Napa Farms Market @ SFO

If you've ever flown out of Terminal 2 in SFO, you've likely grown to hate basically every other terminal in every other airport.  Shiny, clean, and new, with water ports to refill your water bottles everywhere, and an actual decent selection of places to get food.  Not a McDonald's nor Starbucks in sight.  There are chains, but they are things like Pinkberry and Peet's, both of which are actually, well, excellent, particularly if you are a captive audience and froyo or caffeine strike your fancy.  There is a Cat Cora restaurant (where I did unfortunately dislike the grilled octopus), a candy store (ALWAYS a must stop!), and, Napa Farms Market.

Napa Farms Market is a glorious place to stock up on snacks (or meals) for your flight, self-described as an "Artisan Marketplace and Café".  Usually I just cruise through to grab some snacks (they have a fantastic selection of every sort of high-end, local, organic munchy you can imagine).  They have an incredible cheese selection from Cowgirl Creamery and they sell Acme Bread (yes, is is rather like a mini-Ferry Building!).  The coffee is from Equator Coffee.  They sell Kara's Cupcakes (which I've reviewed before too).  The chocolate selection is incredible.  So is the wine.  Really, just a well curated selection.

Napa Farms Market also operates a cafe, Tyler Florence Fresh.  At breakfast there is a bagel bar (with everything ranging from cream cheese to bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel), a yogurt bar, a granola bar, and an oatmeal bar, to construct your perfect parfait.  At lunch, the cuisine changes to sandwiches (mostly with rotisserie meats), hand-tossed salads, soups, pizzas, and more.  They also have plentiful prepared salads and sandwiches.

These aren't really the sort of food I go for though, so, besides the snacks, coffee, and treats, I've generally never paid that much attention to the "real food" lineup.  But a traveling companion got a salad one time, and has been hooked since.  After multiple trips with him raving about the quality of the pre-made salads and sandwiches, I finally decided to try.

Greek Chicken Salad. $13.95.

"Mary’s Chicken, tomato, cucumber, herbed feta, mediterranean olives, shaved red onion, red bell peppers and an aged sherry vinaigrette, over organic greens."

Ok, so salad? Chicken?  Greek salad?  Obviously, this was not for me, it was my traveling companions.  But after so much raving, I decided to try some.  Also, he keeps telling me how huge the salads are, and, while they look big, I didn't quite grasp it.  Until I opened it up.

Wowzer.  They pack more into the salad than you could possibly realize.  It doesn't necessarily look it, but, its jammed in there.  Sooo many greens, all somehow ridiculously fresh and crispy.  And not just generic spring mix, there were more types of greens and baby lettuces in there than I could enumerate.  I still don't understand how it was so crisp and fresh, when, it wasn't made to order.

There were also decent sized chunks of tomato, not amazing, but, it was December, so what could you expect?  One corner was filled with fresh, juicy and crispy slices of cucumber.  Lots of sliced black olives and thinly shaved red onion added some zing.  Plentiful herbed feta and a ridiculously huge portion of chicken from Mary's Chicken, a local, organic farm.  And then, the dressing.  Swoon.  I couldn't believe how delicious it was.  While the greens were impressive in their freshness, it is the dressing that blew me away.  Creamy, flavorful, and ridiculously delicious.

This was totally not a salad I'd ever pick, as I don't like nor really care for pretty much any of it, but I couldn't get over how delicious the dressing was, and was happy to use up whatever lettuce and extra veggies my companion didn't get to.

Is $13.95 expensive for a salad?  Sure, but this is in an airport.  And, it is massive.  And, well, the quality is crazy high.  Totally reasonable, actually.

Field of Greens Salad. $10.95.

"Organic mixed greens with asiago cheese, grapes, sundried tomato, legumes, Italian vinaigrette."

Every single time we have flown out of Terminal 2 for the past ... several years, my companion has opted to pick up a salad from Napa Farms to take on the flight.  And every single time he picks that Greek salad.  He loved it so much the first time that he hasn't been able to bring himself to try something else, no matter how much I encourage it.

Finally, after years of this, he agreed to try a new one.  I was so excited.  And then he picked the "Field of Greens", another salad mostly consisting of ingredients I don't care for.  Sigh.

