This post started as a restaurant review of one specific place. It turned into a rant about lettuce, so I will save the review for next time and save this one for something very important – salad. That big plate of greens usually served at the beginning part of a meal, at least here in the U.S.
I love salad. I eat (on occasion) salad for breakfast. It is a little disturbing how appealing I find the combination of lettuce and nice, zesty vinaigrette. Red leaf lettuce, peppery arugala, crisp romaine – I find it all good. Even the occasional iceberg wedge, sans bacon crumbles, please. So, when I see a choice of a “small” or “large” salad on a menu, you can guess which I am going to pick. I was recently at a restaurant where I ordered a Large Caesar Salad. It was serviceable, but by no means big. There were a few other issues with the salad: 1. There were tomatoes. Caesar salad does not have tomatoes, and by adding them you are not being creative, just a little weird, and 2. The lettuce was not cut. (Warning: here comes the rant.)
When did this trend of whole-leaf salads start appearing and when will it go away? If you are in the kitchen making a salad, then CUT THE LETTUCE. At least hand tear it. Just don’t make me do it, thus getting tomato juice all over myself while flinging croutons across the restaurant. Again, it is not creative, just lazy.
Arranging lettuce on a plate does not make you a good chef. Making food that someone actually wants to eat, does. So get off your high horse and make me salad I may actually want to dig my fork into, again and again. I think I will go make myself a nice bagel, along with a salad, possible topped with lox, for breakfast.
