Steak Salad

OK, currently I am searching for places that have really good steak salads on the menu. I have become addicted to the combination of well prepared red meat, mixed greens, and a light dose of dressing. It seems like this should be a common menu item at one of the many places that serve both steak and salad. I am finding that not necessarily to be the case however. I suppose I could order a side steak with my salad, but that tends to cost more.

Anyway, do folks have any favorite places for a good steak salad?

Giallo wrote:I suppose I could order a side steak with my salad, but that tends to cost more.

How about a side salad with your steak?

Cafe Suron has a pretty decent "Mediterranean Steak Salad" for 8.95. It consists of mixed greens, roasted peppers, red onions,and goat cheese with vinaigrette dressing.

Cafe Suron
1146 W Pratt
Chicago, IL 60626
773 465 6500
BYOB

The steak salad at Feast is excellent. Skirt steak, fried tortilla strips, avocado, onion, mixed greens and an herb vinaigrette.

OK, I know it's a chain offering, but the Bistro Steak Salad at Panera Bread is pretty darned good when I'm looking for a low carb lunch (although it's certainly not low-fat) -- seasoned steak filets, mixed field greens, romaine lettuce, Gorgonzola cheese, walnuts & a sugar-free balsamic vinaigrette.
>>Brent

stevez wrote:

Giallo wrote:I suppose I could order a side steak with my salad, but that tends to cost more.

How about a side salad with your steak?

Don't be ridiculous

Actually getting back to chains, the Damons at least out here in Indiana have a prime rib salad.I think it is pretty good.I figure they use last night's prime rib and sear it on the grill and make a salad.

Don't know if they still serve it but a couple of years back, Ditka's restaurant (not one I normally go to but was nearby my office at the time) used to serve a great steak salad with sirloin strips and shavings of aged asiago that was just an amazing salad. It had a light balsamic dressing and the cheese just really married well with the meat and the greens, of which arugula featured prominently. Boy...despite a nice burger at Blackie's for lunch, this has got me jonesing for one of those salads...

mmmmmmmmm...yummy.

This is something I love as well, but generally don't order. Too often, the steak used is inferior--it's not made to order, it's a cheaper grade to keep the price point within the bounds of what people will pay for a salad, etc.

Still, the one I've found to be of great taste and quality every time out is the rendition served at RL Restaurant, at Chicago and Michigan.

As good as I've ever had.

At lunch, Gibsons serves a salad with three or four medallions cooked to order, with blue cheese and greens, onions and tomatoes served with a vinagrette. the price is around 410.

In what? Euros?

My absolute favorite steak salad is at Lulu's Dim Sum & Then Sum in Evanston. It's a huge salad of greens, bean sprouts and other veggies, with tender steak, (the menu says it is terriyaki steak, but I've never noticed it was terriyaki), fried wonton strips and a creamy ginger dressing. I've tried to recreate the dressing at home, but it never was right.
Absolutely delicious.

Lulu's Dim Sum &Then Sum
804 Davis
Evanston, IL
847-869-4343
lulusdimsum.com

I think the steak salad at River's in the Chicago Mercantile Building (Wacker and Monroe) is quite good. Think it's flank steak, tomatoes, nice blue cheese crumbles, avacado, bacon (I'm pretty sure) and a buttermilk dressing.

The steak salad at Keefer's is very good (just how you describe your "dream" salad, with very tender steak and a lot of it for around $15) ... also, Charlie's Ale House at Navy Pier served a very good one a few years ago (still remember it!).

The Celtic Knot in Evanston has a fried goat cheese salad with walnuts and raisins that I order with steak on top. It is one of my favorite meals.



The Celtic Knot
626 Church Street
Evanston

YourPalWill wrote:At lunch, Gibsons serves a salad with three or four medallions cooked to order, with blue cheese and greens, onions and tomatoes served with a vinagrette. the price is around 410.

I think Will intended to state: $10.

On my keyboard, the upper case is $ and lower case is 4.

Regards,

Rivers in the Merc building has a very nice steak salad. It's probably my favorite item on the menu.

