Everyone I know nowadays is doing their best to eat better, but when it comes to eating out, how often do we really know what were getting? Vinaigrette is a local eatery that does an elegant job creating tasty salads using fresh produce while maintaining sustainability as their top priority. They have three locations; two located in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque and one in Austin, Texas.
Photo by Shani Harvie
The energy in their restaurant is fresh and modern and you can’t go wrong with anything on their menu, trust me. The majority of their produce is grown using a single farm for the New Mexico locations located in Nambé, and a farm in Bastrop for the location in Texas.
The sustainability aspect of their restaurant continues past the dinning tables, using left over food waste to feed the animals and create compost to continue growing greens. It’s pretty cool that you can sit down in a trendy place and know that they’re doing their best to serve you and the environment.
Photo Courtesy of VinaigretteOnline.com
Erin Wade, the face behind the concept of the Vinaigrette has an interesting story too. In college, originally on track to make the big bucks in pre-med, changed her major to English coming into her junior year. She decided that she wanted to be more creative. After graduating she dove into fashion design classes in Milan, and with that experience brought back the love for good food that she found in the culture there.
Photo By Shani Harvie
Whether you’re looking for a lunch combo with a Hot Turkey Sandwich and a Cherry Tart salad, or an elegant dinner salad of Arugula Duck, Vinaigrette gives you the opportunity to eat out and feel good about it. Their approach to making salads eye-catching and tastefully pleasing is innovative and fantastic for whoever may be behind the fork. But even better is knowing that your food is fresh, none of that prepackaged processing that we can’t seem to get away from.