Business
www.GilbertSunNews.com
December 2015
27
Healthy On-the-Run Salad and Go plans Valley domination with healthy eating fast-food concept BY JASMINE KEMPER
What if you could order healthy, fresh and delicious food at a drivethru? At Salad and Go, you can do just that. The Gilbert-based gourmet drive-thru offers a new take on fast food, serving up made-to-order salads, smoothies, wraps and more. About three and half years ago, award-winning Chef Daniel Patino helped develop this new healthy fastfood concept. As a child, he would help his grandmother in the kitchen, and that’s when he realized he had a passion for food. Two years before his enlistment with the Marine Corps ended, he held an apprenticeship at the historic U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego. “I really fell in love with the industry and how everything worked,” Patino said. When he finished the Marine Corps, Patino attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and landed a job at Stars Bar & Dining. From there, he worked all around the East Coast before making his way back to San Francisco. That’s when he started working under Chef Michael Mina, a celebrity in the San Francisco area. Mina asked Patino to be his executive chef at Bourbon Steak in Scottsdale. “He took me under his wing and taught me his philosophy on food, how to develop flavors and how to maximize ingredients,” Patino said. The now owners of Salad and Go frequented Bourbon Steak and asked Patino if he’d be interested in the idea of healthy fast food. Three and a half years, and four East Valley locations later, this healthy drive-thru is going with strong plans to grow throughout the Valley. “Salad and Go is flavorful, healthy food that people will come back and have because it’s really ingredient-driven. I think they have a misconception that healthy food isn’t tasty, and we’re making people realize that you can have healthy food and you can make it taste delicious and feel good about yourself when you’re eating,” Patino said. Salad and Go focuses on balancing flavors and keeping everything as fresh as possible. Even in a drive-thru atmosphere, they make all of their dressings and cut the romaine, fruits and vegetables daily. They have 12 dressings on hand at all times and
change them out with the seasons. “Yes, it’s a struggle, but that’s why we decided to do it. It’s not really out there. We treat ingredients the way they are supposed to be treated,” Patino said. Another thing that Salad and Go strives to do is use seasonal ingredients. Patino recommends starting off with their pear and banana smoothie. To celebrate the winter season, they combine winter pears, bananas, apple juice, spinach and a little bit of ice. “It’s literally three or four ingredients to keep it as healthy as possible. The banana really highlights the flavor in the pear,” Patino said. To continue the winter theme, he suggests trying the pear, pecan and celery salad. It blends together sliced pears, candied pecans, crisp celery, Craisins, bleu cheese, kale, romaine and balsamic honey mustard dressing. Wintertime is the perfect time to bring out celery and pears, and the Craisins balance out the strong bleu cheese. “It’s very simple but [with] very healthy ingredients. With the balsamic, we use extra virgin olive oil because it’s healthier for you. I didn’t want to do a plain old honey mustard, so I played around a little bit and came up with a balsamic, whole grain honey mustard, which is a little bit different but with some of the same flavors that people are expecting,” Patino said. The Brussels sprouts, bacon and almond salad takes its inspiration from a classic French dish, but Salad and Go added its healthy twist, Patino said. It mixes Brussels sprouts, bacon, sliced almonds, fresh-cut apples and half local-mixed greens and half romaine with a bit of feta cheese sprinkled on the top. Those three flavor profiles are the most present and then we balance that with a champagne vinaigrette, which has high acid levels to mellow out the strong flavors of the Brussels sprouts, and the bacon in there adds a little bit of fat into it,” Patino said. In this chilly weather, Patino also cooked up a healthy Southwestern chowder. It has roasted poblano peppers, free-range chicken, roasted corn, creamy red potatoes, onions, celery and two percent low-fat milk. The soup is velvety and fills you up without the addition of butter.
Salad and Go focuses on balancing flavors and freshness in a drive-thru atmosphere. Submitted photo
Chef Daniel Patino developed a concept of healthy fast food at Salad and Go. Submitted photo
Just like the salads, smoothies feature seasonal ingredients. Submitted photo
Salad and Go’s attention to flavors and quality ingredients are what keeps it unique. Ultimately, Patino hopes people will be open-minded about trying new and healthy dishes. “I want them to walk away saying, ‘I didn’t know healthy food could taste this good.’ To me, as a chef, the
challenge is to take food, make it taste really, really good and healthy at the same time,” Patino said. For more information about the restaurant, visit www. saladandgo.com.