Nick Bonadies
Spectrum Editor
Having successfully moved from the Commons to a new location at the Laurel Street Dining Center, Croutons, Salads & Wraps maintains a special place in the hearts of students across campus as perhaps VCU’s most aptly named establishment.
Any card-carrying student on a meal plan can, for the cost of a swipe, obtain either a salad or a wrap (or both, using a “Pick 2 of 3” combo, where a third “Soup of the Day” option comes into play).
Many of these salads and wraps involve, in some capacity, croutons.
Croutons, Salads & Wraps loses no points for false advertising.
It’s possible to mislead by omission, however: Items served here – whether salad, wrap or crouton (by extension) – all come with a heaping helping of dripping, glistening, even-coated grease.
Framing Croutons as Laurel Street’s “lighter,” healthier option – each swipe combo comes with a plastic 16.9 oz. water bottle and, with a wrap, fruit – does little to distract from the untidy reality of a meal that drips when it shouldn’t.
A Key West Wrap, filled loosely with chopped lettuce and, according to one reviewer, “a chunk or three” of chicken, dissolved completely from its oil puddle within minutes of being prepared. The generous sauce on another wrap – the Grilled Chicken Wrap with Sesame – “barely disguis(ed its) downfall” as its own structural integrity gave way.
A Carribean Spinach Salad arrived soggy as well. “Swimming in it,” said one reviewer.
“I literally almost can’t taste what I’m eating because it’s drowning in grease,” said another reviewer of the Mediterranean Salad with Greek Vinegar, but noted the gustatory relief of the added “fresh” toppings. (Preparation procedure for “signature” items at Croutons involves taking the appropriate bucket of lettuce off a shelf behind the counter and, having checked the ingredients list, adding the appropriate smattering of peppers, onions, fruits, nuts and other delights from the bar; with a custom item, however, the customer may specify their own mix of ingredients.)
The oil, in the end, seeped at an alarming rate through the tortilla and the paper wrapping as the food sat uneaten. It left a slick on the table of the reviewers’ booth. Perhaps it evoked the Gulf of Mexico circa summer 2010. Perhaps also the “make-your-own” salad or wrap is the better way to approach Croutons, where you and the vinegar-ready food preparer can agree on a comfortable “when.”
Compiled from Spectrum staff reports
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This Commonwealth Times food review is the second of three courses in the Laurel Street Special – extensive review and commentary of the new dining options in VCU’s Laurel Street Dining Center, served up by the most qualified and discerning of CT gourmands. Check out part three – the lowdown on Raising Cane’s – in next Monday’s CT.
Photos by Mel Kobran
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