The Alfalfa Approach -- This New Kid On The Block Has A Wholesome Market And Deli With Roots In Boulder

THE PARKING LOT at Alfalfa's, a natural-food emporium on the fringes of Laurelhurst and Windermere, is filled with Volvos. Some Subarus.

The message board at the entry urges the adoption of homeless cats (with color photos from PAWS), Eastern meditations and assorted therapeutic massages.

The clientele, dressed mostly in high-fashion earthtones accented heavily with black, appears extraordinarily wholesome.

You think: These people are the salt of the earth.

Not quite. These people are the NO salt of the earth. And not much fat of the land, either.

Alfalfa's began in Boulder, Colo., in 1978, expanded to five other Rocky Mountain locales (including Vail) and began to approach broader markets last year, with new stores in Santa Fe and Seattle.

The underlying concept is simple. Take the appeal of natural foods, the cachet of gourmet foods and apply both to a supermarket setting. Seattle's Alfalfa, 5440 Sand Point Way N.E., is a 16,000-square-foot former Thriftway.

Hence, you can buy a free-run chicken ("Rocky the Range Chicken"), a bag of "Guiltfree" tortilla chips or even a box of Mr. Barky's vegetarian dog biscuits under one roof, along with morally sound cosmetics, jars of melatonin and ginkgo biloba and a Honey Bee fruit smoothie ($2.99) without leaving the premises or changing your politics.

In those regards (and others) it resembles Seattle's home-grown Puget Consumers Co-ops, with fewer Volkswagen vans. In fact, lately, none. Alfalfa's, for all of its ethical standards (one day's profits each month are donated to a charity) is decidedly upscale in appearance, although its prices - especially for produce - are competitively low.

Other stores set out free samples of chips and dip. Alfalfa offers sun-dried Bing cherries.

One of the store's major attractions is a 40-foot-long deli case, with 14 heart-healthy (but robust) salads, at least 32 massive specialty sandwiches (try the Classic Italian; order the half sandwich, $3.25, unless you are a lost cross-country skier), baked goods and desserts, including macrobiotic Rice Krispie Bars and some startlingly normal nut-topped brownies.

Salads are sold by the pound (from $3.99 for a classic egg salad with dill to $8.99 for an truly impressive curried turkey salad) but the major mid-day draw appears to be the Three-Salad Plate: a large, entree-sized plate of any three salads for $5.75.

I first wandered into Alfalfa's a couple of months ago to meet two friends for tea (comes in single, double or monster) and discovered that both had become - not to sound unnecessarily pejorative - health nuts.

"I drop in here several times a week for a shot of wheatgrass," the guy said.

"Since I started on ginkgo," the woman said, "my memory has become incredibly sharp. You?"

"I meant to try that," I said, "but I forgot. I think I'll have a shot of, uh, wheatgrass."

My abdomen gave a gentle thud. "What was that?," the guy asked.

"I think my liver fainted."

What brought Alfalfa's to Seattle?

"Well, it's a wonderful food town," said the general manager, F. Geza de Gall, a transplanted Texan who came here after managing an eight-store health- food chain in the Southwest. "We felt there were folks here who were educated in quality foods and a health-awareness lifestyle. And we thought there would be a niche in the market for our blend of the natural and the gourmet."

Alfalfa's plans to establish at least one more store in the Seattle area, and possibly more. "We are aggressively pursuing locations on the west and on the Eastside (of Lake Washington)," he said. "We'll be disappointed if we don't have a second store in place by the winter holidays."

Some suggestions from the salad bar: Natural Chicken Salad (made from Rocky) contains uncommonly large chunks of very tender, very moist breast and thigh meat, blended with sliced radishes in a light, cold-pressed mayo dressing. It made one anticipate Rocky II. The Curried Turkey Salad, with celery, scallions, raisins and mixed nuts in a curry-mayo dressing. Basil-Potato uses halved and quartered new potatoes in a freshly chopped basil-mayonnaise. A nicely garlicky cold couscous with green peas went happily with the chicken salad. And a wonderful Tuna Salad uses only line-caught albacore tuna (this doesn't particularly delight the line-caught albacore tuna, but it cheers up adjacent dolphins).

The cafe near the deli could use more space; the overflow moves to stools and counters along the storefront window. Complimentary copies of newspapers are scattered around, including the local papers, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Think I'll check the stock quotation on Mr. Barky's. Vegetarian dog biscuits are due to make a move.

(Copyright 1996, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.)

John Hinterberger's restaurant and food columns appear in The Seattle Times in Sunday's Pacific Magazine and Thursday's Tempo. Greg Gilbert is a Times photographer.