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Fall is no reason to give up summery greens.

Thursday Oct 13, 2005.     By Kate Schwartz

Food Feed

Veggies change shape in winter: leafy greens studded with heirloom tomatoes and slivers of peaches give way to roasted mounds of parsnips and sweet potatoes. And while I happily crunch on below-the-earth vegetables (beets, I love you!), it's a sad farewell that has me craving big, summertime bowls. I've tried to bandage the loss with Whole Food's salad bar. But I quickly learned that I can polish off a pricey pound-plus of salad in no time flat, and that counter seating, while great for a quick bite, doesn't do it when you're taking the wanna-catch-up-over-Caesar route with a (my) sister in from out of town. Careful research and lots of blue cheese and arugula consumption has uncovered these lunch-date-worthy salad spots.

Pompei Italian Bakery
File under: Countless casual choices
I say "Italian," you say "heaping bowls of steaming ravioli, wedges of creamy cheesecake and buttery loaves of garlic bread." Ditch the fatty connotation but go ahead and preserve your huge-plate stereotype: Lakeview's Pompei offers more sizable salads than you can shake a stick at. In addition to a daily special, make a tortured decision between a whopping 14 plum options, available in large and small (a-OK for a typical lunch appetite) sizes. The Chopped Chicken, at just $5.45 for a small, comes packed with finely diced roasted chicken, red onion, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, blue cheese and fried proscuitto. Mela Verde does fall right with Granny Smith apples, blue cheese, dried cherries and walnuts.

Though Pompei is serious about its greens, it's a thoroughly unfussy place to dine. The cafeteria-style counter displays one of each dish offered on the menu, making it easy to scope the salads, point and pick, and wait just a few minutes as your order is prepared and brought to your table (via a simple number system). But don't sit there and sweat your decision to feast on a cheese- and meat-filled antipasti salad: Go with the Low-Cal Salad, a "this isn't a diet!" mix of grilled chicken, tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, hard boiled egg and Kalamata olives.

Square Kitchen
File under: A salad with your sweetie
The ideal pick when you're thinking "salad" and he's thinking "steak," Square Kitchen's delightfully unstuffy atmosphere incorporates plenty of choice touches, and its salads are no exception. Though the Lincoln Square eatery is known for its entree-meets-sauce approach (or, in my case, for its delectable lobster club on egg bread), its salads have a few fine dining hallmarks. Take, for instance, the steak and blue cheese salad ($14). Modest in size, the ever-popular meat-and-cheese combo comes balanced on watercress, the bitterness of which provides a surprisingly good mate with the other ingredients' pungency and richness.

Other "Big Salads" include the chopped, with a refrigerator's worth of olives, avocado, raisins and the like; grilled vegetable; and peanut-ginger chicken. Those who can't pass up that bacony lobster sandwich can side it with one of six smaller salads, including the warm goat cheese with beets, apple and almonds. True salad suckers should swing by for Sunday brunch, where a few newbies, like Waldorf salad, chicken with pears and cherries, and tuna nicoise ($7.95-$10.95) join the team.

Milk and Honey Cafe
File under: Super specials
Practice it with me people: "I'll take the special." While Milk and Honey's bounty of sandwiches have the indecisive scrunching their noses in confusion, the slim one or two special salads offered each week require little more than a point-and-shoot decision. They come heaped with goodness and are the perfect size for a lunchtime meal: A good thing, as Milk and Honey turns off the lights before the dinner hour rolls in. Past incarnations include baby spinach with roasted cherry tomatoes, bacon, hard-boiled egg and sherry shallot dressing ($6.50, plus $1.50 for chicken), chicken caesar and mixed greens with grapes, blue cheese and walnuts.

Getting weary of the arugula-spinach-escarole parade? Let your eyes wander to the deli case to the left of the register (good luck not getting caught up on the coconut cream cheese-frosted carrot cake) and take your pick of a number of pre-made salads, at just $3 for eight ounces or $6 for 16 ounces. Go-ga-ga-over salads have included marinated beets, sesame kale, Asian broccoli salad and garlic potato salad.

Chicago Diner
File under: A veg-only variety
When a salad craving hits, there's really only one thing I'm picturing: Chicago Diner's Thunder Salad ($9.95). I've quelled the hankering with knockoffs in the past, only to conclude that there's really no flavor combo as simple and good. It's a literal bowl (and much bigger than the kind you put cereal in) of mixed greens, mushrooms, onion, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, sprouts, red cabbage, tomato, olives, walnuts and garbanzos, plus your choice of tofu, cheddar (my personal pick) or avocado. Accompanied by a side of cornbread and, if you're taking my recommendation, an unfussy oil and vinegar dressing, you'll be in heaven.

I never stray from it (surprised?), but I sure am tempted. Other vegetarian salads include the uber-veggie Sprouted Rain (mixed greens, sprouts, red cabbage, carrot, tomato, cucumber and toasted sunflower seeds; $4.95); the Santa Fe (seitan chorizo, tomatoes, onion, avocado, olives, corn, tortilla chips, jicama, black beans and cheese, with cornbread; $9.95); and the Samurai (spinach topped with chilled noodles, tomatoes, peapods, bean sprouts, seaslaw and baked tofu strips, with a sesame-ginger dressing).

Flying Saucer
File under: Value-price veggies
This Humboldt Park eatery garners more than its fair share of Leo's Lunchroom comparisons, and with good reasons: You'll find dressed up diner fare with a veggie bent, served in an airy spot in a less traversed area. If you can pass up the creative sandwiches (grilled turkey on cinnamon bread with cranberry sauce comes to mind), you'll be duly rewarded, assuming you order the excellent warm lentil and beet salad. The $6.75 dish achieves "excellent" status with the addition of red onion, balsamic vinegar and fresh goat cheese.

Other options include spinach salad with blue cheese, pear and walnut (just $5.95), and the aptly named Huge Veggie Salad, a bowl of mixed greens and spinach (mmm, greens), tomato, carrots, onion, cucumber and Greek olives. Basic side salads and chicken Caesar pleases simple tastes.

Other worthwhile salad stops:

Hilary's Urban Eatery
If the special salad (with figs, walnuts and blue cheese) is available, do not hesitate. Order, devour, smile.

Earwax Cafe
The Jamaican Salad, with almonds, mandarin oranges and marinated seitan in a tangy pineapple vinaigrette, is a sweet keeper.

Uno di Martino
This trattoria's handful of salads include the delicate Insalata Funnghi (just $5.95), with shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes, truffle cheese on mixed greens with a lemon vinaigrette.

Grand Lux Cafe
This Cheesecake Factory-esque Mag Mile eatery offers nearly 20 salads, including a spicy calamari salad with carrots, cucumber and onions in a spicy vinaigrette.

Hot Chocolate
Before you indulge in the obvious, lighten up with a salad. Snatch up the steak version if it's available, with seared beef, fava beans, manchego cheese and preserved lemon.

Joe's Seafood
Ideal for business lunches, this snazzy, white tablecloth eatery offers a mean seared ahi tuna salad.