Best dinner salad, PERIOD?

[Depage]

After the big T day, my nest meal out needs to be salad. It can be a big salad, with all sorts of bits, but It should be salad. What is the best?

[chewbacca]

I love the tostada at El Coyote. It is a mountain of chiffonaded iceberg lettuce over refried beans with 1000 island dressing and includes beets and canned peas and carrots. Its delicious!

[PurpleTeeth]

The Chopped Salad at 17th Street Cafe in Santa Monica is one of my favourite in the city. It has the right balance of ingredients.
The Veggi Chop at Cheebo- Just healthy and tasty w/ great vinegrette
The Lentil Salad w/ Chicken at Ammo- more filling than it looks w/ very tasty free range chicken.
The Hot chicks salad at Grub- spicy chicken, crisp salad, creamy dressing and blue cheese crumbles. What's not to love.
The Panzanella Salad at Colombo's in Eagle Rock- Perfect dressing with not to much bread and lots of capers. It's huge be warned.

[Qwendy]

The good ol' Chinese Chicken Salad at Chin Chin is still great
The Thai Cobb at Fred 62 is original and delish
The Cobb at the Hollywood 101 Coffee Shop is excellent
The Caesar with Salmon at The Nickel is very good -- the dressing is made with anchovies...

[lokraft]

Chinese Chicken Salad - Mo's in Burbank, best FATTENING SALADS, Northwoods Inn, the Blue Cheese and Cabbage.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i have to add another vote for the grilled veggie salad [with either chicken or shrimp] at The Ivy. it's not exactly cheap, but the portion is huge, so i get 2 meals out of it. rumor has it that Fresh Corn Grill in Westwood offers a similar salad that's just as good for a lot less $$.

[skip o.]

The Spicy Calamari Salad at Galanga on Santa Monica at Gardiner (next to Fat Burger) keeps me going back again and again! skip o.

[ElissaInPlaya]

I second the recommendation for 26 Beach salads. My favorite salad at the moment is Bossa Nova's warm spinach salad. This comes with a marsala chicken, shitake mushrooms, green and red peppers, red onions. I substitute Bossa Nova's orginal chicken which has a mustard/spice marinade and glaze. LOVE this salad.

[Miriam22]

M Cafe makes the "M Chopped". I am no vegan, but this is a great salad.

[dotrat]

Oh, also the Chinese Chicken Salad from Feast From the East on Westwood Blvd.

[dotrat]

The Urth Salad w/Grilled Chicken from Urth Cafe; greens, chicken, feta, hearts of palm, black olives, garbanzo beans, tomato & balsamic vinaigrette. Simple fresh & always satisfying.

[mc michael]

Once I was in Florence and there was a place on a bridge over the Arno that served really good salads in these gigantic snifter style glasses. A long way to go for a salad, but still...

[katkoupai]

I like the Caesar salad at Houston's. I've only had it once, but it was memorable because the lettuce was crisp and fresh, and the dressing seemed homemade.

I love the salad bar at Gelson's. It's overpriced, but they have a great choice of toppings, and the dressings are very good. Sometimes, I create my own salad there for dinner.

I recently tried the antipasta salad at a pizza place called Antonio's in Sherman Oaks. It is served with a basic housemade vinaigrette, and it has all kinds of great toppings. It is very delicious, and hearty. The pizza there is also very good.

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Gelson's Markets
245 E Green St, Pasadena, CA

Houston's Restaurant
320 S Arroyo Pkwy, Pasadena, CA 91105

Antonio's Pizzeria
13619 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423

Gelson's Markets
19500 Plummer St, Northridge, CA

[la tache burger]

citrus arugula salad at clementine
cobb at clementine
fresh corn salad at fresh corn
grapefruit something salad at stanley's
caesar at bld
house salad at damiano's (with eggplant caponata yum!)
chopped salad at la scala
chopped vegetarian salad at johnny's pizza

[hyacinthgirl]

It's very basic, but I love the vegetable chopped salad at Pace. I add grilled chicken breast. Perfect for when I want to feel like I'm eating healthy.

