In today’s busy world, finding a tasteful, healthy meal during a hectic workday can be difficult.  Fast-food restaurants offer quick drive-thru sustenance, but not without extra calories and fat. Where do you turn?  How about the Saucy Salamander?

Nestled in the Riva 400 Office Park at 2661 Riva Road in Annapolis, the Saucy Salamander is a warm, inviting café offering a variety of salads, sandwiches, soups, and quiches with an emphasis on fresh ingredients and healthy fare. Owners Rhonda Falcon and Ken Brannan have been serving up tantalizing meals in the Annapolis area since 1980, when they moved from their native Pittsburgh to Annapolis. After the success of their first venture, the Crate Café, they opened the Saucy Salamander in 1990 at its original location at the Festival at Riva shopping center.  Following 7 fruitful years at the Festival, they relocated just down the road to their present location at Riva Office Park and have continued to delight patrons with their creations ever since.  In 1993, they opened a second Salamander location at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, which is open 7 days a week in accordance with Homestead’s seasonal hours and offers a small variety of sandwiches and salads designed to “grab-and-go.”

The Saucy Salamander at Riva caters to the workday crowd with hours from 7:30 AM to 4 PM Monday through Friday.  Breakfast starts with the option to build your own creation from a variety of ingredients including fresh vegetables, eggs, meats, cheeses, and whole-grain breads. You can also build your own salad or sandwich for lunch with an even wider variety of enticing ingredients, or choose from the popular menu items such as the Turkey Tarragon Wrap, Riva Grill, Classic Reuben, or Saucy Sub. For the salad connoisseur, the options are endless – Greek Salad, Salamander Salad (mixed greens, smoked turkey and mozzarella, tomatoes, fried capers, basil onion relish and olive oil), the Festival, or the Italian. There are many vegetarian options as well, including a Veggie Burger. Rhonda works with her chef to develop the creations offered by the café. She focuses on offering healthy meals using as much local produce and seafood as she can acquire.

The Saucy Salamander also offers catering for events of all kinds, from weddings to private parties to corporate events.  The Riva Road café is available evenings and weekends for catered parties.  The café also hosts two regular weekday morning networking meetings for area business professionals – Thursday and Friday mornings are always hopping at the Salamander.

Rhonda and Ken have been in business together for 29 years, but have been married for 31 years – that’s quite an accomplishment on both fronts! Their son is also part of the business, working several positions in the café while attending college. Rhonda’s Italian heritage lends itself to part of the name of the Saucy Salamander – Italians make the best sauces, she says – and a salamander, while known to many as a tailed amphibian having soft, moist, scaleless skin, is also the name of a metal plate or disk with a handle, heated and held over pastry, casserole crusts, etc., to brown or glaze them.

Why not treat yourself to lunch today at the Saucy Salamander? If you mention Cash Flow Plus and this article, you will receive a free beverage with your meal through the end of February 2009, courtesy of Rhonda and Ken.  Be sure to check out their web site for their menu selections:  www.saucysalamander.com.

Saucy Salamander, 2661 Riva Rd # 801, Annapolis, MD (410) 266-1622