Still, of course I tried it.  The base was much like the Greek salad, a ridiculous amount of greens that somehow stayed perfectly fresh and crispy, really quite impressive.

I tried some sundried tomatoes, and well, they were sundried tomatoes.  I didn't try the grapes or beans.  I'm not a vinaigrette lover, but, I tried the vinaigrette anyway.  And ... it was great!  Seriously, they make such ridiculously good dressings.

He ate more than half early on in the flight, but couldn't finish it, even though he had dressed it all.  He left it, and had more a few hours later.  He loved it even more.  “This dressing is just really good.  It is super soaked into everything now!”  So, even though a bit soggy, he enjoyed it even more.  Swoon, that dressing.

So, again, not a salad I'd pick, but, quality ingredients, huge size, very fresh, tasty dressing.  He enjoyed it and said that now he isn't sure which he likes more, this or the Greek.

Romaine & Kale Caesar Salad.$7.95.

Caesar salad has become my goto salad from places at SFO it seems, and I was thrilled to see Napa Farms had one, with both kale and romaine base.  I looked forward to it.

Unfortunately, and surprisingly considering how great the others were, it was one of the worst caesar salads I've had in recent memory, and certainly the worst I've had at the airport (the Kale Caesar from Yankee Pier remains my favorite - fantastic real anchovy based dressing, and well seasoned croutons, and the Kale Caesar from The Giants Clubhouse is a good option too - really fresh crispy chunks of kale, and also real anchovy dressing).

This one just ... kinda failed at every element.  I also dub it the "croutons and parmesan" salad ... as they were far more prominent the romaine and kale.  The balance of ingredients was all off.

The base of romaine and kale, what there was of it, wasn't very fresh.  The lettuce was soft, wilty, and browning.  Not crisp at all.  I can't say I *wanted* more, but, the amount of greens didn't really seem appropriate.

The shredded parmesan cheese was fine, but ... there was a comical amount of it.  Literally, a cup of cheese, if not more.  Cheese must be more expensive than lettuce, so its not like they were saving costs here.  I liked the shredded style, but ... it was actually just ridiculous quantity.

Next, the croutons.  Much like the cheese, I felt there was far too many for the amount of salad base, but it wasn't quite as extreme as the cheese.  They were fairly soft (which, kinda makes sense, a pre-made item, with them sitting on top of lettuce), and decently seasoned I guess, but certainly not the kind of crouton that inspired me in any way.

And finally ... the dressing.  Sadly, not the style I like.  No anchovy, too tangy.  And loaded with ... yup, more parmesan cheese.  It tasted more like a thick parmesan vinaigrette than Caesar to me.

Overall, this was just not a winner, and I would clearly not get again.  It is also available as a larger salad with a chicken breast on top.

Roasted Corn and Poblano Dip. $4.95.

I'm not entirely sure why I got this.

I mean, I do know that I love dips, and I had just had several days of attending events with lots of yummy dips, so I guess dips were on my mind?  But I had no practical plan for this, I didn't even have anything to put it on ...

The dip was a mix of cream cheese, Monterey jack, and aioli, with roasted corn, chives, garlic, and poblanos.

It was ... creamy.  It tasted like, well, cream cheese mixed with mayo and a cheese I don't care for (I didn't realize there was Monterey jack in it until after I bought it, I'm not a fan).  The roasted corn was nice enough, but I barely detected any poblanos.

Meh.  And $4.95?!

Strange impulse buy, not one I'd get again.

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Mac and Local Cheese. $5.

Napa Farms Market also has a hot foods section, and it is always very popular.  One day I decided to try the mac and cheese.  It looked pretty good, nicely creamy, crispy on top, tons of cheese, orecchiette pasta.  Warm comfort food sounded great.  I knew they gave samples, so I asked to try it first.

I didn't care for it at all, and I'm really glad I asked to try it first.

The pasta was mushy.  It somehow didn't taste cheesy.  As the guy who gave me the sample said, "Yeah, it's really greasy, I don't know why people like it."  That wasn't entirely my problem, but, yeah.  Not good.

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Creamed Corn. $5.

