Best Twin Cities Salad Bar(gain)

$3.99/lb at Knollwood Cub

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a (self-proclaimed) salad bar aficionado, and that I'm not shy about dishing out both compliments and criticisms, especially on price ("New Lindens Hills Co-Op").

Very much in the former category is the salad bar at the Knollwood (St. Louis Park) Cub: well-stocked, fresh, and cheap -- only $3.99 a pound.

IMHO, it's the best salad bar value in town.

Runners-up?

The salad bar at the new Rainbow just southeast of 394 and Turners Crossroad, in Golden Valley (by the West End complex and Costco); and Whole Foods' salad bar, just northwest of Lake Calhoun.

I hardly need to tell this to fellow "salad bar-ites," but the secret is to go a little before lunch hour (breakfast for me), when everything's freshest; and to select expensive, prepared foods rather than cheap carb's and starches.

P.S.: lest my knock on the Linden Hills Co-Op salad bar be misconstrued, I think it's got superb food; it's just the price ($8.99/lb) I was balking at.