Café Zupas: Truth is Tastier Than Fiction

Cafe ZupasThe Mall-One restaurant "Szupa" is a loving tribute to a local place, Café Zupas where I've been eating an average of four large salads per week. While I'm sure they have corporate customers who spend more there than I do (they do catering) I don't think they have many individual customers who can claim that Zupas is three of the four major food groups.

Brief backstory -- in 2004 I quit my day-job to be a cartoonist. Shortly thereafter one of my former co-workers, Rob Seely, quit to open a restaurant. I didn't get around to eating there until almost five years later, much to my chagrin. It's been delicious the whole time, or so I'm told. And to Rob's credit, he never once used the word "trendylicious" and none of the salad, soup, or sandwich fixings appear to be made with "genecreated foodsmarts."

But the Vermont Maple Blueberry salad? Yes, it is practically swimming in a salad dressing that is the product of a torrid love affair between maple syrup and the word "vinaigrette."  I've never been a fan of salad ("that's what food eats"), but Zupas has converted me. Not to vegetarianism, mind you. I'm now a more flexible omnivore. I'll eat food, and I'll eat what my food eats. I'm not sure how much further down the food chain I'm willing to go, though. Water, sometimes. Dirt, only accidentally.

Anyway, here's a shout-out to all the fine folks at the Plumtree Plaza Zupas in Provo: Matt, Eva, Alex, Anjo, Janni, Sam, Michelle, Beck, Miguel, Alison, Erica, and of course Liz and Tanner and a half dozen people whose names I've forgotten -- thanks for all the salads.  And the soups and sandwiches too, but mostly the salads. For some reason I just won't eat a salad prepared by my own hands, even when they're clean.