Salads make the perfect warm weather dish, but not just any ordinary salad will suffice. Here's a sample of the best of all things green, and not-so green that star on restaurant and deli menus throughout Darien.
Backstreet Restaurant
The Spiral Pasta Salad ($11) at Backstreet Restaurant is bright and colorful, with tri-colored pasta, fresh greens, and blanched carrots and broccoli florets. It is topped with juicy pieces of pounded chicken breast and tossed with warm vinaigrette. The dish is light and simple, with clean flavors, and no doubt, healthful. As with all of the dishes at Backstreets, portions are ample. Other satisfying salads include curried chicken, classic Caesar with chicken or shrimp, and a chock-full Cobb Salad (Editor Cecelia's favorite).
Ole Mole
The Beef Tostada ($11.95) at Ole Mole starts with a crispy red tortilla, which is topped with a mound of crunchy lettuce, tomatoes, pinto beans, avocado, and queso fresco. The fun continues with a large portion of shredded seasoned sirloin. The richness of the beef is quite tasty with all the other flavors and textures on the plate. A simple vinaigrette is served on the side, and adds a little more moisture and tanginess to the dish. For me, this is a great, hearty lunch option.
Post Corner Pizza
You can't go wrong with a simple, fresh Greek salad. Offered in three portion sizes ($5.50, $8, $12) and with the option for chicken or shrimp, this salad always hits the spot. What makes this salad one of Post Corner Pizza's signature items is the crisp, clean iceberg and romaine lettuce, thin slivers of sweet red onion, chunks of cucumber, ripe grape tomatoes, and those hot pepperoncinis. The oil and vinegar dressing, along with the salty feta cheese brings it all together.
Ten Twenty Post
I wrote about Ten Twenty's Frisée Salad ($12) a while ago, and quite honestly, I haven't been able to get enough of this dish ever since. Fresh, crisp frisée is served with a "crispy" poached egg, thick slab bacon, creamy blue cheese and large, simply seasoned croutons. The fatty salty bits of "lardon" are a wonderful contrast to the creamy blue cheese. In place of the traditional poached quail egg found in the French version of this salad, Chef Roland Coulombe has fun with his own interpretation, which is a deep fried poached farm egg. I give it an A for inventiveness and taste, and an A++ for keeping the yolk gloriously runny even after the deep fry!
Chuck's Steak House
Salad bars still do exist, and for $9.95 at Chuck's, one can go veggie-crazy. Two large bowls of leaves, one mesculine and the other good ol' iceberg offer a great foundation for rough chopped vegetables such as broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, and sweet red onions. I always go for the sweet bean salad and chickpeas myself. Thick gooey dressings include blue cheese, Russian, and even French. The cucumber wasabi concoction called "cusabi" is tangy and flavorful. It's easy to go crazy with the cheeses, nuts, and croutons. And let's not forget the bacon bits (although, maybe we should!). Add soup to your salad bar for $4 or shrimp cocktail for $8.
Tengda
If you enjoy avocados, you'll just love Tengda's Avocado Salad. Atop a bed of fresh mixed lettuce leaves that are lightly tossed with house made peppercorn vinaigrette and paper thin radish slices, sits a whole avocado, sliced with precision into a "rosette." Four large sautéed shrimp round out this scrumptious salad. The creaminess of the avocado makes this rather healthful salad taste quite decadent. And for a mere $12, it becomes all the more satisfying.
Feeling adventurous? Tengda's Spicy Crunchy Seafood Salad ($10) is a real treat. A mélange of chopped shrimp, fresh salmon tartar, octopus, and crab are enveloped in a creamy spicy dressing, along with seaweed and tobiko (fish eggs), topped with crunchy tempura flakes. It has a fabulous kick to it and the crunchiness of the seaweed against the meaty shrimp, chewy octopus, soft salmon, and sweet crab is just terrific. It's not entirely healthful, but when it's this good, who cares?
Palmer's Market
Where do I begin? The salad counter at Palmer's is filled with over 20 creative vegetable, pasta, and meat salads on any given day. Priced by the pound (average $11), one can enjoy an array of delicious salads such as apricot chicken salad (my favorite), orzo salad with grilled vegetables, sweet pea and feta, tabouli, Thai noodle, and even mozzarella with tomatoes and pesto. Prepackaged salad combinations like grilled portobello and artichoke, fried goat cheese with Asian greens and pancetta dressing, and spinach with chopped egg and bacon come in large plastic containers. They're expensive at over $8 each, but delicious and packed fresh every morning.
