Emily Needham is a salad crusader. The self-dubbed Lettuce Lady (catchy, right?) has always loved being in the kitchen, and especially the act of creating salads that go beyond the pale (iceberg lettuce, that is).
“I think my food journey led me to eat something that makes me feel good, and I never feel bad after a salad,” says the Shelter Island native. “They give me energy, I can eat a good variety of things and I can make a salad out of a ton of things in my ‘fridge. I can make them in advance, too, which was the whole concept for Lettuce Lady. Plus, I always look forward to a salad.”
Opened the last week of June, Needham’s new Lettuce Lady Shed located at 10 St. Mary’s Road is a grab-and-go concept — one of the few on the island — adding to her already robust list of clients who have been carrying her salads and baked goods for the last few years.
The Shed is stocked with 30 salads a day. There are usually five to six different options, and never a boring or ungenerous one in the bunch. There’s even a vegan Caesar option that, truly, is its own delicious, special version of the classic that non-vegans will easily clamor for as well (sorry, vegans — it’s too good not to share).
Needham had left home for a job in software in San Luis Obispo, Calif., where she worked and lived for a decade and where her two children were born. She moved back to her hometown in 2019 and felt the urge to get away from the desk and back to the kitchen, doing work for James and Linda Ecklund at the Ram’s Head Inn. When COVID-19 hit and she found herself furloughed, she began thinking of her many friends in nursing on the front lines, and started making food for them, dropping off salads and baked goods to keep them happy and fed. Word spread on the Island of Needham’s spectacular salads, and a side salad-delivery business was born.
“Nobody delivers outside pizza on the Island. People would sign up, I sent out a mass text once a week of the three salads people could order and the list grew, she says. “Eccentric, crazy, kooky salads that no one would find at stores. Plus the Island had nothing grab-and-go and delivery was unique.”
She had a special custom cookie cutter made in the shape of Shelter Island and began selling beautiful, frosted Island cookies, too. Her good friend Amanda Bartilucci, owner of Elli’s Country Store, was an early supporter and began carrying her salads and baked goods. Then Sylvester Manor requested items for the seasonal farm stand. Requests rolled in from other local spots — and help for the burgeoning business, too.
“I received help from all over,” she says. The crew at the Islander helped her with ordering. Her friend Amanda helped with getting the business off the ground. The Ecklunds helped and then, after they sold Ram’s Head, current owner Aandrea Carter let Needham use her food truck. Pepe Martinez, co-owner of Stars Café, added items to his Baldor order for the salad impresario’s weekly ingredients. “It was very piecemeal and very supportive. It was a very Shelter Island way to go about it.”
Recently, Needham took a part-time job with the senior-serving Shelter Island Nutrition Program as a site manager, which gives her a little extra job security and allowed her to think about how to lengthen the shelf life of the Lettuce Lady, spurring the creation (with help from her stepdad, Sare Construction owner Dexter Sareyani) of the Shed.
Open daily from 8 a.m. until sundown, the Lettuce Lady shed is indeed the place to go for excellent salads, as well as tea breads (her nutmeg-spiked banana bread is popular for a reason), cookies and gift items like island-etched glasses (Needham makes them herself, tees and sweatshirts, canvas bags, candy and, soon, some handmade ceramics created by her mother, Stephanie Needham. “She made a platter that looked like a Romaine leaf,” Needham says, “and it was so beautiful, I asked her to make some bowls and other things for the shop!”
Another unique aspect: It’s on the honor system. Everything is sold via Venmo, Zelle, cash or personal check. In true Island tradition, so far it seems to be working.
“My favorite thing is when I have a custome who maybe [thinks salads] are gross. And then that person becomes a regular customer. I think, yes! Mission accomplished!” laughs Needham. “Salads get a bad rep. No one should eat something that’s not delicious.”
