Along with the many delicious beverages Midnight Oil provides to Searcy, there are also many satisfying food options. Lisa Ford, owner of Eden’s Table, does all the catering for Midnight Oil. Ford makes the lunch menu fresh every day, including the awesome bread that comes with the items on the menu. The menu changes with the seasons, and for this season, the menu consists of foods that are light and refreshing. Farmers’ Market Summer Menu is great because you don’t even realize you are enjoying something really healthy and great for you until you have eaten everything.
I recommend starting with the “side salad sampler.” This will allow you to pick three of the great salads on one plate. The options you have are “marinated vegetable,” “pesto pasta salad,” “quinoa salad” and “three bean salad.” All of these choices are fabulous for a summer menu. The “marinated vegetables” will make you forget you are eating vegetables. Squash, zucchini and peppers are all marinated in olive oil and vinegar topped with some fresh oregano. Another salad that will fool you into eating something great for you is the “quinoa salad.” This salad includes cilantro; in my opinion, cilantro needs to be added into everything, so they are doing something great here. Along with cilantro, the salad includes quinoa, edamame, mango, red pepper, purple onion and coconut. The sweet with the savory is quite genius. The last two options are the “pesto pasta salad” and the “three bean salad.” These are both wonderful savory choices. The “pesto salad” does not overwhelm you with pesto and will delight your taste buds. The “three bean salad” has the best tasting sauce, and is great to dip your fresh bread in.
After you enjoy a nice side salad, I would definitely recommend trying one of the fabulous soups the menu has to offer. Both are served cold. In this case, it is not a bad thing to let the soup get cold. The savory soup option is called gazpacho, which has an influence from Spain. In this soup, there is fresh tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, garlic, onions, basil and a little bit of red wine vinegar. The next soup option sounds like an odd concept—strawberry soup. It is a refreshing experience of blended fresh strawberries, yogurt and cream. The only way to describe this soup is to say it is like a creamy strawberry smoothie.
Let’s move on to the bread. The bread is made fresh every. This bread has a wee bit of salt on the top wich is a wonderful idea. I recommend getting Midnight Oil’s “traditional chicken salad” on the bread. When you order this, you will just keep thinking of how fancy of a sandwich it is. The chicken salad contains strawberries and chopped pecans, drizzled with the house-made strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. Close to the chicken salad is the “curry chicken salad.” This salad includes mango salsa, sliced almonds and plantain chips, topped with a house-made coconut curry dressing. Another dish the “shrimp escabeche salad.” Lisa Ford, learned how to make this festive salad while traveling overseas,. The plate includes shrimp, tomatillos and cilantro all marinated in citrus juices, half of an avocado and black beans, topped with the house-made vinaigrette. It is almost too pretty to eat but you should definitely eat it all anyway.
Midnight Oil, once again, does not fail when it comes to pleasing Searcy stomachs.’ I would recommend you to stop by around 11 a.m. to enjoy a wonderful delight of a lunch. Make sure to try the “Farmers’ Market Summer menu” before the menu transitions for next season.
