Opa! Which Greek Salad Gets the Gold?

Greek salad has become part of the menu in many American restaurants. Authentic Greek salads are made with wedges of tomato, cucumber, green bell pepper, red onion, feta cheese and Kalamata olives. The dressing or vinaigrette is a mixture of olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice, as well as oregano and parsley. The American version of Greek salad includes lettuce with the same ingredients above, though none that I tasted had the green peppers. There, were however, additions of pepperoncini peppers.  

 189 Lamp and Lantern Village, Town and Country

This simple restaurant, tucked next to more flashy restaurants such as , was surprisingly good. Maybe not as nice as Bread Company or The Mediterranean Grill, but the restaurant make each item to order. I don't know if I can rave about the quesadillas, although they are quite large, and the buffalo chicken quesadilla was good. Not amazingly exceptional, but good.

The salad was very large and made to order and had an inviting plate presentation. I was excited to try it. All of the ingredients were chopped into more or less the same size pieces: the red onions, tomatoes, olives (though these were plain black olives, not Kalamata) and pepperoncini peppers. Crumbled feta topped the salad, and the dressing was robust. The salad was made fresh, seasoned well, and the dressing was good.

The good: The chopped ingredients and overall flavor was good.
The bad: The regular black olives killed the authenticity of the salad. Although the salad was good, the flavor had an air of chain restaurant, a lack of character.

14560 Manchester Rd., Ballwin

St. Louis Bread Co., as it is known here in St. Louis, is famous for its homemade flavor and consistently good food. It used to be one of my favorite places, but prices there have steadily been creeping up. A soup for $4.79? Really?

That aside, the plate presentation for the salad was exceptional, probably the best out of all three. The salad was dressed very lightly, and the greens had not been completely dry before being dressed, or they were not seasoned. The feta cheese and sliced Kalamata olives gave the dish most of its salty flavor. There were some tomatoes and sliced onions. Overall, the salad was good, but nothing to write home about. One of the best treats is the hunk of French bread served with it. The bread was warm, crusty, and the crumb inside was perfectly uneven.

The good: The restaurant has a nice atmosphere. Overall, the salad was good, and the ingredients were fresh. The French bread was amazing.
The bad: The salad did not have enough dressing and was not seasoned.

703 Long Road Crossing Dr., Chesterfield

My love of Mediterranean food lifted my expectations for this restaurant. I love hummus, gyros, tzatziki sauce and all of the dishes in between. The American teenagers at the counter put my excitement on ice. Their lack of excitement to be there (and poor knife skills in the open kitchen) lowered my expectations. I took the Greek side salad home to find the feta cheese, dressing and salad greens in different containers. Once I mixed my salad, the flavors blended well together. The feta cheese was crumbled finely and meshed into the dressing. There was a greater depth of flavor in all of the ingredients, and it made a great salad. Just a warning, their Kalamata olives are not pitted, much to the surprise of my molar.

The good: The flavor of the dressing and quality of the feta cheese and other ingredients.
The bad: The atmosphere and having to put together my own salad (although if I ate it at the restaurant, I am sure they would have done it for me), not to mention the Kalamata olive incident.

The winner: The Mediterranean Grill because of the depth of flavor of the dressing and the ingredients. The crumbled feta was creamy and had just the right salt content, as did the Kalamata olives.