven't caught up with Chris yet, here's some of what you've been missing.

Cacicia's II: Home Is Where the Hearth Is

I don't know if there's anything I can tell you about Cacicia's at this point that I didn't cover in my first review (which you can read here).  Since that review, they've tried the brick and mortar thing once and found out pretty quickly that the location wasn't a good fit.  Their second stab at a sit-down eatery is now live at The Village at Meridian, in a cozy little glass-walled building with a great view of the fire pit and fountains.  Best of all, the food is just as good and reasonably-priced, and the menu has expanded a bit.  Since I don't have much of anything new to say, let's just look at some pictures, eh?

The Chains That Bind (or, How Many People Can I Piss Off This Time?)

Story time, kiddies!  Once upon a time, there were two natural foods stores in Texas.  The couple who ran one of them actually lived at the store for a while after being evicted for storing foodstuffs in their apartment.  Rather than compete with each other for business, they decided to join forces and create a natural foods supermarket.  The supermarket was 10,500 square feet and started with 19 employees.  Believe it or not, that was pretty big compared to most of their ilk at the time.  Less than a year had gone by when a flood basically destroyed the uninsured store.  In most cases, the whole thing would have been a huge loss, but customers, neighbors and friends pulled together to clean the place up.  Vendors and creditors cut them some slack as well, and the store re-opened mere weeks later.  Over the next few years, the supermarket grew more popular and financially stable.  Eventually, expansion was inevitable; first into other cities, and then into other states.  Other natural foods stores were absorbed, and other natural foods chains.  Exposure grew through partnerships, including ones with foodie television shows.  The little supermarket that could eventually became something of a benchmark of the natural foods juggernaut, a trend that shows no signs of stopping.  Have you figured out who I'm talking about yet?

Putting their money where my mouth is part 2: Marie Callender's calls my bluff

A couple of weeks ago I did a write-up on Del Taco, but let's not go too far into that.  As a matter of fact, let's not go into it at all. Ever again.  The point is, they sent me a gift card so I could try a new menu item, I obliged them, and I wrote a pretty negative review of the experience (which they apparently didn't read since I keep receiving all kinds of e-mails from them about new promotions and products).  At the start of that write-up, I mentioned that Marie Callender's PR people had been doing something similar, except that they seemingly just wanted me to share their press releases for no compensation and use their professionally-taken photographs.  I even included an example e-mail.  I figured why not, it's not like they actually read my blog!

Four days later, I received an e-mail from those same PR people.  They had seen my post, and would be happy to provide a gift card not only for myself, but one for my roommate as well.  They also said that they actually do read my posts, and that I should feel free to take my own pictures.  I'll admit it, I was shocked.  My first instinct was to apologize for what I'm sure seemed like obvious hinting on my part, but then I realized I had put it out there that if they would cover the cost of whatever it was they wanted me to promote, I would try it and write about it.  They had called my bluff.  I had done it for a place I all but knew I wasn't going to like, and at least I had fond memories of visiting Marie Callender's in the past.

And that's how I wound up having an early dinner at Marie Callender's this week.

Lucky Fins (Meridian)

Seafood in the Treasure Valley is kind of hit and miss, which results in a lot of imported, previously frozen fish on local menus.  Now I love fish and chips and sushi as much as the next guy, but I love a good piece of simply prepared fish just as much.  So, when I heard all the buzz about Lucky Fins, I put them on my to-do list.  Not to overuse a phrase, but my experience was kind of hit and miss as well.