The Best Slimming (Yet Substantial) Salads for Summer
With all of summer’s fabulous, deep-fried beach foods and uninterrupted access to ice cream, what’s one to do in the face of bikini and sundress season? The answer, of course, is to counteract those caloric, high-fat indulgences with deliciously healthful salads. Which is why we’re showcasing spots serving imaginative and hearty bowls of just-picked produce that are more akin to composed vegetable courses than they are, well, rabbit food, from Dizengoff’s Israeli salatim to Salvation Burger’s smoky, wood-fired Caesar!
Wild Son
Follow up a brisk hike on the High Line with a virtuous repast as Wild Son; a health-focused breakfast and lunch eatery from the team behind The Wayland. Placing a strong emphasis on grains and vegetables complemented with lean meat and fish (and paired with non-alcoholic items like juices, house-carbonated sodas and coffee), everything but the kitchen sink salad options include the “All Day Every Day” (a cornucopia of chopped greens, diced market vegetables, farro and salted granola in a lemon vinaigrette), and the “Raw Deal” (shaved raw cauliflower, peppers, beets, beans and apples in green goddess dressing), which can be additionally augmented with poached eggs, roasted chicken, pulled bacon or smoked trout.
Read MorePondicheri
This brand new, all-day Indian café has totally upped the city’s salad game with a wholly unique roster of exotic options; we’re talking a Shrimp Chutney Salad, boasting bits of crispy channa, avocado, mango and greens in a jaggery lime dressing, a Tandoori Chicken Chaat Salad, layered with black chole, bitter endive, cilantro, yogurt and tamarind, and a Warm Harvest Salad, comprised of roasted radishes, squash and snap peas, along with toasted cashew-cumin dressing and cubes of green masala paneer.
Read MoreDizengoff
Modeled after an Israeli hummusiya, the fare is fresh, majorly tasty, and effortlessly good-for-you at the Chelsea Market outpost of Philadelphia favorite, Dizengoff. And we’re not just talking ethereal clouds of whipped chickpea dip, crowned with lambs neck and rhubarb or roasted romanesco with raisins, but an assortment of salatim (seasonal salads), such as Moroccan Carrots and pistachios coated in saffron, red pepper and walnut-based Muhammara, and half-moons of raw Kohlrabi, marinated in the Yemenite chile paste known as schug.
Read MoreSalvation Burger
Amazingly enough, much of the praise for April Bloomfield’s Midtown burger mecca has been heaped — not on the house-ground patties — but on the indulgent Caesar Salad; entire petals of romaine imbued with wood fire-roasted garlic and anchovy vinaigrette, hot English mustard, parmesan, and a smoky ash created from whole, charred black onions. And that’s just one notable, meat-free option! You’ll also find eye-catching Raw Vegetable Spirals, swiped with hummus and pebbles of pistachio, and Roasted Beets with tarragon dressing, patterned with walnuts and pungent blue cheese.
Read MorePasquale Jones
If you can manage to snag a table at Charlie Bird’s sizzling sibling, you’d be well advise to couple your wood-fired meats, fish and pizzas with an assortment of rustic Italianate salads. Think a Chopped Lettuces lined with salami, olives and provolone, Smoked Trout and Cucumbers laked with garlic chives and buttermilk, Cuttlefish with Calabrian chili, green tomato and mint, and Roasted Stonefruit dotted with yogurt, and strewn with salted oats.
Read MoreRoberta's
As long as you’re carb-loading on pizzas, you might as well supplement your meal with one of Roberta’s killer, composed salads; often comprised of vegetables grown in their very own greenhouse. Think Green Tomatoes, basil and cilantro flowers, scattered with “everything” spice croutons, Peter Wilcox Potatoes and Granny Smith apples, in a spring herb-flecked bearnaise, and a pile of sugar sweet Snap Peas, paved with breadcrumbs, cheese and dill.
Read MoreSpeedy Romeo LES
Essentially everything gets the benefit of being kissed by wood smoke at the Brooklyn and LES branches of pizza mecca, Speedy Romeo, and that includes the salads — such as a Grilled Beet with ricotta, hazelnuts and watercress, ribbons of hatch-marked Octopus, combined with romesco, potato and celery, and a crunchy Kale-Apple, bulked out with roasted freekah, walnuts and blueberries, in a tangy goat cheese vin.
Read MoreLe Coq Rico
The salads certainly aren’t rabbit food at the Flatiron import of Paris’ Le Coq Rico; not when their consuming obsession is poultry and eggs. Which is why a platter of Artichokes à la Barigoule is covered in sautéed confit gizzards, a pile of mache is piled high with hummus and free-range chicken livers, and a Tomato Tartare is enhanced with both chicken and tuna, and bound with mayonnaise, pickles and herbs.
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