Obsessions: Niçoise
A Perfect Food
Salade Niçoise is, to me, a perfect food. You can have a good one or a great one, but never a truly bad one. It’s diplomatic, dignified, and hard to mess up. The more refined cousin to a club sandwich, the Niçoise has it all. A crowd-pleaser, a nostalgic lunch, it’s a respectable order at a tennis club, a diner, or a Parisian cafe—ideal at good places, and safe at questionable ones. You can dress it up or down. Its versatility is inherent.
The unfussy Niçoise embodies taste without performing. Lettuce, fish, olives, boiled eggs, potatoes, and vegetables. That’s it. I take mine sans anchois if tuna is involved. It’s an appealing dish for all generations, and something I can turn to in most places.
The original, dating to 19th century Nice, was strictly raw—tomatoes, anchovies, olive oil, no cooked ingredients whatsoever. No potatoes, no green beans. Those came later and remain controversial among purists in Nice to this day. The original recipe is fiercely guarded. Julia Child was instrumental in introducing the Niçoise to Americans, with potatoes and green beans.
I love Niçoise so much that I ate one nearly every day for a year. Some had fish, some had none. Occasionally I’d scramble the eggs. I ate this meal at countless establishments and realized that despite its universal popularity, a good one can be hard to find.
There are countless ways to prepare a Niçoise, but a classic route is superior. Some use salmon, some use shrimp. Many now have potatoes and green beans. Most are savory, though when shredded carrots replace sautéed red peppers it can feel less satisfying—this is often the case in Italy. The egg is always boiled, preferably soft, never scrambled (unless I’m making it a lot and need to jazz things up).
In New York, my favorite is La Mercerie. High-quality tuna, gem and bibb lettuce, roasted red peppers, a perfect vinaigrette, and served their remarkably good “seaweed bread” which does not taste like seaweed but buckwheat. The Odeon in Tribeca serves their “Vegetarian Niçoise” with boiled egg only, no fish—it’s a great option with a side of fries, and you can add salmon, avocado or shrimp. Cafe Chelsea, in the Chelsea Hotel, does a “Façon Niçoise” with no lettuce: butter beans, olives, tuna, soft-boiled egg. I prefer the others.