[Frank_Santa_Monica]

Grilled Vegs and Chicken Salad at The Ivy.

[russkar]

Greek Salad - DAL RAE
Cobb- GRILL ON THE ALLEY
GG Salad- PALM (W. Hollywood)
Spicy Thai Salad- HOUSTON'S (Irvine)

[mc michael]

I agree the spicy Thai steak salad at Houston's is crack to me. The Thai Cobb Salad at Fred 62 ain't bad, but Houston's has it beat.

[JBC]

The Palm (WeHo) ~ West Coast Gigi = "East Coast Gigi (shrimp, string beans, tomato, onion and bacon tossed in a vinaigrette {other options available}) + iceberg, roasted pepper, egg and avocado."

I use to order that alot when I worked closer, but really don't remember the roasted pepper. Is that a new addition?

[bu dat]

oh, and i forgot, i recently had the nicoiois (sp?) salad at pitfire pizza and found it delightful. it was sort of industrial/cafeteria style, but the balsamic was great and tossed all together was tasty!

[Layne Murphy]

One of my favorite salads has always been the Chiffonade at Musso's. I'm sure it has the same fat and calorie content as chicken fried steak, but hey it's a salad. It's got lettuce and beets and boiled eggs in a 1000 Islandy sort of dressing. Certain waiters will permit a half order while others steadfastly refuse this outrageous request.

[Ernie]

I need to try that Chiffonade salad. I love Musso & Frank's heart of romaine and house salads (especially for its beets) with their very old-school dressings and have been curious about that one for a while. The old servers are way cool too

[Echo27]

Had a very good beet & goat cheese salad with grilled chicken at The York in Highland Park the other night. The ingredients were top notch and very fresh.

[Vaya Con Carne]

I am so *not* a salad person. But I recently had the Oaxacatown Salad at Nook in West L.A. and LOVED it.

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Nook Bistro
11628 Santa Monica Blvd Ste 9, Los Angeles, CA 90025

[soniabegonia]

I like the Brazilian salad at Tropicalia (1966 Hillhurst, Los Feliz). I get it with steak. It's substantial but not heavy.

[waveandwen]

The best salads, hands down, are at Stonefire Grill (West Hills, Chatsworth, Valencia and Orange County). They have many to choose from and even the small is more than enough for one person.

[NYCnowLA]

best salad: italian chopped salad from Clementine. pricey but great!

[jaykayen]

My favorite salads are at Father's Office. They really do use the best ingredients. Go now for the wild mushroom one...it's amazing.

[Frommtron]

Is that the one that's basically a take on frisee aux lardon? I think I saw a slow-poached egg on top. True?

[jaykayen]

FO does seasonal salads that are frequently changing. Right now, they have a wild mushroom salad and a beet salad. Nothing with eggs, but maybe in the past?

[GuidoTKP]

Probably not what the original poster was asking for, but the only first course salad that ever gets me really worked up is the blue cheese green salad/red cabbage vinegar duo served at Northwood's Inn. Heaven.

[flowergirl]

The chopped salad at La Scala is great. I add tomatoes.
Pizzeria Mozza also makes a great chopped salad.
Believe it or not - most Cheesecake Factory Salads are very good.
The grilled Vegetable salad at the Ivy (Robertson location) is delicious.
The "spinning" salad at Lawrys with beets, egg and homemade croutons is good.
The Grek salad at Ulysses Voyage at The Farmers Market is also very good.

[AMC1210]

one of my favorite meals is a great salad. I have never used dressing, grew up that way. I judge a great salad by the tomato, haven't had a great salad in years.

[EclecticEater]

Believe it or not, the Wedge at Claim Jumpers is as good as it gets. Nobody else seems able to create such a mountainous fresh crunchy wedge of iceberg lettuce, such delectable bacon bits, such a great cold cheese studded dressing. Next are the salads, any of them, at Napa Rose. Sometimes heirloom tomatoes, sometimes beets, they're all spectacularly prepared. Between those two places, you can't find better salads. Next is the Chinese chicken salad at P. F. Chang's, a step down but still awfully good..

