Crumbs in my 'Stache: A growing, and healthy-feeling nook

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Like many Americans, I overindulged during the long Thanksgiving weekend. It wasn’t just the piles of leftover ham, turkey and refrigerated lamb chop popsicles that gave me a woozy feeling. There were helpings and re-helpings of casseroles that would be too rich for the table at any time other than the holidays. What’s more, I was back in the Deep South, and it seemed like everywhere you looked was the stuff of a dietitian’s nightmares.

For example, we went out for sushi one night, and much of it was fried. Someone at the table ordered a roll filled with deep-fried tempura flakes. But fortunately you won’t find “creamy tuna” on the menu at one of our local sushi houses.

And then there were the fried chicken biscuits, an artery-clogging breakfast phenomenon that has really taken off since I moved out of the south more than six years ago. We picked up chicken biscuits – a deep-fried ‘breast’ inside a greasy biscuit – at a place called Bojangles, found in towns throughout the southeast. The only sweet tea I drank on the trip came one morning as part of a Bojangles breakfast combo with round hash brown patties that smelled nauseatingly of onion rings.

I won’t even get into the part about the various airport food I endured during the long day of travel on the way back. But my doc, who has warned me about my cholesterol, would not have been proud.

While it might be overdoing it to say I now need to face a nutritional penance, the gluttony is over – for the next few weeks, at least.

So this seems like a good time to write about a place that has been part of my routine for many months, although I never saw the right angle until recently. Sometimes it just takes some time to see what’s right under your nose.

I’m talking about the ready foods area at Jackson Whole Grocer – the corner of the store where you find the salad and tonic bars, the sandwich counter and more.
The salad bar especially has become part of my routine in recent months. It offers a rich and colorful variety of raw, often organic, vegetables; proteins like roasted chicken and tofu; and a counter of prepared sides like roasted beets and marinated lentil salad.

But I’m not here to extol the Whole Grocer salad bar as finest in the valley. It might be just that, although I’m certain there are other beloved local salad bars in the running.

One thing I like about Whole Grocer is what a buzzing little scene it has become. Go there a few times a week and you’ll begin to recognize the faces of some regular customers. And there’s a good chance you’ll bump into someone you know who ran in to grab soup, salad, or a large bottle of flavored sparkling mineral water or other drinks nearby. It’s not uncommon to see that person within a few feet of where you crossed paths in the store the last time.

Sure, Jackson feels like a small town, and running into people in itself is nothing unusual. But there seems to be a growing legion of regulars who seem to really like Whole Grocer for the variety, ease and value, surely, a growing stock of healthy options.

Or maybe it’s for, as a friend I?ran into there the other day said, “the cheapest coffee in town.”

Whole Grocer has been Jackson Hole’s “organics” store for some time, but it feels like its finally become a great community nook. The question is: has it come around, or have I? JHW

Jackson Whole Grocer. is at  974. W. Broadway, 733-0450. www.jacksonwholegrocer.com.
Soup (and oatmeal until 10 a.m.) for $5 per pound; salad bar  $8.79 per pound.

Photo by Ben Cannon
Whole Grocer’s roasted veggie alley, with the tonic bar in the background.

PERMALINK:
Crumbs in my 'Stache: A growing, and healthy-feeling nook | Planet JH News Article: Restaurants And Dining

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