In praise of Pret (Broad Street)

It's amazing how many colleagues are horrified at my goal of eating food from all of our neighboring street carts. I keep getting, "Did you see that piece on Gothamist about street vendors getting caught picking their noses and rubbing their bare feet?" Well, I did see the headline and quickly averted my eyes. But really, don't you think that a lot worse than that goes on behind closed doors in restaurant kitchens? At least the street vendors are operating on an open stage for all the world to see.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand...the British chain Pret a Manger, which is all over Manhattan now, is my backup when I go to lunch with anyone who is less than enthusiastic about my project. In my pre-vendor days, I sometimes ate at Pret every day. The sandwiches are full of flavorful ingredients, the salads are fresh, crisp and interesting, the baked goods are delightful, the Pret drinks are even good (I love the unsweetened Assam tea!) Pictured is a salad with grilled free range chicken, slices of granny smith apple, walnuts, dried cranberries, tomatoes, and blue cheese. My favorite sandwich has avocado, grana, pine nuts and tomato. Pret really pays attention to its ingredients - including the sources of its meats, which lessens my carnivore's guilt. (Though I know the USDA definition of "free-range" leaves much to be desired.)

As an aside, I definitely have qualms about the background of my street meats - and I don't think halal butchery is more humane or requires that the animals be raised in a more humane way - but I try not to think about it, and figure that my supporting these vendors and their small businesses is a good thing. I am careful with my meat buying when I cook at home - either going to small producers at the greenmarket or buying from producers like D'Artagnan at the grocery store.

My meat-buying and meat-eating guilt is further complicated by the fact that my family raises pigs and cows (conventionally - what some might label as industrial agriculture, or at least a link in the industrial agriculture chain) on our farm in GA. More about that later.

Where was I? Oh, Pret. The mini-brownie is such a perfect treat during A work day. It's tiny, but I savor every bite. I am admittedly a terrible baker, but this brownie has a better texture than I have ever achieved at home - it's soft and almost gooey in the center, but perfectly firm yet moist on the outside. Again, their quality ingredients, like decent chocolate, makes Pret stand out. I temporarily suspend my disdain for chains here - Pret is an exception from the rule that chains suck. Pret is (or appears to be) an environmentally/socially responsible company, and they serve mostly delicious food... I heart Pret.