Blue Zucchini & Co.

Located at 1506 North Main Street in High Point, Blue Zucchini offers burgers, salads, and sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Food specials change daily.

Though its name may call to mind artsy vegan food, Blue Zucchini’s closest analog is probably Greensboro’s Iron Hen (minus its much-maligned owner) in that it supplies comforting American eats in a quaint and quirky albeit somewhat crowded space. That isn’t to say that there aren’t vegetarian options here – there definitely are – but rather that one should recalibrate expectations accordingly.

And what should one expect? Go during lunchtime on a weekday, and expect a brief wait for a table. Expect to gawk at the desserts positioned conveniently near the register. Expect to gawk at the brightly colored interior and either nod in approval or find it a bit much. Expect to be torn between at least two different sandwiches (and, possibly, at least two different sides) when perusing the menu.

These expectations dispensed with, my wife and I opted for a fried green tomato starter, a West L.A. (turkey, bacon, avocado, cheese, chipotle mayo, lettuce, and tomato on sourdough) and a Low Rider (roast beef, cherry peppers, Havarti, and horseradish mayo on a baguette), with cups of black bean soup on the side. Fried green tomatoes are one of our litmus test dishes, and Blue Zucchini’s rendition (with pimento and balsamic) proved to be a mixed bag. The tomatoes were both thickly sliced and thickly battered and were nice and crisp. However, they were also quite dry. Thanks to odd plating, only the two slices in the middle had any pimento (sandwiched between them). Fortunately, the sandwiches were less confounding. Gooey melted cheese and a nice kick from the horseradish mayo made the Low Rider a winner. The black bean soup’s addition of salsa and sour cream kept it from being one-note. Prompt service and reasonable pricing ($9.75 and $8.95, sides included) made for more points in Blue Zucchini’s favor.

It remains to be seen whether or not Blue Zucchini handles dinner entrees as well as it does sandwiches, but it has all the makings of a solid lunch spot – albeit not one worth more than a fifteen-minute wait.