Dressing up potato salad: chefs add new touches to turn picnic favorite into stylish side dish

Nation's Restaurant News, August 11, 2003 by Carolyn Walkup

Potato salad, that summer picnic mainstay, has gone uptown in endless variations as a side dish.

Hundreds of varieties of potatoes have been grown around the world since the ancient Incas began cultivating potatoes in South America. Potatoes now are grown in many sizes, shapes and colors, and most of them can be used in potato salad and served either hot or cold.

Preparations vary from a classic hometown staple on the Max & Erma's dinnerhouse chain's menu to exotic purple-potato salad at pricier white-tablecloth restaurants.

Columbus, Ohio-based Max & Erma's first bakes its potatoes before cutting and tossing them with celery, eggs, scallions, red bell peppers, custom-made mayonnaise and a "secret seasonings" blend, according to Bob Davis, corporate executive chef. Served cold, the potatoes can be ordered as an optional side with any sandwich or entree.

Unique Restaurants of suburban Detroit came up with a Southwestern-style purple-potato salad to go with Coney dogs, which are popular in the metropolitan area. The Coney dogs are served open-faced on flatbread with duck confit mole and the purple-potato salad, salsa and Mexican cheese as toppings.

For the salad Jim Barnett, Unique's corporate executive chef, combines the sliced potatoes with an ancho chili mayonnaise, celery, onions, roasted red peppers, cilantro and cumin. The lunch special is served at Shiraz, one of the multiconcept company's newest restaurants.

"We get all different kinds of potatoes," Barnett notes. He prefers smaller ones for potato salad because of their firmer texture.

At Unique's Northern Lakes seafood restaurant, Barnett serves seared tuna with a warm potato salad that contains fennel and warm bacon vinaigrette, accented with haricots verts and heirloom tomatoes.

Bernard Guillas, executive chef at the Shores Restaurant and the Marine Room at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club in La Jolla, Calif., makes a variation of the Southern French classic, nicoise salad, served under halibut or seared ahi tuna.

Guillas likes to combine heirloom rose, crimson and purple potatoes for color and flavor. He tosses the steamed, halved small potatoes with green beans, caramelized large shallots, crispy bacon, walnut oil, red-wine vinegar, parsley, salt and pepper. For a finishing touch he uses a few drops of intense lemon myrtle oil.

Lemon also flavors the potato salad at Bin 36 in Chicago, where executive chef John Caputo coats the salad with lemon atoll. Salad ingredients are fingerling potatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, celery, English peas, red onion, fresh tarragon and parsley. At the end he adds Champagne vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

Sweet and sour ingredients add interest to a German-style potato salad served this summer and fall at Citarella in New York. Chef Brian Bistrong mixes cider and sherry vinegars, olive oil, shallots, salt, pepper and sugar in his salad, finished with parsley and chopped chives. The warm salad is served with roasted sea scallops and accented with cabbage and fresh horseradish foam.

David Fhima's cold farm egg salad is served at the MPLS. Cafe in Minneapolis, using balsamic vinegar as the primary dressing ingredient. "Usually people think of having something that's light, but they're worried they will leave hungry. This is light but hardy, and you can put Japanese seared tuna or grilled chicken breast on top," Fhima says.

For the salad he assembles baked Idaho or Yukon Gold potatoes, hard-cooked eggs and baked red beets and refrigerates them overnight. He slices everything into rounds and composes the ingredients on a plate. Then he drizzles the dressing and fresh basil on top.

The dressing is made from balsamic vinegar and olive oil, accented with a little red-wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. "It all works well to create rich flavor without the calories," Fhima says.

Several chefs like the combination of potato salad and arugula, with its peppery mustard flavor. Bob Kinkead is serving a warm grilled-chicken salad with heirloom potatoes, portobello mushrooms, marinated red onions and arugula this summer at Kinkead's in Washington, D.C.

In New York chef Waldy Malouf is serving his arugula and potato salad at Beacon. "Potatoes and arugula work well together: the potato mellows out the arugula a little," he says, adding that he prefers less-bitter baby or young arugula. He places sliced, braised Idaho potatoes that have been simmered in olive oil or stock on the plate. Then he tops them with the arugula that has been tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, shallots and pepper.

Instead of croutons, Malouf crisps thinly sliced potatoes with shaved Parmesan and sprinkles finely chopped chives and more fresh-ground black pepper on top.

"I don't use mayonnaise with potato salad; I use vinaigrettes, herbs, hot peppers or onions for flavor," he explains.

Bobby Flay does use mayonnaise in the Southwestern potato salad he serves as a summer special at his Mesa Grill in New York, but it's a house-made chipotle-mustard mayonnaise. Other primary salad ingredients are lime juice, scallions, jalapeno peppers and cilantro.