[Frommtron]

I'm hard pressed to think of a place that I enjoy that serves entree sized salads but here goes anyway . . .

1. La Scala's -- Chopped salad.
2. Father's Office (CC location, please) -- Beet Salad, etc. They do some great salads here actually. I usually split one of those and a burger with my wife.
3. Pastis -- Frisee Aux Lardons

[nolanani]

I love the salad at Houston's. The best I have ever had and I love salad. Mixed greens with house made croutons, chopped egg, and smokehouse bacon. There are also other bits of veg if I can remember correctly. The dressing selections are Blue Cheese, Mustard-Honey, Buttermilk Garlic, Thousand Island, and Vinaigrette.

[Ernie]

Same here, in fact I think it is one of the best things on Houston's menu. I normally don't go for sweetish dressings, but their house salad with the mustard-honey dressing goes great with the croutons, egg, and bacon. Sister restaurant Bandera also has a great house salad too.

[bu dat]

ok - their classic salad is freakin' good. it is not healthy, but man, i love it. the century city location has changed the croutons in the past year -- from white bread croutons to a seeded bread. i liked the plain better, but oh well. this with the

other salads that are good:

make your own at mrs. winston's (century city and santa monica).
i actually really like the chopped salad at cpk (sorry! to cpk haters).
beet salad at father's office - to die for! so good.
gelson's and bristol farms' and whole foods' salad bars. yummy.

[mollyomormon]

The wild mushroom and duck confit salads at FO are also amazing!

[lil mikey]

Mrs. Winston's is just plain obscene (but I love it). They have everything you could want, and it's fresh. But it's expensive, and not really a "dinner" salad. The first time I went, I thought "This Place Is Great, I CAN Have It All." Then the lady weighed my bucket and I owed $18 for a salad. hahahaha. Joke was on me. But it was delicious.

I also go to the Mayfair, it's fine but it's no comparison to Mrs. Winston's.

Guido's has a good dinner salad, with grated cheese, salami, etc.

Kendall's has a delicious frisee aux lardons, with fried egg and all. Everything else there is spotty.

And the southwest chicken salad at Cheesecake Factory is tasty. Huge, but very flavorful.

The cobb at The Farm is good, but the cobb at Michael's is better.

The lobster salad at The Palm in WeHo is killer.

[westsidegal]

i'm a fan of most of the salads served at 26 beach restaurant.
last night i had their tuscan salad.

[sel]

I like Tender Greens. Salads, sandwiches or some of each.

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Tender Greens
9523 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

[Depage]

How are the Salads at Aroma on Tujunga? Also, what about high-end salads?

[debra]

If you're looking for a big healthy salad, that includes more than a huge bowl of lettuce, I'd recommend California Chicken Cafe. I really like their salads because they have actual fresh veggies in them, tomato, broccoli, green pepper... plus chicken. Depending on your mood there are different salads with less than healthy additions as well, but the root of their salads are similar. My two favorite non healthy options are the crunchy pita croutons, and their chinese dressing -- both of which they'll go lite on, if you ask. Enjoy.

[Juji]

I really like the Pine Room salad at R+D Kitchen on Montana. It's not entree sized, though, it's one of the side orders. But it is very good.

[mollyomormon]

The salads there are very good generally, as they are at all the Hillstone group restaurants. I really love the Newporter salad there and it's definitely entree sized.

[Local]

not sure where you're located or willing to travel to, but take a look at this thread- lots of possibilities, in various parts of town. Stanley's out in Sherman Oaks used to have pretty good salads,...i liked the vegetarian version of a chopped salad they'd whip together for me. The Dressing Room also gets good reviews.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/402288

[LA Buckeye Fan]

I feel bad that no one has given a recommendation. I don't order salad's enough to make a recommendation. I know this is not very Chowish...but for what it's worth..I love the chinese chicken salad at The Cheesecake Factory. I know I'm gonna get creamed. :( But that is the only stand out salad that comes to mind. Here's hoping you get more imaginative advice.

[allyoucanet]

Just an aside, but I've always judged a restaurant by the salad it serves. A great salad usually means a great meal will follow.

[Depage]

so where do you get great dinner salads