The Most Inventive Salads at New Orleans Steakhouses

Summer season is high, and one of the best ways to celebrate the bounty of local farms and fresh produce is with a bountiful salad. Steakhouses in New Orleans have a long history of salad, too, maximizing fresh local provisions with unique, vegetal combinations that highlight Louisiana’s growing season. During these dog days of summer, here are some of the best salad options in New Orleans steakhouses. 

 

Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse
Dickie Brennan's

Red Maple: This Gretna classic has its recipes down pat. This is true of its seasoned steaks, its crab cakes, its shrimp remoulade and its certainly true of its hearty salads, too. A far cry from diet fare, these salads toe the line between wholesome and decadent, with options like crispy chicken salad with avocado, bacon, cheddar, croutons and honey-mustard dressing, crisp Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, aromatic basil and balsamic glaze, and a chopped shrimp version with hearts of palm, tomato, boiled shrimp, bacon, green olives, egg and blue cheese. The seared tuna salad is a particularly nice, summery option, with yellowfin tuna over mixed greens with heirloom tomatoes and a zesty wasabi-avocado drizzle. 

Besh Steak: If there’s anyone who can jazz up a salad, it’s John Besh. At his namesake steakhouse, the celebrity chef manages to cleverly update some of the most classic salad preparations, such as a Caesar salad with hearts of romaine and smoked paprika croutons. Or an iceberg salad that has farm-fresh bacon and hot mash dressing, a meaty and buttery medley inspired by classic Southern casseroles. Then there’s the stone fruit and beet salad with goat cheese, candied pecans and Champagne vinaigrette, which serves as a showcase for whichever fruits are freshest at the moment, from peaches to plums. 

Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse: This timeworn French Quarter institution has been innovating in the salad department for years. Along with other appetizing novelties like bone marrow escargots and McIlhenny oysters heaped with chipotle-Tabasco beurre blanc, salad stunners include a re-imagined tomato and blue cheese creation served as a savory Napoleon. Elegant and lustrous, the stacked dish contains thick tomato slices layered with Danish blue cheese, shaved red onion and housemade remoulade sauce. For the heirloom tomato salad, which is really at its seasonal apex right now, the dressing is a bracing Worcestershire-cane vinaigrette, while the seasonal fruit salad with baby greens, roasted pecans and citrus-honey vinaigrette skews sweeter. 

Chophouse New Orleans: The key to a killer salad at this quintessential steakhouse is in the dressing. The namesake chophouse salad, loaded up with lettuce, tomato, bacon and blue cheese crumbles, gets taken to another level entirely with imported blue cheese and a spicy French dressing, which adds unexpected color, creaminess and mild heat. 

Desi Vega’s: Here’s something to wrap your head around: the house salad at Desi Vega’s has a vinaigrette made from Mandarin orange, fig and Grey Goose vodka. That should tip you off that this isn’t your typical salad. Other options are a bit more subdued, but keep things fresh and vibrant with ingredients like fresh buffalo mozzarella, pears, sherry-tarragon vinaigrette, baby spinach and plump grape tomatoes. 

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