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Salad gets dressed up

Pizza in a Bowl is probably the healthiest pizza you'll eat. The name notwithstanding, it's actually a salad of crisp Romaine lettuce, shredded mozzarella cheese, thin slices of pepperoni and nuggets of pizza crust.

As the Salad of the Week, it's one of the ways supervisor Tina Garron brings flavor and innovation to the salad bars at The Fruit Center Marketplaces in Milton and Hingham.

"There's something different every week," Garron said. "And there are so many choices that people come and make an entire meal out of it."

The salad bar has come a long way since it became popular in the 1970s and took up residence in grocery stores. No longer does it just draw shoppers who want to pick up a convenient lunch. The best now are destinations, a place people seek out,

regardless of whether they're grocery shopping.

When Ellen Walsh visits her mother in Quincy, she always picks up lunch at Mignosa's Fruit Basket.

"We stop here no matter what else we are doing," said Walsh.

And that's because the most impressive are a smorgasbord of inventive creations reflecting cuisines from around the world and catering to all manner of tastes. At these salad bars, you may have a hard time fitting all the good stuff into one plastic container.

"You can always tell the first - time visitors because their salads weigh about 15 pounds," Garron said. "I tell them you have to walk through and plan your salad

before you start, because we always hit you with something good at the end."

Or as Naimh O'Byrne said as she eyed the offerings at Whole Foods in Hingham: "They scream, eat me!"

Reflecting the infusion of ethnic flavors into American life, salad bars now go beyond basic American fare of lettuces, raw vegetables, legumes and a small selection of potato and pasta salads. Vegetable biryani, orzo with cranberries and apples, curried chick pea salad, Chinese cabbage salad - these are a few of the ways chefs combine ingredients to pack a wallop.

Whether you're a meat lover, vegetarian, vegan or all-round eater, you can put together a well-balanced meal from the selections.

During recent visits, items included chicken salad at Whole Foods and pad thai and dumplings at the Fruit Center.

Or you could make a meat-only meal at the Fruit Center, which has two kinds of meatballs, chicken wings, buffalo tenders, rotisserie and fajita chicken and deli meats.

Or if you have a craving for potato salad, you can choose from five different kinds at Mignosa's Fruit Basket in Quincy.

Ultimately, though, customers said salad bars succeed or fail not just on their offerings, but on freshness.

"Everything is always fresh," said Jennifer Sullivan, a regular visitor to the salad bar at the Fruit Center in Hingham.

"I bring home a salad, and my kids love it."

And the food needs to look appealing. That's why staff regularly wipe up spills and keep utensils in their proper places.

"We're in there all day long cleaning up," Garron said.

There's an international flair to the salad bar at Whole Foods. Last week, it offered vegetable biryani, an Indian dish of rice, cauliflower, carrots and other vegetables; Moroccan sweet potato salad; Mediterranean orzo salad with artichokes and currants; Greek pasta salad in a yogurt and sour cream base with feta cheese and tomatoes; Japanese spicy udon noodles; and golden sesame tofu with honey and scallions.

There also are prepared restaurant-style salads, such as the mesclun salad with goat cheese, cranberries and balsamic dressing. And the labels list all ingredients, making it easier to imagine the taste and protect against allergic reactions.

"I absolutely love the food here," said Naimh O'Byrne, who was scooping up the Moroccan and Mediterranean salads. "The hungrier I get, the more I'm willing to try the unusual."

With more than 100 items, the Fruit Basket stands out for its huge variety. While a basic salad bar will offer plain chick peas or Japanese soy beans, for example, the Fruit Center serves up curried chick pea salad (with red and yellow peppers, parsley, rice wine vinegar, curry, golden raisins and Craisins) and edame salad (with black beans, corn, red peppers, red onions, red wine vinegar and olive oil).

"People are eating more healthily than they used to, so I try to use healthy ingredients," said Garron, who has worked with the salad bar for eight years. "I pack a lot into these salads."

Garron likes to experiment with combinations. One of her favorite is Chinese cabbage salad with ramen noodles, sesame seeds, toasted almonds, rice wine vinegar and

sesame oil dressing.

"I had that at a graduation party one year and I begged for the recipe and changed it a little," she said.

The offerings also reflect the produce and flavors of the seasons. A popular fall offering is the orzo rice salad with cranberries and apple at Mignosa's Fruit Basket in Quincy.

After beefing up its modest salad bar about six years ago, Mignosa's now offers dozens of items, including five types of potato salad, four bean salads and seven pasta salads.

"I try to add new things," said owner Cindy Mignosa. "We try to have something for everyone."

Reach Jody Feinberg at jfeinberg@ledger.com.