Whenever word hits the grapevine that a new eatery is planned for New Paltz, amidst all the happy anticipation one can always count on a few cynics automatically responding, “Oh, it’s probably another pizzeria/coffee bar/Mexican place — we have too many of those already.” And there’s undeniably a historical pattern of copycat businesses cropping up on or near Main Street not too long after a new style of cuisine is introduced and proves popular. Once in a while, however, a genuinely fresh idea will show up in town, and residents celebrate.
That’s happening right now, judging from the responses on social media to the opening on Wednesday, March 5, of Butterhead Salad Company at 138 Main, next door to Angel Nails in the Main Street Plaza mini-mall across the street from the Trailways station. When it was announced last fall that the new occupant of the space that formerly housed Rabble Rise Doughnuts would be a satellite of a much-loved salad emporium in Beacon, locals pricked up their ears with interest. Most restaurants, cafés and diners have salads on the menu — sometimes very good ones. But a shop dedicated first and foremost to supplying exquisitely fresh salads, made to order from your choice of a bewildering array of ingredients, is a novel experiment for New Paltz.
National chain restaurants that specialize in build-your-own salads actually exist, but for some reason, they’ve never made it into our region. Butterhead’s founder/owner, Sabena Branche, was a regular lunchtime customer of such places during her two-decade career in corporate real estate, when she was commuting from Orange County to New Jersey. “Sometimes I’d treat myself to that, and I never understood why none of those companies invested in the Hudson Valley,” she says. And so the seed was planted in her mind for a second career.
Born in Rockland County, Branche grew up in various places in the Valley, attending high school in Poughkeepsie. As a salad chef, she never had a mentor, culinary training “outside of my own kitchen,” food service experience or a family background in the restaurant business; she just loved making and eating salads, experimenting with different combinations of ingredients. “I’ve always been a salad person,” she says.
Her work as a real estate broker was rewarding, but the rigid corporate climate and the hour-and-a-half commute each way eventually wore her down. “I decided I wanted to take my life into my own hands. I wanted to be my own boss, make my own rules, have my own freedom — while I was still young enough,” she says. “I was ready for a different lifestyle. I wanted to free my soul from the clutches of all that.”
So it was that, two years ago, with a supportive partner and family ready to help out, she took the leap and opened the Butterhead Salad Company flagship restaurant on Main Street in Beacon, next door to a shop owned by her sister. “Beacon will have its second anniversary in April,” Branche notes. It found an enthusiastic customer base right away, to the point where expansion to a second location soon seemed like the logical next step.
It took five or six months to land in New Paltz, she says, with her son doing most of the searching. Never again willing to get stuck in the rut of a long commute, Branche originally hoped to find a storefront within a 15-minute drive from Newburgh: “I didn’t want to be far away from home.” But then, “Something popped up online” showing that the former donut shop had become vacant, and the good memories of a period when she was a New Paltz resident began to outweigh the downside of the slightly longer drive.
“I really loved the location. I used to live in New Paltz many years ago, when I was an older teen. I still always go to New Paltz and just walk around, just embracing the feeling, the diversity,” she says. “People here are very accepting. You can be who you want to be and look how you want to look.”
Branche decided to take a gamble that the collegetown crowd would be receptive to the menu she planned to offer — especially considering the walkable location, right across the street from the bus depot, with its own small off-street parking lot and “great windows that let in lots of sunshine.” It took months of work to renovate the shop, however: “We put a lot of love and care into the place.”
The results of her family’s labor are a charming space with the vibe of a subtropical atrium or patio. There’s new flooring in a light-colored wood, white painted woodwork framing vibrant wallpaper with a pattern of enormous peacocks, wooden tables with distressed white pedestals evoking garden statuary, hanging lampshades of woven rattan and matching urns holding large potted plants. It’s an airy, inviting place to enjoy a healthful lunch.
But the real gorgeousness lies in the array of salad ingredients behind the counter. The bins of greens that serve as the base for your salad — your choice of romaine lettuce, mixed greens, baby spinach, arugula or baby kale — are bursting with freshness, clearly sourced as locally as possible. Stainless steel trays of topping ingredients offer so many enticing options that you might actually want to visit the Butterhead Salad Company website before you arrive, just to decide what you want. Everything looks delicious, and everything we tried on our first visit proved so.
The menu includes a list of predesigned salads in a price range of $15 to $20, if you’re too overwhelmed to choose. My dining companion opted for a weekly special featuring apple slices and pronounced it excellent. I went for the build-your-own salad, which for a base price of $13 includes one type of cheese plus your choice of shredded carrots, red onions, baby corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives, banana peppers, apples, dried cranberries, chick peas, cilantro, house-baked croutons, sunflower seeds, black beans, red cabbage and/or basil.
Fancier toppings, available for $1 or $2 each, include such indulgences as stuffed grape leaves, mozzarella balls and edamame. We especially enjoyed the housemade roasted broccoli and roasted sweet potatoes. You can add protein in the form of marinated grilled chicken, hot honey grilled chicken, sesame/ginger marinated tofu and falafel for $4 extra or marinated grilled flank steak for $5.50.
The salad is assembled and tossed before your eyes, with your choice of dressings, about half of them housemade: balsamic, fig balsamic, ranch, cilantro/lime, chipotle ranch, sesame/ginger, Green Goodness (pesto-flavored), simple lemon, Caesar, parmesan/peppercorn, honey mustard and spicy Thai peanut. It must be mentioned that these salads are enormous — easily good for two meals or more. They are served in huge compostable bowls, with an optional plastic lid for your leftovers.
What if you’re not in the mood for “rabbit food”? No problem. There are great soups, each served with a house-baked croissant; warm rice bowls; quinoa bowls; salad wraps; loaded nachos; even yummy kid-friendly bento boxes. Vegans and gluten-avoiders have plenty of options.
Besides a wide selection of packaged beverages, each day there are two housemade juice blends available. The blackberry limeade, garnished with fresh berries, is outstanding. “When spring hits, we put fresh fruit on the menu,” Branche notes. In addition to the juices and soups of the day, the offerings include weekly and seasonal specials; the website at https://butterheadsaladcompany.com lays out the standard menu.
Based on reactions from first-week visitors, Butterhead has already found a niche that direly needed filling. “I was so anxious, I can’t tell you — trying to be perfect. Then we opened and I just kind of exhaled. People came in all day at a really steady, comfortable pace, bringing nothing but positive, beautiful vibes,” says Branche. “Who wouldn’t want to be in New Paltz? I feel happy and blessed to have that package.”
Butterhead Salad Company, located at 138 Main Street in New Paltz, is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, noon to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. To preorder food for takeout, phone (845) 633-8312.
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