Enough. Look around at what's on the tables of the hordes who've been packing tiny Tasti since it opened several months ago, and it's a cinch to see that ersatz junk food is not the main draw. The most popular plates seem to be salads -- and no wonder; the produce isn't wilted salad-bar stuff, but wonderfully fresh. Especially appealing is the Garden D-Lite, which comes in two sizes for $3.49 and $5.95. This signature salad features vine-ripe tomatoes (that were, for a change, truly ripe every time I've had this salad), alfalfa sprouts, red and green pepper strips, a big crescent of creamy avocado, and a sprinkling of pine nuts, plus "gourmet lettuce" indistinguishable from the mere "lettuce" listed in other Tasti salads; it's all tasty mesclun.
Salads come with a crusty mini-baguette and choice of three dressings: a hefty (though I'd guess eggless) caesar, subtly sweet Chinese sesame, and a not unappealing but quite odd Dijon vinaigrette, with an almost whipped texture and a curry taste that predominates over mustard.
For those seeking slightly more substantial fare, there are some salads that add fairly low-fat protein to the produce: a light though intensely herbed tuna; a binder-free egg. And some sandwiches are really just the café's salads on its very good bread; the reinterpreted buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad, for instance, works beautifully as a more stomach-satisfying snack in an olive oil/balsamic vinegar-drizzled wrap ($6.95). It's also possible, for only $2 extra, to add a "small house salad" -- in fact a $3.49 Garden D-Lite for $1.49 less -- to a sizable slice of Tasti's quiche of the day, a cup of hearty homemade soup, or one of three pastas. Sesame linguine, eaten room temperature like cold sesame noodles, has become a personal favorite after I got used to its al dente Italian pasta in place of Chinese noodles, and its much lighter, though sufficiently spicy, sauce.
Finally there's a bakery counter in back, right in front of the frozen-diet-dessert dispenser, packed with goodies worth every gram of fat. The bagels are from H&H in New York -- enough said. And there's a positively sinful mile-high apple pie. To save calories, do not get it à la mode.