Here is the description straight from the online menu:

Charred Beef Salad $14.95
Wood Grilled Strips of Marinated Beef tossed with Romaine, Avacado, Bacon and Bleu Cheese, with Chipotle Buttermilk Dressing.

Rivers
30 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60606
(312) 559-1515

I haven't done a study, so I can't compare with any of the above but a couple of places where I've had a satisfying steak salad in past years are:

Chestnut Grill & Wine Bar
200 E. Chestnut St.
312-266-4500

Capital Grille
633 N. St. Clair St.
312-337-9400

In the same vicinity as Rivers, I like the Thai steak salad at Lloyd's. In fact, I have it for lunch fairly frequently.

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Nam Tok Salad, served at about every Thai Restaurant in the city. I've found the Nam Tok at TAC Quick to be about the best I've had!

TAC Quick... does it even need an address? Under the sheridan L stop.

I concur w/ the Rivers comments. No one's going to lose weight eating this salad, but its mighty tasty. Its the only thing I'll order there. And I go there on business lunches fairly frequently (never at my suggestion, I must say).

jonjonjon wrote:I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Nam Tok Salad, served at about every Thai Restaurant in the city. I've found the Nam Tok at TAC Quick to be about the best I've had!

TAC Quick... does it even need an address? Under the sheridan L stop.

FWIW, I've written about TAC's version of néua náam tòk at some length, here. [Pictures included]

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:

jonjonjon wrote:I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Nam Tok Salad, served at about every Thai Restaurant in the city. I've found the Nam Tok at TAC Quick to be about the best I've had!

TAC Quick... does it even need an address? Under the sheridan L stop.

FWIW, I've written about TAC's version of néua náam tòk at some length, here. [Pictures included]

E.M.

Damn Erik. That post of yours made me want to head over to TAC Quick immediately...but it's Tuesday.

Cathy2 wrote:

YourPalWill wrote:At lunch, Gibsons serves a salad with three or four medallions cooked to order, with blue cheese and greens, onions and tomatoes served with a vinagrette. the price is around 410.

I think Will intended to state: $10.

On my keyboard, the upper case is $ and lower case is 4.

Regards,

Thanks Cathy!
I was scratching my head over that for a good minute!

Sharona

My fav version of the steak salad is at Silver Cloud in Bucktown:

Winter Wonderland Salad - Marinated skirt steak over a bed of romaine and red leaf lettuces, tossed with our green goddess dressing, red onions, bleu cheese, and new potatoes $8.95

this is such a hearty salad - definately a filling meal.

Silver Cloud
1700 North Damen Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60647
Phone: 773.489.6212
http://www.silvercloudchicago.com

stevez wrote:Damn Erik. That post of yours made me want to head over to TAC Quick immediately...but it's Tuesday.

Well, this week is a good week to go. Andy recently added tèua huan (pickled cabbage and pork offal in a delicate, sour broth) to the roster of Special Offerings.*

Or, you could just wait until next week when there will be a really-big-surprise addition to the roster.

E.M.

* Listed on the board in an ignominious fashion as "Pork Organ."

Jury's on Lincoln & Montrose (pensacola?) has never disappointed me with the tenderloin caesar.

When I worked on Riverside, my favorite steak salad in the area was at:
Pazzo's
311 S Wacker (@Jackson)

Blackened Steak Salad: $14.00
Romaine lettuce, pepperoncini, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, blue cheese crumbles in a balsamic vinaigrette.

~GS

Bongo Room has some kind of steak tenderloin nicoise salad on the menu. I thought the lemon tarragon dressing was too sweet and swapped it for the cobb vinaigrette.

1152 S. Wabash
312.427.9972

The sometimes "too-cool-for-school" vibe can be off-putting, but I must admit that Rockit makes an outstanding veal skirt steak salad (or at least they did when I ate there several months ago). I would also recommend their pomegranate mojito.

Rockit Bar and Grill
22 W Hubbard St, Chicago, 60610 - (312) 645-6000

Edited to add: it is still on their website menu ($12)