Keene Fresh Salad Co., located at 44 Main Street, is a unique restaurant which offers a wide variety of food that will leave one feeling full, refreshed and satisfied.
This restaurant is very bright, with lots of open space and has many tables for people to sit down and enjoy their meal. During the summertime there is a limited amount of seating available outside as well. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very relaxed and has a southern feel to it.
Over the past few years I’ve eaten at Keene Fresh Salad Co., and I must say, I have never left disappointed.
Karina Barriga Albring / Senior Reporter:
Keene Fresh Salad Company, photographed above, is located on 44 Main Street in downtown Keene.
A sandwich that I very much enjoy is the chicken with fresh mozzarella, basil pecan pesto with lettuce and tomato on French white bread. The chicken was juicy, the vegetables were fresh and the pesto was homemade— and it was obvious. It was the freshest pesto I’ve ever had.
The employees have always greeted me with a smile and they seem genuinely happy to serve their customers. What I found to be great about this restaurant is that it has a café-like feel to it, but their menu says otherwise.
They offer fresh salads, which differ from any restaurant on Main Street. The toppings on some of their salads include, shrimp, salmon, chicken and tuna. It’s not often that I go to a small, locally owned restaurant and am able to have a salad that has fresh seafood on it. They also offer soups and sandwiches.
Fresh Salad Co. also offers tofu in replacement for the meat they put on their sandwiches or salads. This was a nice touch for those who want to enjoy the meal, but are vegetarian. They have a large list of homemade salad dressings as well.
Although Fresh Salad’s menu includes many mouth-watering meals, one thing that sets this place apart from other restaurants on Main Street is their drink menu.
They have iced tea, smoothies, lemonade and coffee…but here’s the kicker: they also serve alcohol. They carry a variety of New Hampshire beers, as well as wine. Their menu includes a list of lemonades and drinks with a detailed description of the liquors and juices mixed in.
Another aspect of their drinks that I found unique is they have specialty ice cubes for their drinks. They have everything from coffee ice cubes to strawberry cubes.
This gives your drink an extra flavor boost, while also keeping it cold and refreshing. Aside from their extensive menu and unique drinks, I was interested in finding out what else makes this restaurant stand out from the others on Main Street.
Co-owner Chris Drake said, “We make everything from scratch, we make our own soup stocks, salad dressings, we make our own yogurts, some of our own soft cheeses; we grow all of our own herbs in season and a great deal of our vegetables in season and we buy as much local as we possibly can.”
I found this to really set Fresh Salad Co. apart from other restaurants just by how fresh, homegrown and local all of their food is. Drake also said he think this is what keeps people coming back.
Keene Fresh Salad Co. brings in all different types of people from businessmen, to college students, to tourists.
According to Drake, they also have an enormous number of regulars, one of which I sat down with to talk about her experience at this restaurant.
Christine Badalamenti Smith said she comes to Fresh Salad as often as she can. She said the pesto is world-renowned and that she’ll purchase it and use it at home all the time.
Karina Barriga Albring / Senior Reporter: A Keene Fresh Salad Co. employee serves a sandwich to a customer.
She said she also enjoys the Cajun items offered. Badalamenti Smith also said that she loves the flavored ice cubes and will often get lemonade with a blueberry flavored ice cube in it.
“I think that this is the only place in the city of Keene right now that has really refined, delicious food that’s also local and healthy and I know that most of it, if not all of it is homemade,” she said.
“It’s a stand-alone restaurant, there is nothing else like it,” she added. She also said that she wishes it was open later so she can enjoy their food for dinner and Saturday nights. (They are open until 6 p. m. Monday-Friday, 4 p.m. on Saturday, and are closed on Sunday).
Overall, I was very pleased with Keene Fresh Salad Co. It has a calm and welcoming atmosphere and a genuinely kind staff and ownership.
Their food is always fresh and they offer a vast amount of different foods and drinks.
Drake said he hopes people take away memories of well-made food when they walk out of the door, and that is exactly what I took away from this restaurant.
Brooke Stall can be reached at bstall@keene-equinox.com