Taking sides: Out to lunch

ANNE BRALY: Food-Works has always impressed me. I mean, to take a huge, old building like the old knitting mill and turn half of it into a restaurant with style took some doing. But then to be pretty consistent about the food is another example of good restaurateurship to which FoodWorks can lay claim. The past two times I’ve lunched there, I’ve had salads. Last time, it was the Asian mix and was quite good, but I will now say the Cobb salad has it beat. It was an excellent mix of lettuces, savory grilled chicken, egg, big chunks of avocado, pieces of pecan and bits of blue cheese crumbles. And the blue cheese dressing was more of a vinaigrette than a heavy dressing, which may have brought the calorie count in this salad down from 1,000 to a mere 900.

HOLLY LEBER: I’ve been hearing about FoodWorks since I moved here, but today was my first time actually dining there, and it did not disappoint. I had one of the lunch specials — a vegetable panini with eggplant, tomato, zucchini and pesto on Italian ciabatta bread. In Italian, panino means sandwich, but here in the United States a panini (which is technically the plural of the word) is a sandwich that’s been pressed on a two-sided grill. I was expecting the grilled version, but FoodWorks uses the native definition, meaning uncooked sandwich. I might have counted this against them, were the bread not super-fresh with a soft center and a crispy, floury outside. Fortunately, even in its raw state, this panino was, if not perfetto, at least pretty darn good.

ANNE: Speaking of good bread, the rolls were warm and fresh. Very yeasty tasting and perfect. The only thing is, when I’ve gone before, the rolls come with the water. This time, we had to ask for them. No problem, our waiter said. So, did he forget, or is FoodWorks starting to make cutbacks? I hope not, but from the looks of the slim crowd there for lunch, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had to. That was the smallest crowd I’ve ever seen at FoodWorks. The upstairs was totally unoccupied. Is this a sign of things to come in all restaurants?

HOLLY: I think the economy is definitely causing more of a brown-bag wave. The lunch prices at FoodWorks, while not dirt cheap, were quite reasonable however. It wouldn’t be too big of a splurge on a particularly tough day at the office or when the need to take a friend out for a birthday/sympathy/congratulatory lunch arises. This isn’t an everyday place to pop into, but for a special occasion it’s more than worthwhile.

ANNE: I couldn’t agree more. And one more thing: I think this may be the first time we’re in solid agreement about a restaurant. Thought it would never happen.