Another time I got the creamed corn.  Or, what they called creamed corn.  It was more like ... milked corn?

This was the most watery creamed corn I've ever experienced.  It was not rich nor creamy, just, watery milk and corn.

SKIP.

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Clam Chowder.

Another day, another comfort food craving.  This time, clam chowder.  It sounded comforting and light but satisfying at the same time.  Just what my travel confused body needed.

But again ... meh.  Creamy, thick, but not particularly well seasoned, and really not many clams at all.

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Dosa @ Napa Farms

On my recent trip through SFO, I discovered that Napa Farms is now carrying items by Dosa, the popular Indian restaurant in San Francisco, that I've visited and reviewed before.  Dosa also went through a phase of partnering with Munchery (which I also reviewed), so this was interesting to see them doing another packaged product offering

They had a bunch of different entree salads, and naan based wraps (called Frankies), which Napa Farms would heat up for you over at the grill station.

Brussels Sprout, Butternut Squash & Paneer Salad. $13.95.

"Chickpea, toasted walnut, kale, baby spinach, romaine, sweet cilantro dressing." 

I was very tempted by the paneer wrap, but decided on the salad with paneer instead.  I was fairly fascinated by the description, calling it a "brussels sprout,  butternut squash, & paneer salad", but I saw no brussels sprouts and no butternut squash, and yet there was tons of chickpeas (something I hate).

But I was in it for the paneer and the dressing that sounded tasty, and although the paneer wasn't the form I was expecting (not cubes), it still looked interesting enough to try.

It was quite pricey, as are most things at Napa Farms (nearly $15 for a salad), but it was large, and, according to the nutrition facts on the back, 3 servings (lol).

Brussels Sprout, Butternut Squash, & Paneer Salad: Contents.

"Poriyal is the Tamil word for vegetable dish and this healthy Indian salad features roasted butternut squash and Brussels sprout poriyal, rich in color, nutrients, and flavor, served over kale, spinach and romaine, drizzled wtih sweet cilantro dressing."

Once I took off the lid, I found the namesake ingredients.

Well, kinda.

There was exactly one half of one brussels sprout.  Literally.  Not entirely sure why the name of the salad, and the first ingredient listed, as brussels sprouts!  I felt a bit cheated.

The sole brussels sprout was in a pile with 5 cubes of butternut squash, top center.  All were cooked nicely, not too soft, and slightly seasoned, including a few visible mustard seeds.

To the left was the chickpea mix, another small pile.  This was a significant component, and not included in the dish title, the short description on the top, nor the longer one on the side.  Not sure why they didn't think it was worth mentioning ...  As expected, I didn't want this, but it was a nice way to turn this into a real entree with additional protein.  It too was spiced, with plenty of Indian spices: coriander, turmeric, ginger, mustard seed, cumin, fennel seed, garam masala, star anise, cinnamon, cloves ... I think there was coconut flakes in here too.

To the right was a small pile that was the paneer.  As I mentioned, it wasn't cubes, or batons, or any style of paneer I've seen before.  Instead it was kinda shredded, and it too was mixed with similar Indian seasonings, and I think tomato paste.

All of this was served over a bed of baby spinach, romaine, and kale, with a few shreds of carrot and red cabbage, and exactly 3 slices of radish.  The greens were all fresh and crisp, and I really liked the crispy slices of radish.  I was clearly raving vegetables.

One little container inside contained walnuts, just toasted walnuts.  Nothing particularly interesting about them, but nice to add more crunch, and perhaps some protein.  I found myself wishing they were pumpkin seeds instead though.

And finally, the dressing.  I somewhat liked it, and I somewhat hated it.  It was described as "sweet cilantro", and it reminded me a bit of cilantro chutney, just slightly less thick.  And sweet.  Very, very, very sweet.  I like sweet, and I like chutney, but, this was just too sweet.  It almost worked as a salad dressing, and I liked the idea behind it, but, alas, it was too sweet.

I was really into the idea of Indian entree salads though, even if this didn't quite do it for me.  I love Indian flavors and ingredients, but salad form isn't how I normally have them.  This salad was thoughtfully composed, with good balance of protein and textures, and I think they are onto something.