Dressing "on the side"

[jhlurie]

My college roomate's mother was a gourmet cook of some ability, and one of her specialties was salads. If she put down a Waldorf salad in front of me I knew it was a unified dish, and it was done as it should be. As it was meant to be.

If I walk into some little bistro somewhere, where I don't know them and they certainly don't know me, and I'm sent a house salad--where I'm actually ASKED the question "what kind of dressing do you want on it", then I can't really see how it's ignorance to think there's a chance that the dressing is not some essential component best handled by the chef. As a matter of course I usually DON'T ask for dressing on the side--unless I've been to the place before and know there is a problem--but even if I did I certainly can't envision it as out of line.

I'm not likely to have the option of that Waldorf salad in most mid-level restaurants, but usually there's a shot at a Caesar salad. And I certainly could agree that asking for dressing "on the side" for a Caesar would indeed go beyond mere irritation to the level of ignorance. But for a simple bunch of mixed greens where the variety of dressing isn't even an essential component? Nope. It's going to be a tough sell to convince most people that "the chef's intentions" matter with that.

[fifi]

For Mother's Day, I was treated to a wonderful lunch at a Greek restaurant here in Houston that I had been meaning to try. My son came in from Chicago (surprise!) and we had a wonderful time. My nephew, the lawyer, knows the proprietor so we were able to get a table. The lunch of grilled snapper was incredible.

But to get back to topic... Here I wouldn't have thought of ordering anything "on the side". The menu said that they served their "house salad" with no options for dressing. Boy was I glad I did that.

That was the most incredible salad I have had in a long time. If I had gone with the "on the side" custom of many of my friends, I would have missed a perfectly tossed and dressed salad with an incredible dressing of feta enhanced vinagrette. I will go back to this place just to order a bucket of that salad.

Moral of the story... I will trust the restaurant (the first time out, anyway) and go for their specialties when it comes to salads and dressings and decide from there. This decision to stay with the standard was certainly a winner.

I guess that my bottom line is that, as a first choice, I will trust the chef and not ask to alter the offering.

[Hest88]

If I'm asked what kind of dressing I want on my salad, it's perfectly acceptable to ask for that dressing on the side.

Yep, that's it. In such a restaurant I assume that the salad preparation is probably not up to Thomas Keller-like standards. By asking for dressing on the side I'm able to put as much or as little as I want. Also, as someone else said, I can (and often do) dip my leaves in the dressing instead of pouring the dressing on the salad.

Oh, and those types of salads also often have ingredients I can't stand, so ordering it sans dressing means I can pick out the offending items more easily!

[Wholemeal Crank]

I like vegetables but generally don't like dressings--be they oil & vinegar, cheese, or mayo based. Just one of my quirks. Usually I ignore the salads altogether, but sometimes if the veggies sound good, or I'm craving greenery, I order a naked salad. Usually that gets translated into dressing on the side.

And since the dressings are usually high fat and calorie dense, eating them even if I liked them would displace tastier fats & calories in desserts, so I've never been motivated to learn to like them.

[Kim WB]

Are they afraid the salad composer doesn't know how to properly dress a salad? Afraid there will be too much dressing? Too little? Afraid they won't like the taste of the dressing?

Yes, to all of the above. Not in white tablecloth places, however..but being on a perpetual trying to loose weight mode, I hate wasting calories on what I suspect will be mediocre food. Out this weekend, stuck looking for a place for a quick Saturday lunch..in an area filled with chains. Went to a Lone Star Steak Grille Bistro Pub , ordered the always serviceable chix ceasar...forgot to order dressing on the side, and it was inedible. I'm afraid you suffer indirectly from too many of these types of experiences...although again, I would trust a certain caliber restaurant to dress my greens properly.

[phaelon56]

I'm not likely to have the option of that Waldorf salad in most mid-level restaurants, but usually there's a shot at a Caesar salad. And I certainly could agree that asking for dressing "on the side" for a Caesar would indeed go beyond mere irritation to the level of ignorance.

I guess it depends on your definition of "mid-level" restaurants. I can't recall the last time I went to what I consider to be a mid-level restaurant and had a Caesar salad that was properly tossed with the Romaine well coated. Granted, mid-level restaurants in NYC are typically far better than in many other cities, but ever since the salmonella scare re/coddled eggs, I don't seem to find places that make what I consider to be a real Caesar dressing.

[whippy]

man, i am SO going to open a restaurant based on a "dress it yerself" approach.

u order your salad, then the server presents the table with a stainless mixing bowl filled with romaine/iceberg/mesclun/microgreens and u are invited to "dress it yerself." the server tosses the romaine/iceberg/mesclun/microgreens with the dressing poured at the customer's discretion, and serves the result.

a salad BOTH properly tossed AND dressed to the customer's liking.

i'm gonna be a billionaire. see ya later, suckers.

[Pan]

i'm gonna be a billionaire.  see ya later, suckers.

Not so fast, Whippy.

You'll need customers, right? When you open your place, tell us where it is, so we can patronize it...

And you can take that any way you want.

[Carlovski]

A bit of a side issue - Has anyone noticed how many so called dressings are IMHO nothing of the sort?

Something thick, gloopy and in all likelyhood out of a squeezy bottle isn't a dressing - it doesn't dress the salad, it sits on it.

[CompassRose]

Why do I order dressing on the side? I'm a bodybuilder, and I am controlling my "nutrient intake."

If I am eating in a restaurant, I am either, A) there under more or less duress, because of some family or business obligation, in which case I will get everything on the side and a plain grilled chicken breast, or B) there to splurge on one particular thing (probably with chocolate in it) in which case I will get everything on the side except the splurge, which will have everything on top.

And as I am paying for it, I really don't see that it should be a problem... In the case of A) it had better not be a problem, since I'll be damn crabby already.

[Exotic Mushroom]

I don't think there's anything wrong with ordering dressing on the side no matter what kind of restaurant you're at. For example, I remember back when I was doing pantry at a pretty nice, well-respected place, and the amount of dressing I was told to put on salads. Most of the salads would have been fine for me, but I felt like the caesar dressing was way too much. Apparently, most people like their caesar salads coated in what I personally consider too much dressing. And that's the way most places will serve it, since that's what people like. So if I'm getting a caesar salad, even in a nice restaurant, I'll order my dressing on the side.

Ultimately, I think this is something that the cook should not waste time getting upset over. You will always have people asking for special requests, making changes that take more time for you to prepare the dish, and it's just something you have to live with. Who knows why people do or want the things they do? Best, I think, to just relax and stop asking questions. I have co-workers who get really irritated with substitutions and additions, but I personally just try to suck up the irritation and be please that someone is getting something they'll really enjoy.

As long as the substitutions are within reason. I get kind of annoyed when people basically make up their own dish and demand it (from a neighboorhood grill I worked at once - "I'd like the veggie philly sandwich, but with no bread, a portobello mushroom, two meatballs, and brie"), but that's a pretty rare event. A few weeks ago at my current restuarant, someone apparently asked for ranch on their salad and it threw the entire kitchen into a fit about how incredibly insulting it was to us that they would even dare to mention ranch in our establishment. I kind of get where they're coming from, but even in that case, I suggested that we send someone across the street to get a small bottle of ranch. Nearly got my head taken off for that one, but we're here to please to customer, aren't we?