By Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Where to try new salads:

The big fast-food restaurants have gone full-scale with salad offerings. McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King all have several salads on their menu (with Wendy's the best among them). So it's not surprising that local chain Skyline should pump up their salad list as well. This week, they're rolling out a new menu at the downtown locations that includes new chicken salads and wraps.

Tom Allen, Skyline's vice president for marketing, says that in the past, people have said they're eating lighter and healthier foods, but their actual behavior didn't back that up. Now, "This appears to be a sincere trend. People are behaving more consistently with what they say." So the new menu extends the burrito and salad section of the Skyline menu. It also offers more for the "veto" voter, the one who doesn't like chili and will prevent an entire lunch party from going to Skyline.

Skyline has long offered salads, notably a Greek salad. "But people don't think of even the large one as an entree," says Allen. The main difference in the new menu is that it includes chicken. So there's a Greek chicken salad and wrap, a traditional chicken salad and a Southwestern taco salad. All use Tyson fajita-style chicken. Salads are $3.99; in a tortilla as a wrap they're $4.99.

I tried the Southwestern chicken taco salad, which is much as one would expect: shredded iceberg, chili beans, tomatoes and shredded cheddar cheese (far more cheese than the menu shows). There was also salsa, ranch dressing and chips on the side. It is lighter than a typical ground-beef taco salad, but it doesn't break any ground. The Greek salad is already good, so adding chicken to that is the most appealing idea on the new menu. (If you get the chicken Greek salad, is it OK to still get a couple cheese coneys?)

There's another new item on the menu that I really liked: cherry-flavored "Lymonade" ($1.30), a lightly carbonated lemon drink with an extra shot of cherry flavor.