Fresh green salads in New Orleans “guaranteed” to be a better alternative to the dreaded spring mix.
Sweltering season is upon us in the Big Easy and the only way to survive involves sno-balls, frequent showers, taking shelter in well-air-conditioned spaces, and eating lots and lots of salads. Getting in your daily requirement leafy greens is as easy as pie in the summer time, and consuming them raw (or better yet, chilled) tends to offer the most health benefits. Unfortunately a lot of salads — perhaps far too many — are of the bagged “spring mix” variety and while that combo may have been hip back in the 80s, I believe them to be a bore, so much so that the sometimes shredded, water-laden iceberg beats it by a mile.
If salads are to play the role of entree, they should be substantial and flavorsome, both the toppings and the green leafy veggies they ride upon. Take for example a meal at The Columns. While cocktails and connections have always seemed to be the reasons to visit the iconic St. Charles Avenue hotel, there’s so much more to look forward to since Chef Paul Terrebonne took over the kitchen. The pickled beets and stuffed calamari are the foodstuffs of dreams, but don’t walk away from the greens! For lunch on their picturesque porch, The Columns offers a delicate, little gem lettuce salad with sunflower seeds, bacon, and Parmesan dressing, but we advise putting your money on the Brussels sprouts salad. For $14, thinly shaved Brussels sprouts are tossed with Turkish urfa pepper, bright local citrus, and crème fraîche, and piled high onto a large dinner plate. It seems like a lot, but it’ll disappear into your mouth faster than you can say Vitamin K.
Over on Tchoupitoulas Street, Wonderland & Sea is the new “it” spot to score deliciously crisp and well-seasoned fried catfish and chicken sandwiches. Opened just over a year ago by Taylor Hoffman and Jonathan Rhodes, Wonderland & Sea is probably one of the most health conscious (and sustainable) fried food joints you’ll ever encounter. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that they offer some great veggie dishes such as flash fried bok choy, grilled collard greens, and a killer kale salad. Made with curly kale, the salad is loaded with shaved root vegetables like radish and carrot, crispy roasted pepitas, sunflower seeds, pickled onion, queso fresco (a fresh, soft farmers cheese) all dressed with celery seed dressing. By itself, the salad will only set you back a tenspot, but you can add their fried chicken, or chick pea tenders for vegans for $3 more, or fried catfish for $5.
Head over to Poydras Street in the for a stellar, salad-full lunch at Copper Vine. Executive Chef Amy Mehrtens is bound to blow you away with dishes of creamy burrata and eggplant caponata or a cornflake-fried chicken sandwich, but don’t skip the sumptuous salads. Grab a seat outside under the shade of green, frilly ferns and enjoy a plentiful bowl filled with chopped romaine, Everything Bagel seasoning, chunks of tangy blue cheese, juicy heirloom tomatoes, and bacon served with house made buttermilk ranch dressing for $13. Copper Vine also offer a peppery arugula salad tossed with bright lemon zest, olive oil and Parmesan, and showered with sunflower seeds for only $11. If you need to kick up the protein, add some grilled, Joyce Farms chicken for only $6 more.
If you’re crossing the Crescent City Connection, cruise over to Hancock Street in Gretna for lunch at the Hen House, the city’s latest breakfast and lunch destination. Opened at the tail end of April, the Hen House was created by Cara and Evan Benson, the culinary couple behind all three Toast restaurants and their flagship Uptown spot Tartine. Gluten-free goodies like pastries and breads are the big sellers at the new Gretna restaurant, but their healthful salads are equally worthwhile, particularly their version of a Cobb. Torn Romaine lettuce is topped with grilled chicken, crisp bacon, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and creamy avocado which is excellently accented with an even creamier blue cheese dressing. All of the salads at Hen House are large and in-charge, ringing in at a mere $14. So go ahead and add that chocolate eclair. You won’t even know it’s gluten-free.
Over in the Lower Garden District lies Turkey and the Wolf, a popular sandwich spot made famous by its gregarious chef-owner Mason Hereford. The cozy, rusty-red brick building siting on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Annunciation Street frequently features a lengthy line of visitors queuing up to feast on collard green melts and fried bologna sandwiches layered with house made potato chips, but it also offers one hell of a salad. Everyone who’s everyone has seen Turkey and the Wolf’s massive wedge, ¼ of a head of iceberg lettuce smothered in blue cheese dressing and sprinkled with bacon, fresh dill, halved cherry tomatoes and Everything Bagel seasoning. But they also offer a salad of shredded cabbage tossed min a roasted chili and coconut vinaigrette with lime juice and fresh herbs, sunflower seeds, fried garlic and garnished with pig ear cracklin. Both salads are available as an entree for $13 or as a side for $7.50, a price which leaves room for hog’s headcheese tacos ($4 each) or a fried pot pie.
*Article originally published in the July 2024 issue of Where Y’at Magazine
**Lead image courtesy of Copper Vine, photographed by Emily Ferretti
