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If you could only eat one type of food for the rest of the season, what would it be? Here's a bold suggestion: Salads. If you're picturing a boring succession of bland lettuce topped with soggy cucumbers and flavorless hothouse tomatoes, let us re-introduce you to a transformed classic that is anything but repetitive.
Sure, the traditional side salad can be great, if done right. But today's chefs are turning this former side dish into a complex flavor experience. When you consider the wide range of ingredients that can be incorporated into a salad -- grilled shrimp, sprouted quinoa, watermelon, plantain chips -- suddenly all of your former favorite stand-alone foods are fair game in the salad category. Craving steak? Got it. Have a soft spot for avocado? Coming right up. Feeling sweet on honey? You're covered. This versatile dish can be whatever you want it to be.
We talked to local chefs and food-industry experts to find four of the most appealing, exciting, and creative salads on the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island. We learned about new trends and fresh ingredients. Jason Daly from The Refuge told us that "sea beans" are in vogue. Thalita Smith at Coastal Provisions dished on a locally produced blend of lettuces called the "chef cut." Mex 1 Coastal Cantina's Morgan Hurley said he's seeing "more international concepts than we've ever seen before." Ryan Camp from The Longboard revealed that he has "a soft spot for citrus."
These experts’ innovative dishes that express their creators' expertise, creativity, and warm personalities. Let them convince you to take a culinary adventure. This summer, choose the salad.
THE REFUGE’S SUMMER SALAD
When you cook watermelon, it condenses upon itself so the flavor sucks into the melon and the outside caramelizes.
Josie Derrick Photography
Can a salad be a main course? "Absolutely," says Jason Daly, executive chef and bar manager at The Refuge. Any doubters should consider his innovative approach to a familiar fruit: "When you cook watermelon, it condenses upon itself so the flavor sucks into the melon and the outside caramelizes," says Daly. "So you get a really nice, dense texture." Seared for "a minute on each side on our flat-top, seasoned with salt, pepper, and blackening spice," the result "mirrors the feeling of a protein."
The Summer Salad stars the seared watermelon and an elevated whipped feta, which has “almost a ricotta texture.” Seasonal greens, walnuts, red onion, and a bacon-sherry vinaigrette make up the chorus line. To put together the perfect show, “you want to have a variety of flavors and textures,” says Daly. “I try to go for something sweet and savory — and add a crunch as well.”
After 20 years as a chef, Daly knows his salads. He has worked in the South and in the North. Oh, and he’s also been featured on the Food Network’s Chopped, where he made it to the final round. Would he change anything about that experience? “I wouldn’t have made waffles in my dessert round,” Daly laughs. Lesson learned.
COASTAL PROVISIONS’ SPRING SALAD
I will look for ingredients that have the specific color that works together with the salad.
Josie Derrick Photography
Thalita Smith is always in search of local beauty. “Sometimes, I’ll have a color in mind. I will look for ingredients that have the specific color that works together with the salad,” says Smith, the chef de cuisine at Coastal Provisions. Born and raised in Brazil, Smith has been eagerly exploring her new home’s foodscape ever since she joined the Wild Dunes Culinary team on the Isle of Palms. “I want to know what is available, what is the freshest – keeping things as local and close to us as possible,” says Smith.
Her Spring Salad is a gorgeous blend of colors, flavors, and textures. She sources her lettuces from local hydroponic farm-to-table company King Tide Farms. The salad’s greens are complemented by the reds and pinks of pickled strawberries, and three varieties of radishes from local supplier Limehouse Produce. Snap peas and pea tendrils offer elements of surprise. Sprouted quinoa and puffed Carolina rice provide hardiness.
The stunning dish is dressed with a house-made vinaigrette featuring lemon juice, lemon olive oil, and honey. Always aware of her surroundings, Smith makes tweaks to her menu as the environment demands. “The weather changes, the mood changes,” she says. “The food also needs that change constantly.”
MEX 1 COASTAL CANTINA’S SO-CAL CAESAR
We take the classic Caesar, then blend in avocado to add some extra richness and depth.
Josie Derrick Photography
“You’re hungry. You just want craveable food. Come as you are, sand on your feet,” says Morgan Hurley, Mex 1 Coastal Cantina’s marketing and beverage director. The surf-trip-inspired restaurant’s So-Cal Caesar is “our most popular salad and the perfect light snack after a day on the beach,” says Hurley. It features crisp romaine lettuce, grilled wild-caught Atlantic White shrimp, croutons, pepitas, and cotija cheese. The dressing is a “classic Caesar with a Southern California twist,” says Hurley. “We take the classic Caesar, then blend in avocado to add some extra richness and depth.” The refreshing dish “allows you to save room for chips and queso.”
Hungry carnivores or pescatarians can make it a heartier meal by adding mahi-mahi, seared steak, carnitas, braised chicken, or the restaurant’s weekly fresh catch. Vegetarians can top the salad with some roasted cauliflower to satisfy big appetites.
The So-Cal Caesar pairs well with a drink that offers more than a buzz: A dollar from every Pineapple Margarita goes to the Warrior Surf Foundation, which helps veterans heal through surf therapy. No matter what ad-on patrons choose to order with their salad, they can expect to have a good time. A recent poll of customers confirms it: “The number one word was ‘fun.’”
THE LONGBOARD’S JUMBO LUMP CRAB SALAD
The flavor is always the most important thing.
Josie Derrick Photography
The first sign that The Longboard’s Jumbo Lump Crab Salad isn’t just an ordinary mix of greens and seafood? The plantain chips served on the side of the bowl. “It could be a dip or a salad,” says Ryan Camp, culinary director of Ballast Hospitality and interim executive chef for The Longboard Sullivan’s Island. Listed in the Share Plates section of the menu, this hearty, versatile dish can be devoured by one person or passed around a table of friends. “Everybody can kind of pick at it,” says Camp. “I like the idea of people being able to play with their food a little bit.”
But don’t let the fun of the dining experience fool you into thinking that sociability is this salad’s only strength. The well-planned recipe is designed to take epicureans on a culinary journey. Jumbo lump crab and avocado are tossed with Fresno peppers, red onions, and aioli, while the arugula is mixed separately with a lime-agave vinaigrette, which provides a “nice acid to bite through all of that creaminess.” It’s a dish to share and savor. Camp, who is constantly thinking of new daily specials for The Longboard’s menu, says, “the flavor is always the most important thing.”
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