{"id":57117,"date":"2025-12-01T14:31:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T14:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/57117\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T14:31:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T14:31:05","slug":"cafe-luxembourgs-bibb-lettuce-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/57117\/","title":{"rendered":"Cafe Luxembourg\u2019s Bibb Lettuce Salad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Cafe Luxembourg\u2019s Bibb salad is an elegant and structured ensemble of greens with a subtle gloss imparted by the slightly creamy dressing, and topped with feta cheese and quinoa. Photos by Abigael T. Sidi.<\/p>\n

By Abigael T. Sidi<\/p>\n

Sooo, who\u2019s hungry?<\/p>\n

Just kidding \u2013 writing Dish this week felt like an impossible task. Since Thanksgiving afternoon\u2019s megameal, the last thing I\u2019ve wanted to do is talk, let alone write, about anything remotely related to food. (Other than tip my readers off to Whole Foods\u2019 unbelievably good truffle mashed potatoes; order them for whenever you\u2019re hungry again and thank me later.)<\/p>\n

Still, the job is the job, and so that we can all survive this piece, I\u2019ll be giving you the ultimate, light\/fresh\/quasi-zero-calories, post-Thanksgiving reprieve dish. Also, I ended up getting a lot of angry posts on my piece covering the final boss of all foods last week, Jacob\u2019s Pickles\u2019 poutine. So, to all the poutine-haters out there, carbohydrated or not, here you have it: the exact opposite of JP\u2019s poutine, Cafe Luxembourg\u2019s Bibb lettuce salad.<\/p>\n

My story with this dish started about a year ago, on a tour of the Whitney Museum with my grandmother. Pausing the visit for a snack, we headed to Frenchette Bakery\u2019s outpost located inside the museum and enjoyed their green goddess salad, made of little gem and shaved vegetables. I couldn\u2019t believe how tasty it was and so I asked where I might find something as fresh, as crunchy and as perfectly seasoned on the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n

One of the servers mentioned Cafe Luxembourg, where he had previously worked.<\/p>\n

This crowd probably doesn\u2019t need much of an intro to Cafe Luxembourg, the staple of staple French American brasseries in the neighborhood, which has been operating for 40-plus years under owner Lynn Wagenknecht. The New Yorker has described the place to a T, in a 2022 review entitled Cafe Luxembourg and the Art of the Restaurant that Never Changes<\/a>. Their menu is as \u201csafe\u201d and reassuring as can be, and you\u2019d never pay more attention to the Bibb salad than any of the other innocuous items on the menu.<\/p>\n

The salad, however, is beautifully presented: an elegant and structured ensemble of greens with a subtle gloss imparted by the slightly creamy dressing which delicately coats every leaf and vegetable (more on the dressing later). The bite is fresh and crunchy thanks to the Bibb lettuce \u2014 which is named after John Bibb, the Kentucky attorney who developed it in the 1860s \u2014 apple wedges and asparagus tips cooked al dente, plus the occasional snap from cherry tomatoes and green peas that, like the asparagus, are barely cooked (meaning just right for the purpose of a salad.) The dish is finished with mild feta, for a little tart, and a sprinkle of soft quinoa, for a slight chew and minimal filler.<\/p>\n

Enough for a lunch? No. (It would help if they served the salad with some baguette, which you can get for a small fee.) Delicate, tasty, light, delicious and perfect post-Thanksgiving cleanser? Yes! And I\u2019d say the true star here is the dressing, an airy emulsion of buttermilk, a pinch of lemon juice (for acidity), and most importantly, fresh tarragon, the single presence of which brightens every bite. Tarragon has this knack of elevating any ingredient it\u2019s associated with \u2013 whether it be salads, chicken, salmon, or yogurt dips \u2013 and vinaigre \u00e0 l\u2019estragon has been a mainstay in our pantry for as long as I can remember.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find most brasserie classics at Cafe Luxembourg \u2013 their croque monsieur (which you can convert to a croque madame, with a supplement for the sunny-side-up egg) is absolutely authentic with its delicious Mornay sauce and is my usual go-to, but was a big no-no over the calorically-heavy Thanksgiving weekend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>There\u2019s always an A-list crowd at Cafe Luxembourg, but the regulars give it a family vibe.<\/p>\n

The crowd is of the A-list type, with a stunning number of regulars that does give the place a family vibe. You are greeted by the gorgeous zinc bar and red-leather banquettes, but the d\u00e9cor is otherwise surprisingly sober compared to, say, Balthazar or, closer to home, The Consulate<\/a>. No oversized mirrors or art-deco galore, but attentive service from gar\u00e7ons impeccably dressed \u00e0 la Parisienne. The place has also attracted a long list of loyal celebs over the decades and, overall, feels like the chic equivalent to Old John\u2019s Luncheonette<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cafe Luxembourg is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. til 10:30 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. (Saturdays) or 10:00 p.m. (Sundays) on weekends. Vegetarian options, such as the Bibb salad, abound. It goes without saying but prices are on the higher end (while excellent, the $20 for the Bibb is a bit much, and the $27 for the croque monsieur hurts, even though it comes with your choice of fries or salad as a side.) Pick-up and delivery are available at these times through their online platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dish: Bibb Lettuce Salad ($20.00)
The Restaurant: Cafe Luxembourg, 200 West 70th Street (between Amsterdam and West End Avenues)<\/p>\n

Read all Here\u2019s the UWS Dish columns here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cafe Luxembourg\u2019s Bibb salad is an elegant and structured ensemble of greens with a subtle gloss imparted by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30887,20730,24344,30888,9,11,10],"class_list":["post-57117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cafe-luxembourg","tag-heres-the-dish","tag-heres-the-uws-dish","tag-long-standing-restaurants","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}