Ceasar. Cobb. Crab Louie. Waldorf. Salad Nicoise. These words roll off the tongue like a drop of saliva induced by a shot of fig balsamic vinegar. The variety of dishes consisting of mixed greens splattered with dressing is nearly endless. And restaurant kitchens fabricate this basic recipe with an endless potpourri of leafy fusions, farragoes and plot twists that defy sober analysis.
But what is a salad? Culinary chroniclers tell us that “salad” is a term derived from the Latin word sal (salt), which eventually yielded salata, or “salted things.” This means raw leafy vegetables garbed in a lubricating negligee of oil, vinegar or salt. These simple dishes were enjoyed by both ancient Romans and Greeks, though they did not use the word salad to define this foliage foray.
The ancient physicians Hippocrates and Galen believed that raw vegetables coursed easily through the digestive system, leaving no obstructions in their wake for the food that followed. Hence, they were served first. Later gourmands argued that the vinegar in dressings demolished the flavor of wine, and salads should be relegated to the end of the meal. This bitter debate continues to this day in select circles.
The right side of history being what it is, salads have grown more complicated with time. Dinner salads emerged during the Renaissance, while salads composed of layers of ingredients made their debut in the 18th century — the chef’s salad. The early 20th century blessed us with the tuna salad, the Caesar — created by Italian chef Caesar Cardini in 1924 in Tijuana — and the Cobb salad. The swinging ’60s brought us the pasta salad, the taco salad and the Jell-O salad with celery-flavored gelatin, an invention as world-shifting as the electric olive oil spray bottle. We sampled a few of the best served in Collin County to make your summer bright and refreshingly crunchy while adding flavor and roughage to the body and soul. Hippocrates would be proud.
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Bellagreen
2408 Preston Road, Suite 704A , Plano, TX 75093
972.975.9033
bellagreen.com
Bellagreen serves up fresh, crisp salads in a comfortable contemporary environment. You can choose from things like “Oh Kale Yeah” (no!); blackened shrimp, honey-fried goat cheese and arugula; and the crab and mango stack with “super” lump crab meat in a mango pico salsa. We opted for the Atlantic salmon salad, a fluff of mixed greens laced with shaved carrot and quartered hard-boiled egg strategically placed at the north, south, east and west quadrants of the plate. It’s topped with a generous wedge of seared salmon slathered in a chipotle-honey sauce — delicious. And don’t miss the tree mural rendered with colored wine corks. For every salmon dish they sell, Bellagreen donates 50 cents to the Texas Trees Foundation dedicated to the greening of North Central Texas.
Bread Zeppelin
3450 E. Hebron Parkway, #108, Carrollton, TX 75093
469.701.2581
breadzeppelin.com
Forget ketogenics and the unforgivable sins of carbs and gluten. In a clever riff on the rigid airships of the early 20th century, Bread Zeppelin takes a toasted fresh-baked artisan baguette, disembowels it of its soft insides and stuffs it with a chopped salad for a meal that twists classic subs and wraps into oblivion. Stuff the tasty metro Cobb into this innovative loaf, a mix of lettuces, herb-grilled chicken, avocado, crumbled egg, bacon, tomato and blue cheese, flavor-fueled with red wine vinaigrette. Available as an airship or a bowl, Bread Zeppelin allows you to go salad-crazy, building your own masterpiece with a wide selection of veggies, cheeses, proteins and crunch elements (nuts and seeds). And don’t mourn the loss of those baguette innards. Bread Zeppelin takes those leftover bread cores and recycles them into croutons and bread pudding — culinary salvage at its finest.
Cava
7501 Windrose Ave., Suite D 170, Plano, TX 75024
214.295.7667
cava.com
A fast-casual outpost in the Legacy West development, Cava is grounded in the Mediterranean way of life. In Spanish, cava means “wine cellar.” In Greek it means cave. Since Cava serves no wine, we’ll opt for the Greek translation, which makes sense because many of their dishes are woven in tzatziki sauce. Anyway, Cava serves a variety of chef-curated and build-your-own bowls, pita wraps and salads. We chose the steak mezze salad with grilled steak, pickled onions, feta cheese, tomato and red pepper hummus on a bed of baby spinach and arugula, all splashed in a tangy Greek dressing. Though the steak was a bit dry, the components meshed well together with the pickled onions, creating a pleasing sting counterpoint.
