Salade de Chevre Chaud

Just took a trip to Ireland, so this review is coming from Dublin. Legends, 16-18 Lord Edward Street, Dublin 2. This goat cheese salad was adequate, as well as being possibly the only vegetarian item on the menu that didn’t contain potatoes. (It’s Ireland after all.) Crumbled goat cheese was mixed in with mixed greens and tossed with chopped apples, and some kind of sugary mystery nut, probably not peanut, to decent effect. The salad could have used more cheese, but as pickings for vegetarians in Ireland are possibly even slimmer than they are in France, who’s to complain? The restaurant itself is a bit of a tourist trap—crowds cram into its ample space to see nightly performances of Irish dancing—but it’s hardly the worst trap going. The staff is super friendly and accommodating, the shows are free and the Guinness flows freely from a well-equipped bar. 5/10

Bistrot des Panoramas, 10, passage des Panoramas, 2nd in Paris. A small, basic salad that was not bad, but not special. The cheese was very good, but not excellent enough to off-set the portion size and mostly boring salad. The restaurant has a great vibe, though, and is good value for money, especially as you can get the salad as part of a menu. 6/10

Brocéliande, 15 rue des Trois Frères, 18th in Paris. This is a nice twist on the classic salad. This crêperie starts with a buttered buckwheat gallette, folded into a square. Then it adds lettuce and tomatoes, and then a perfectly toasted, melted crotte (an entire pat of cheese, as opposed to cut pieces from a log) in the middle of everything. A nice, light, mustardy vinaigrette is drizzled on top. The lettuce is good, but not remarkable and the tomatoes are generally ripe. The place is run by a couple with Breton origins, who take enormous pride in their work. (They’ll treat regulars to apple liquor, if they’re not too busy.) The dessert crêpes are well-worth every heavy calorie, too. 8/10

Les Racines, rue Monsieur le Prince, 6th in Paris. A small, surprisingly mediocre and overpriced, in not downright bad, salad de chevre chaud, in a restaurant that does other things pretty well. Two rounds of fluffy cheese, barely-heated, begrudgingly plopped down on bread so flat and unremarkable it’s hard to believe it’s French, with boring lettuce, OK vinaigrette and tomatoes. Really a shame considering the place satisfies the American need for a slightly down-market, but homey diner setting (complete with aging regulars and waitresses who wear jeans they seem to have kept since the 70s), which is not always easy to find in Paris. Not a lot of options for vegetarians here, and since the salad is not worth bothering with, skip straight to dessert and coffee (both excellent; try the tarte aux mirabelles which looks and tastes as if someone’s loving granny made it). 3/10

Bistrot Mélac, 42 rue Léon Frot, 11th in Paris. In this salad, the chevre is folded inside a thin sheet of fillo dough, fried to flakiness (the cheese melts inside), then sprinkled with ciboulette and chopped macadamia nuts. The greens are fresh, the dressing is fine and it comes with wedges of hard-boiled eggs. Everything else we had from the menu was also top-notch, and the ambiance was warm, open and friendly. (Note: This place is run by a man called “Mr. Big Mustache” who will come to your table at least once to chat and make sure you’re well-fed, well-wined and happy.) 9/10

Le Recrutement Café, 36, boulevard La Tour Maubourg, 7th in Paris. This is your standard, solid, French bistrot salade de chevre chaud. Nothing to fancy or exotic, but well-executed and tasty. The greens and tomatoes were well-selected, well-cut and fresh. The cheese was good, toasted and warm. The toast was OK. The only draw-back was the creamy dressing, which is a bit unusual to see with this salad. 6/10

L’Ouest, 1 Quai du Commerce, Lyon. I hesitate to be too critical of this salad, because it was never sold as a true salad de chevre chaud. However, since it was one of the few non-meat, non-dessert things on the menu, it deserves a comment. L’Ouest is one of several restaurants run by the celebrated chef, Paul Bocuse. (In Lyon, he also has Le Sud, Le Nord, and L’Est, and in theory, each restaurant reflects cuisine from the associated French region.) The salad, much like the restaurants I visited (I also ate in L’Est), were aesthetically-pleasing and well laid-out, but in the end, lacking the magic you’d expect from a such a food guru. The fresh cheese was flat and unremarkable, the salad greens were nice, but nothing special, and the dressing was just your standard run-of-the-mill vinaigrette. The tomatoes came peeled, which clearly reflects some serious thought and energy, but like the restaurant itself, the conspicuous labor failed to deliver on the promise. 4/10

Le Sens Unique, 47 Rue de Ponthieu, just off the Champs Elysées. This is a really excellent salad from a very charming and good quality bistrot. The cheese, perfectly melted and dusted with herbs, oozed onto the well-oiled chunks of baguette toast. The tomatoes were fine and the salad greens were fresh and clean—a good mix of lettuces and baby spinach. The winning touch was a vinaigrette made from beets—a colorful sweet, spicy and tangy sauce that inspired the boldest notes of the chevre. 9/10

Le Coffee Link, 66 Rue de Pierre Charron, just off the Champs Elysées. This salad comes with tongs, though I’m not super sure why. There is nothing else notable about this salad, though it’s generally alright: The cheese was good and gooey enough and the toast was fine, if not a bit on the hard side. The lettuce was ordinary and the dressing was unusually sweet. 5/10