It’s still early enough in January that you might not have broken *all* of your New Year’s resolutions... So where do you go to pick up a good salad?
My go-to to-go place is none other than Mission Burrito, where I fawn over the Que Mas salad. For non-natives, “que mas” means “what more,” and the salad is truly a Cuisinart of stuff: greens, potato, corn, roasted red peppers, jicama, tortilla strips, cheese, and the meat of your choice. Hearty, healthy, and gooood. Especially with the Cilantro Ranch dressing. Which makes it decidedly less healthy. Hmpf.
Guadalajara’s Caribbean Chicken salad is another favorite: Mixed greens, grilled chicken, corn tortilla strips, pineapple, and mango. Goode Company Taqueria actually has a great Grilled Chicken Salad, too, with tomato, avocado, corn, black beans, jicama, and cheese.
On the traditional side, Backstreet Café wins the award for best Cobb: chicken, avocado, bleu cheese, hard boiled egg, bacon, tomato, watercress, and butter lettuce with a red pepper vinaigrette. Most people love the Big Salad (romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, carrots, mushrooms, avocado, and feta) at Paulie’s, but I prefer the conventional Spinach. Or, run next door to pick up a Grilled Chicken Salad at Be’Witched: greens with grilled chicken, dried cranberries, walnuts, and goat cheese. Mmmmm!
The Confetti Salad at Dharma Café tastes like perfection, with walnuts, red onion, mango, dried currants, and bleu cheese over greens. Then there’s the Ruggles famous Toasted Almond and Goat Cheese salad, topped with Granny Smith apples in a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. You all know and love the Chinese Chicken Salad at Barnaby’s, and Chatter’s updates the traditional Greek with a fantastic Mediterranean Salad (gyro slices, tomatoes, cucumbers, chickpeas, feta, kalamata olives, and stuffed grape leaves).
If nothing here tickles your fancy, head to Bowl, where you can design your own salad from what seems like hundreds of possible toppings.
Any more recs?