YOUR CLASSIC SALADS, PANTRY STYLE 🥗
Feat. Cobb, Caesar, Niçoise, Italian and Crab Louis, all the favorites :)
The other day, we enjoyed an impromptu lunch at RL Restaurant, one of our favorite spots in downtown Chicago. Its dark wood and dim amber lighting invoke a cozy, stylish, warm, rich atmosphere with traditional American Ralph Lauren style.
When the sun is out and the temperatures warm up, we love nothing more than enjoying a nice afternoon meal with a cool vibe, a classic salad, and a glass of Sancerre. In this case, we dined on RL’s version of a fresh, light Crab Louie salad, and of course, that glass of Sancerre.
Crab Louie salad is an oldie but goodie, and dates back to the early 1900s from somewhere on the West Coast (exact origins are uncertain). It always reminds us of lunch with our Mom at Neiman Marcus’ NM Cafe after a morning spent shopping at Somerset Mall. As soon as you sit down at the cafe, they give you a small cup of broth to sip and a giant airy popover with whipped strawberry butter (it is absolutely divine). We always ordered the Crab Louie salad and felt so fancy and grown up by the whole experience.
Inspired by the freshness, delicacy, and nostalgia of Crab Louie, we made our own version, combining the salad from our fond memories at NM and the one we just had at RL, creating The Pantry Crab Louie. Unsurprisingly, the homemade Louis came out to about half the price of the one at RL restaurant (and dare we say, was even better).
We love the lime vinaigrette dressing of the RL version over the traditional thick mayo-based Crab Louie dressing, but the salad itself was almost too light with its microgreens and lack of hard-boiled eggs lol. So we added back the hard-boiled egg and lettuce, but opted for baby spring mix to keep it delicate. Paired with a dry white wine, and you’ll be in heaven.
When we’re out to eat on any given day, and want a salad, most likely, we’re ordering a Caesar salad (shout out to Andiamo in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and our favorite server Carrie, for the best Caesar with salmon and glass of white, ughhh so good). Luckily, Caesar’s are a staple on most menus, so when we’re unfamiliar with a restaurant, we know we’ll probably be happy ordering this salad. And they always seem to hit the spot 😋.
We recently learned that the Caesar salad was not invented in France or named after Julius Caesar, but was created in 1924 by Caesar Cardini in Tijuana, Mexico, during a busy July 4th weekend at his restaurant, Caesar's. The more ya know!
When craving a Caesar salad at home, we prefer to make our own dressing instead of store-bought (it’s very easy!). Plus, the raw garlic in many Caesar dressings is a bit too strong for us, so we use roasted garlic in ours instead. Roasted garlic has a milder and sweeter flavor, and tastes delicious in this recipe. The grilled blackened chicken is the perfect addition for a slightly spicy kick.
Cobb salads are among the heartiest salads out there. We especially love them for dinner because of their complementary flavors, textures, and filling nature. Our version uses rotisserie chicken (duh) and pre-cooked bacon for a quick, easy, and refreshing salad. We also love adding fresh corn…as in raw…aka you don’t have to cook it! Years ago, we found a salad recipe that used raw corn (off the cob, of course), and our lives have been forever changed. Why had we never realized you could do that before?? The sweet crunch of uncooked corn is so good and adds a nice bite to a salad. And since we’re full of facts, the Cobb salad was invented in a Hollywood restaurant and has often been associated with movie stars and celebrities. This helped popularize it throughout the country!
Guess you could call us walking encyclopedias, because we’ve got some more info about salads for ya. Niçoise salad or Salade niçoise, originated in the French city of Nice (“Niçoise” translates to “of Nice”) and is traditionally a summer salad made with tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tuna or anchovies, black olives, and an olive oil-based vinaigrette. This was always a go-to in our house growing up, especially on a busy weekend night when our parents wanted to make a big, tasty salad and didn’t want to have to do a lot of cooking.
We also included the Insalata Nizzarda, Italy’s version of Niçoise Salad. It’s slightly different, but just as good, and typically uses spring mix lettuce topped with carrots, tomatoes, corn, hard-boiled eggs, olives, tuna, and anchovies. Green beans or potatoes are often added to either salad for a heartier meal.
This salad is reminiscent of Buddy's big Italian chopped salad, an essential side to their Detroit-style pizzas. Even as kids, we made sure this salad was part of our takeout order. We recently figured out that making an Italian chopped salad is an ideal way to use up any leftover meat and cheese from a post-get-together charcuterie board (instead of letting it sit in your fridge uneaten). Serve it with some warm bread and olive oil for dipping. YUM.
THANKS FOR READING!
Cheers 🥂
Hil & Nat
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