It's Just...A little Crush...."

Although I’m not a gourmet cook, I do love to prepare vegetables. I’m very picky about what I put into my salads and I’ve been known to throw out a whole cucumber or tomato if it’s not up to my taste standards. And although I find cutting,dicing, and chopping veggies almost therapeutic in the evening before dinner, I’d prefer to have someone else do the work when I’m having a quick lunch.

So, with that in mind, I was thrilled to discover the restaurant, Crushed Red (http://www.crushed-red.com) in Clayton (a suburb of St. Louis); a fabulous fast-casual place operated by veteran restaurantuer Chris LaRocca, Jason Tilford (Panera’s former national bakery director), Mike Marino, Ralph Kalish Jr., and Powell Kalish. Their belief is that customers should “see the ingredients of their food as (it is) being prepared… (so) food can taste amazing while remaining healthy…”. And boy have they delivered on that!

They serve amazingly fresh and delicious chopped-to-order salads, homemade soups, handcrafted pizza and small plates. The creatively named salad combinations on their menu are such a great mix of flavors, and they have so many different ones that you could eat there every day of the week and not repeat your order. My husband likes the “Welcome Back Cobber” with field greens, chicken breast, avocado, and blue cheese, while my daughter prefers the “Health Nut” with broccoli, edamame, garbanzo beans and dried cranberries.

I prefer the “Choose Your Own” option, where you pick your greens, and a choice of four “toppings”; veggies (over seventeen choices), beans, fruit, cheese, meat, and crunch, and finally your dressing (12 varieties).

Ordering the salad is fun, but the best part is watching them make it. They put all of your ingredients into a chilled metal bowl (Salads are available in “Mini”, “Regular”, and “Large”). Then, they turn them out onto a huge chopping block, chopping the salad with a tool called a mezzaluna knife. Mezzaluna means “half-moon” in Italian and the knife has a double curved blade with a handle on each end. They chop and toss the ingredients together and the process blends the flavors beautifully. They’ll toss the dressing in the bowl, but I get it on the side, because the salad is actually very flavorful on its own.

The pizzas also look amazing, but I’ve yet to try one since there are still so many salad choices. They too are prepared with fresh ingredients and cooked to order quickly in a VERY hot oven. Their soups are also yummy (I always steal a few tastes when my daughter orders the Butternut squash soup).

It’s a great place to get exactly what you want and know that you have so many healthy and nutritious options! The link to the nutritional information for all of their menu offerings is http://www.crnutritionals.com , and they even have an option for figuring out the nutrition in a “Make Your Own”.

They’re located at 8007 Maryland Ave at the corner of Maryland and Meremac in Clayton (next to SWEAT gym), and also in Kirkwood by Bar Louie. They just opened this week on Olive Blvd. in Creve Coeur next to Cutco and Sprint.
They get your food ready quickly, but it does get crowded between 11:30 and 12:30, so expect a line. But once you get to the front, it’s well worth the wait!