PurePoke
6750 Gaylord Parkway, Frisco, Texas 75034
214.396.9933
purepoketx.com
PurePoke’s sushi and rice bowl is a build-your-own meal in a round dining vessel, served in spartan environs rich in aquamarine hues and a mixed-media mural of netted fish. You can select your base (rice, greens, half and half), spice level, proteins (fish, shrimp, octopus, tofu, chicken, Korean BBQ beef), toppings and garnishes. We selected a bowl of greens with spicy tuna and topped it with seaweed, crab salad, scallions and masago (smelt roe). We capped it off with a couple of shakes of furikake, a savory seasoning of dried seaweed and toasted sesame seeds. It harmonized into a satisfyingly cool sea-washed punch. Every order comes with a steaming bowl of miso soup — fast food nirvana.
Salata Salad Kitchen
3540 W. University Drive, Suite 400, McKinney, TX 75071
214.842.4200
salata.com
Think of Houston-based Salata Salad Kitchen as the ultimate in build-your-own-salad craft, with all-natural ingredients chopped fresh every morning. Choose a small or large bowl; your greens, vegetables and cheese; and proteins such as salmon, pesto chicken, shrimp and falafel. The number of options is brain-bending. We selected the salata mix and added bean sprouts, pickles, black olives, egg, beets, blue cheese, carrots and tomato. We had it tossed in a smoothly tangy ginger-lime vinaigrette. It’s satisfying as heck, so order the large bowl to extend your Salata experience beyond your visit. You can take it with you or enjoy it in minimalist environs with wood grain floors, faux brick design elements, an avocado soffit over the service line, sleek black tables and chairs, and a row of cozy banquettes. There’s even a tea tap ensemble with everything from sweet to plum cinnamon to tropical green. Plus, there are raspberry, peach and prickly pear lemonades flowing out of the taps. This green is almost as fun as the legal tender kind.
Scrambler Cafe
670 W. Princeton Drive, Suite 100, Princeton, TX 75407
469.378.3331
scramblercafetx.com
Scrambler Cafe serves traditional rib-sticking comfort food for breakfast and lunch with a “modern twist.” What kind of twist? You can sink your teeth into a Waldorf chicken salad croissant, a short-rib grilled cheese, a Baja Benny benedict with seasoned shrimp and chipotle or a Philly steak breakfast skillet topped with two eggs. It’s all served amid a clean cafe vibe with bright yellow pendant lights hovering over yellow chairs and turquoise banquettes. A “Get Scrambled” wall graphic features a pair of tilted cracked eggs. Fork up the chicken apple pecan salad, a tasty bit of harvested miscellany with grilled chicken breast, Granny Smith apple, dried cranberries, pecans and flecks of feta cheese — a leafy spot-hitter.
Urban Crust
1006 E. 15th Street, Plano, TX 75074
972.509.1400
urbancrust.com
Urban Crust is the pinnacle of tossed pie craft in Collin County. Who knew they also toss remarkable salads? Maybe scattering tomatoes, olives, arugula, basil and artichoke hearts over pizzas earns you some serious salad cred. Options include the Urban chop with feta and cranberries, the Caprese with imported buffalo mozzarella and the 15th Street Caesar with shaved grana Padano. We dove into the heart of Plano, a diabolically beautiful collage of hearts of palm, artichoke, romaine, smoked bacon and bleu cheese, sassed with splashes of Dijon dressing. There’s barely any green in this mix unless you count the blueish green peeking through the nuggets of blue cheese. It’s delivered with a side of pizza crust bread, accompanied by ramekins of tapenade and tomato relish. We dug into this tasty bowl in Urban Crust’s third-floor bar, a sleek contemporary departure from the urban rustic ambiance of the lower floors. The bar even has an ice bar — a strip of metal surface with liquid nitrogen circulating underneath — to keep the chill on your lager or your rooftop buzz mule. Or your heart of Plano.
Urban Grill and Wine Bar
218 E. Louisiana Street, Suite 300, McKinney, TX 75069
214.548.4075
urbangrillmckinney.com
Billing itself as an upscale eatery serving gourmet comfort food and boutique wines, Urban Grill and Wine Bar is cozily downscale in demeanor, with spartan wooden table ensembles, exposed duct and wiring channels in the ceiling, and a simple wooden box matrix displaying bottles as a back bar. This urban destination features a cast of salads, including the burrata with roasted heirloom tomatoes and garlic in garlic pesto, a classic wedge, and a blackened shrimp Caesar, not exactly comfort food in rib-sticking parlance. We forked the roasted beet salad, a long rectangular plate with swirls of arugula and fennel dotted with cleaved cherry tomatoes, all carpeting slices of red and golden beets. It was accessorized with golden orbs of fried goat cheese. We added a single seared sea scallop to this mélange, which added a rich oceanic sweetness that beautifully played off the sweet beets while the goat cheese balls added a burst of tang to the finish.
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