Phil Vettel offered up his 10 favorite salads (At Play, Sept. 7) and asked for yours
Here are a few of your candidates:
The Buffalo Bleu at Houlihan’s [houlihans.com] or the Harvest Salad at Corner Bakery [cornerbakery.com]. Two very fine salads.
— Christine Niedbalec, Chicago
I loved your article on salads, but I do think you missed a few. One of my all-time favorites is the Roasted Veggie Salad at Fat Willie’s Rib Shack [2416 W. Schubert Ave.]. It is huge, and filled with goodies. And the Chopped Chicken Salad at Joey’s Brickhouse [1258 W. Belmont Ave.] also has wonderful things in it: pumpkin seeds, black beans, avocado, and more in addition to either blackened or grilled chicken.
— Lynn Merel, Chicago
Perillo’s [4940 N. River Rd., Schiller Park; 847-671-1010]. So far I have enjoyed the Chicago Style Hot Dog & fries, the Combo-Beef and Sausage and the Char-Bacon Cheeseburger. But the one [dish] that haunted me all weekend was their Chopped Salad. They make it fresh for you and it contains chopped romaine, iceberg lettuce, ditalini pasta, bacon, tomato, red cabbage, crumbled blue cheese, green onion and house dressing. The cost is $5.39 and two, three or even four may split it.
— Jill Lietz, Elmwood Park
My favorite salad of all time is the BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad ($9.95) at Trax Grill [833A Deerfield Rd.] in Deerfield. It is beyond delicious — it is the only thing I ever order there. Grilled chicken breast with corn, black beans, tomato, cucumber and avocado and topped with something they call tobacco onions. This is served with a BBQ ranch dressing I could eat with a spoon! Yummy. The salad is huge, easily feeds two, but I never share … take home the leftovers. A sports bar kind of place, but this salad is 5 star!
— Judy Rutkowski, Glenview
Original BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad at California Pizza Kitchen [cpk.com]. Chopped lettuce, black beans, sweet corn, jicama, cilantro, basil, crispy corn tortilla strips and Monterey Jack cheese in a garden-herb ranch dressing then topped with chopped BBQ chicken breast, tomatoes and scallions. This salad is always great! I love the combinations — the jicama gives a wonderful texture to the salad. If you like they will add fresh avocado to the salad for a little extra price. The chicken is tossed with very tasty spices (which I would love to describe better if I was a food editor). I usually get the half order. If you get the full order, make sure your stomach is rumbling or you might be taking the rest home. I’ve moved to the northern suburbs so I don’t get to CPK as often, but now I’m really hungry for this salad and it’s 10:45 at night. Guess I’ll have to have a midnight snack so I can sleep without a craving.
— Carrie Jourdan, Ingleside
