Dear E.G.: In the 1950s, the block of Poplar Avenue between Bingham and Collins was cluttered with an odd mix of businesses: Kreme Castle ice cream, St. Andrew’s Miniature Golf, Willie King’s drive-in, and a couple of gas stations and used-car lots. In 1958, developers cleared most of those away, and at 2600 Poplar they erected a building called — are you ready for this? — the Twenty-Six Hundred Poplar Building. It was home to five floors of service-related companies: American Credit, Lazarov Realty, Universal Match, and even something called Pleasure Parks.
Tucked into the ground floor was the Salad Bowl, owned and operated by Bernie Patterson, who had previously managed the Kennedy View Restaurant on Park (so named because it offered diners a view of Kennedy General Hospital).
According to a menu in my collection, the Salad Bowl obviously offered “tasty salads” but also served a full breakfast, steakburgers, home-made beef stew, and hot beef sandwiches with potatoes. In those days, the priciest thing on the menu was a strip sirloin for $3.50. Fried jumbo shrimp or “select oysters” cost $1.25. Almost everything else was less than a dollar.
In 1965, the Salad Bowl changed hands. The little eatery was taken over by Lee Roy and Nelle Johnson, who kept it running until the mid-1970s, when it became a Chinese restaurant. It’s gone through quite a few owners over the years, and you can still get a good meal there. Today, 2600 Poplar is home to Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant.
