When you think of wedge salads, do you think, “Steakhouse mainstay. Throwback to the ’50s. Yum, blue cheese!”?
The classic version is a quarter wedge of crisp, crunchy iceberg lettuce, topped with a creamy Roquefort or blue cheese dressing, and dotted with chopped tomato and crumbled bacon. It’s been around for decades because the combination of crisp and creamy is so satisfying. Lots of umami, and yes, lots of calories, too. A wedge salad is not a dieter’s delight.
In the ’70s when iceberg lettuce fell out of favor, replaced by field greens and dark green lettuces, the salad just went underground, still on steakhouse menus but not appearing on the salad lists of restaurants priding themselves on their farm-to-table cred.
Fast-forward to today when the wedge is appearing on menus all over town.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Emily Hyland, co-founder of Emmy Squared pizzeria in Atlanta’s Glenwood Park, serves one of the most unusual versions, the Huge Hot Chicken Wedge. “I am a huge wedge salad kind of girl,” she told us, “so we had fun amplifying the flavor profile of this dish by using two types of dressing — our tangy ‘Bama white sauce and our homemade herby buttermilk ranch — and then finishing the salad with a stack of our signature Nashville hot chicken.”
As executive chef at both Haven and Arnette’s Chop House, Stephen Herman faced the challenge of creating wedge salads for each. He shared his recipe for the version served at Arnette’s and told us, “For Arnette’s, I wanted to do something more like a traditional steakhouse wedge while incorporating things from our restaurant, like the hearth-roasted tomatoes, which pick up some smoke, and Fourme d’Ambert, a delicious smoky French blue cheese. The pickled onions give the salad a nice balance.”
Chef Tony Manns at C&S Seafood and Oyster Bar in Sandy Springs added nuts and seeds for crunch to his Baby Gem Lettuce Wedge Salad using Sweet Grass Dairy’s Asher Blue. He says one of the things that makes the salad so delicious is that you get all these flavors — Green Goddess dressing, Asher Blue, and soft herbs — in one bite, “It’s like a bite of pie.”
At 5Church, they swapped the iceberg for Little Gem lettuce. Chef Mark Alba says Little Gem lettuce is like a cross between iceberg and romaine. For the traditional accompaniments of blue cheese, bacon and tomatoes, he says, “We use creamy Gorgonzola Dolce imported from Italy, we cure our bacon in-house, and we use farmhouse heirloom cherry tomatoes that have such a burst of sweetness.”
At the Iberian Pig, executive chef Josue Pena added Spanish influence to the wedge. “I put a spin on a wedge salad with some Spanish influences like adding serrano ham and our charcuterie crumble, and then taking advantage of great local products like farmer Bobby Britt’s lettuce and tomatoes and Shakerag Blue from Sequatchie Cove Creamery in Tennessee.”
Joey Ward, chef and owner of Southern Belle, offers an off-the-menu wedge — grilled Little Gem lettuce with pickled tomatoes, shaved red onion, Bagna Cauda and fresh feta — that he created to use traditional wedge ingredients in a different way. “Grilling the Little Gem lettuce adds a smokiness and tremendous depth of flavor to the lettuce, which is usually just used as a vessel for the dressing and toppings. Bagna Cauda takes the place for the dressing and adds a meatiness from the anchovies that replaces the traditional bacon. Pickling the tomatoes adds a bright burst of acidity while the feta (which stands in for traditional blue cheese) keeps the dish lighter for summer.”
Hampton + Hudson co-founder Jenn Streck sees their Wood Grilled Caesar Wedge as a takeoff of the classic Caesar salad, incorporating brown butter-thyme croutons and fried capers for an unusual presentation and a salad with lots of added crunch.
And King + Duke executive chef Eddie Barrett offers a hearth-roasted spring green salad on his menu that’s topped with whipped buttermilk. “When creating this dish, I wanted to make something that was eye-catching and different but also tasted like a bunch of my childhood memories. We used to whip fresh cream and eat it on just about everything. I also had an obsession with ranch dressing, so this salad is a bit of an homage to that.”
RECIPES
It’s time to put a wedge salad back on the menu at home.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Arnette’s Chop Shop Iceberg Wedge Salad
When Stephen Herman, executive chef at Arnette’s Chop Shop, sent over his wedge salad recipe, he was very clear in naming the ingredients to be used in re-creating his recipe. Not just any blue cheese, but Fourme d’Ambert, which is often available at the Murray’s Cheese counter in your local Kroger. Not just any bacon, but either D’Artagnan, Neuske’s or Benton’s. For the mayonnaise, it’s got to be Duke’s. The buttermilk? From Southern Swiss Dairy in Waynesboro. And the cherry tomatoes should be an heirloom variety, just now becoming available from local farmers.
The resulting salad has the classic wedge flavors but using top-of-the-line ingredients. If you can’t find baby iceberg lettuce, substitute the traditional quarter wedge. And at the restaurant, they roast their cherry tomatoes on the hearth where they cook their steaks. We’ve adapted the recipe to take advantage of the skillet used to cook the bacon.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by Stephen Herman, executive chef of Arnette’s Chop House.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
To make jalapeno vinegar, put a jalapeno (or several, depending on how hot you want your vinegar) in a canning jar and cover with white vinegar. Let rest at least 4 days before using. Strain the jalapeno(s) when the vinegar has reached your desired heat level and flavor. The resulting vinegar will keep for months.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by Stephen Herman, executive chef of Arnette’s Chop House.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
— Adapted from a recipe provided by Stephen Herman, executive chef of Arnette’s Chop House.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
The Burgess Wedge Salad
This version of a wedge salad rethinks two traditional ingredients — blue cheese and tomatoes — and instead of using a blue cheese dressing, is dressed with a vinaigrette flavored with Old Bay seasoning. That may not be a traditional seasoning used in a wedge salad, but it turns out to be a very complementary flavor.
The restaurant also makes candied pecans to garnish the salad and adds a flourish of baby sorrel leaves and pea tendrils.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by chef Burges Jokhi of Fia at the Burgess Hotel.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
— Adapted from a recipe provided by chef Burges Jokhi of Fia at the Burgess Hotel.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
This recipe will make more than you need for a few wedge salads, but we are finding ourselves enjoying it as a spread for sandwiches, stirring it into hot pasta that includes seafood or chicken and adding it as a topping to a toasted bagel with cream cheese. Try to find “ready-to-eat” sun-dried tomatoes when you make this pesto. The strips of tomato should be soft enough to blend easily. Even so, the ready-to-eat versions may be a little tough to puree. We had the best luck when we soaked those sun-dried tomato strips in the olive oil and vinegar before blending and we added that step to the restaurant’s recipe.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by chef Burges Jokhi of Fia at the Burgess Hotel.
Credit: Chris Hunt
Credit: Chris Hunt
Blue Cheese Mousse
Whoever thought of making savory whipped cream? A chef, of course. This is an unusual presentation for the traditional blue cheese on the wedge, and worth the extra steps involved in making it.
— Adapted from a recipe provided by chef Burges Jokhi of Fia at the Burgess Hotel.
Read more stories like this by liking Atlanta Restaurant Scene on Facebook, following @ATLDiningNews on Twitter and @ajcdining on Instagram.
About the Author
