Blue Lemon: Classy Fast Casual

Mango Mint Chicken Salad, made with Spinach, homemade mint lime vinaigrette, grilled chicken, toasted cashews, ripe mangos, fresh sliced avocados, and sweet and sour red onions.

Blue Lemon is a home-grown restaurant that started in Utah County and now has five locations. I would say it’s on the sophisticated end of fast casual restaurants, in terms of the type of both food and prices. Aaron and Lychelle Day opened the original Blue Lemon in Alpine in 2009. Now there are five of locations, including Farmington Station, where I’ve eaten maybe a dozen times since it opened.

Things I’ve noticed about Blue Lemon:

  • The furnishings in Farmington don’t seem as elegant as the downtown Salt Lake location, but the layout is pretty spacious. So if you’re eating with a group of five or six people, you aren’t likely to have problems finding seating (after standing around waiting for a table at the ever-crowded Habit Burger nearby, I appreciate this even more.)
  • Like other “fast casual” places, Blue Lemon is a hybrid of fast food and the sit-down, full-service restaurants. You order your meal and pay at the front counter, as you would with fast food. You also fill your own drinks. Time-wise, it’s faster than sit-down service, where you wait for a server to take your order and bring your food and bill.
  • Besides soup, salads and sandwiches, the menu offers more higher-end entrees like Jalapeno Lime-Glazed Salmon or Black Bean Ravioli with micro greens, served on gleaming white plates instead of disposables.

  • Iron-Seared Salmon topped with micro-greens, served on a bed of rice and bright, tender green beens with a flavorful herb emulsion. The salmon was perfectly cooked, too — nicely seared on the outside, and moist inside.
  • There’s no assembly line as with many other fast casuals (think Café Zupas or Café Rio). Because of this, there seems to be more care taken with presentation. Salads are artfully arranged, rather than tossed together. There are neat little garnishes that you’d find in a sit-down restaurant. As one of my sons has said, it’s everything you’d want in a regular restaurant, but faster.
  • I like the menu’s variety. Many fast casual restaurants are based around one type of food, such as burgers at The Habit or Five Guys, Mexican at Cafe Rio or Costa Vida,  pizza at Blaze. But, if you come in with a group, there’s something at Blue Lemon that could please just about everyone  — one person might be happy with a bowl of the sweet and savory Butternut Squash Soup, while others can have Fettuccine Alfredo,  Fiery Fish fajitas,  Chicken Coconut Curry. or a panini or a salad.

The Blue Lemon promotions imply that the food is healthy, and this is probably true if you order a salad. But the sweet potato french fries and Fettuccine Alfredo are probably not any more healthier or lower in fat and calories than other restaurants’ versions. Hey, I’m just sayin’.

The salads and sandwiches are $7.50 to $10, similar to most fast casual restaurants. Entrees can be pricey — $15 for salmon and $14 for a grilled 6-ounce steak. But this is probably what you’d expect to pay in any restaurant for salmon or steak. And the usual 15-20% tip isn’t expected, so there’s a bit of a savings.

 

Blue Lemon’s Raspberry Chicken Salad, with field greens, raspberry vinaigrette, grilled chicken, candied pecans, feta cheese, orange sections, sweet and sour red onions, and endive.

I think Blue Lemon really excels with its salads. I’ve been a fan of the Pear and Gorgonzola Spinach Salad,, and I’ve also enjoyed both the  Raspberrry Chicken Salad and a Mango Mint Chicken Salad with almonds, avocados, mango and spinach with a mint lime vinaigrette.  They have a lot of great fresh ingredients — to me, they don’t skimp on the protein — and they look for pretty on the plate.

Pear and Gorgonzola Spinach Salad, with mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette, grilled chicken, crisp chicken bacon, gorgonzola cheese, candied pecans, red grapes, and carrots. Sorry — the photos don’t really do it justice.

I also like the black bean ravioli, for a vegetarian pasta dish that’s a little different. The ravioli are bathed in a  red pepper cream sauce and garnished with stripes of  herb emulsion. It’s topped with fresh salsa and micro greens, and it’s a filling meal for $10.

Blue Lemon’s black bean ravioli ravioli with roasted red pepper cream sauce, herb emulsion, spinach and sautéed seasonal vegetables, topped with salsa fresca and micro greens, $10.

My favorite dish of all is the Iron-Seared Salmon. It came on a bed of rice and bright, tender green beens. Little stripes of flavorful herb emulsion add color and flavor to the rice. The salmon was perfectly cooked, too — nicely seared on the outside, and moist inside. It was around $14, which seems steep for fast-casual. But I thought it was a good value for the price and preparation.

Awhile back, I tried the turkey avocado sandwich. It was OK, but a little dry because I asked to leave the mayo off. I have a dislike for mayo (Miracle Whip too) , which means that I often end up with dry sandwiches. It’s really not the fault of the sandwich… I just thought the avocado would lend a little more moisture.

I have a friend who loves the sweet potato fries. She was so disappointed one day when we met there for lunch, and they were out of sweet potato fries.

I’m sure as time goes by, I’ll be adding a few other Blue Lemon dishes to this post, as I try them.

But I’d like to hear what your take is on Blue Lemon, and which dishes you like or dislike. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post.

 

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