STEPH DEROSA: CHEF SALAD >>>

Price: $10.95
Rating: Two our of four croutons

Before heading into the Tacoma Dome’s Home and Garden Show last week, I met up with The KAke and Tacomachickadee for a quick lunch at Alfred’s Café and Bubble Room.  The spunky server took care of us knowing that we were three ladies (I use the term “ladies” very loosely) who had a very limited time and were anxious to head up the hill to get our hands dirty at the T-Dome.  Chickadee noshed on a BLT while I ordered Alfred’s Chef Salad.  Both KAke and Chickadee pointed and laughed as the server set down this humungo plate of lettuce and deli meat in front of me.  How in the hell was I supposed to eat all that?

Description: First off, let it be known that I specifically ordered this salad with no croutons, so the crouton amount is not a factor in this Tossing Salad review. The iceberg/romaine combination was for the most part fresh and crunchy, aside from the occasional brown romaine rib edge. But with ominous amounts of protein and dairy atop this large mound of greens, you’d really never noticed any foliage wrongdoing.  Bagged cheddar and mozzarella, thinly sliced turkey and ham deli meat, tomatoes, and one perfectly sliced hard boiled egg graced the height of my platter giving me ample opportunity to dig into whatever flavor my salad-lovin’ heart preferred.

Taste: It tasted exactly how you’d expect.  The meat and cheese ingredients were a typical salt- processed flavor, while what made every bite deliciously edgy was the Honey Mustard dressing.  All the chicks out there know what I’m talking about when I say it was the sweet/salty combo that hit my premenstrual cravings just right. 

Conclusion: I liked it.  For a quick and filling salad, it hit the spot just right.  This was a fucking big salad, which I could easily compare to Viafore’s Chef Salad.  They both carried lunch meat atop a mound of greens; it simply depends on how much you want to pay.  For twice the price you can get twice the salad toppings at Alfred’s AND not have to ware off the Po-Po as you punch the pedal past the whopping 25 mph Fircrest speed limit.  Bonus.

Dressing on the Side
Mr. DeRosa and I finally turned in our taxes.  Yipee!  Thankfully we had an assload of write-offs, which gave us a much-needed tax return.  Amongst the many questions that arose during our tax process, one sticks in my mind the most.  If a family can’t write off private school tuition (which is bogus), shouldn’t they be able to write off the school taxes paid for the public school their child is not attending?  There has to be some kind of break, wouldn’t you think?

[Alfred’s Café and Bubble Room, 402 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma, 253.627.5491]