Best. Salad. Of. My. Life.

My last meal in Chicago. Tear. All good things must come to end, and they certainly ended well. 

My gracious host and I hit up Davanti for dinner tonight, and I had the pleasure of enjoying the most amazing salad. It wasn't truly a salad because the only thing green on it was a few leaves of watercress, but it was still fantastic nonetheless. (I'm definitely of the mind that salads are green. Jello "salad" and spaghetti "salad" and things of the sort aren't truly salads. We just don't have another word to describe them, so we go with "salad.") This lovely concoction was made of all things wonderful: roasted hazelnuts, whipped chèvre, farro (which is a new grain for me that I'm quickly starting to love) and roasted squash. Put all together with a mildly spicy apple-cider-vinegrette ... amazing. 

It had the perfect balance of textures. A little crunch to balance out the smoothness of the chèvre and roasted squash. The spiciness of the vinaigrette to compliment the saltiness of the chèvre. And it was hearty as well. A wonderfully autumnal "salad." It was beautifully balanced, and I could have easily eaten four platefuls. But that would have left me no room for all of the other goodies (tuscan bread with ricotta and honey comb, marinated olives, risotto -- yes, again -- carbonara ...), so I had to pace myself. 

This is DEFINITELY something that I will be attempting at home at some point. And I'll definitely be investigating this farro business a bit further. What a tasty little grain. 

The picture doesn't do it justice ...