Salad Days
Was I the only one drooling this morning as I read Michael’s description of the salad Drew Ward (of Noble’s Grille) is going to make for guests at governor-elect Bev Perdue’s inaugural ball in Raleigh tonight?
Pickled shrimp, mache, blood oranges, fried sunchokes, avocado puree and blood orange vinaigrette? Oh, yum. I was eating oatmeal, but dreaming of salads. I love a good salad - the wilder, the more creative, the better. And what a way to show off really fresh, gorgeous ingredients. Along those same lines, all the dressing in the world can’t cover a salad that’s made poorly, with aging or under ripe produce. Rotten romaine? There’s no where to hide.
I also noticed that Ward is taking his cues from the season - citrus is in season now, even if it isn’t local, and so are avocadoes.
When I reviewed Noble’s last July, one of my favorite dishes was a tomato and watermelon salad with basil, gorgonzola cream and white balsamic vinegar, a perfect balance of sweet and salt, and acid and fat. The tomatoes were ripe, dripping and juicy.
The arugula with country ham and cantaloupe wasn’t bad, either.
There are some dishes that I like, and then there some dishes that I remember. That tomato salad is one of them.
P.S. I just noticed the Gamekeeper is among the other restaurants serving food at tonight’s party. Kudos to them. The Gamekeeper is a quirky, serene little restaurant, perched on a (very) windy road outside of Blowing Rock. I ate there once in the summer of 2007 and really loved it. I recall a good salad, something with fried okra, maybe?
