Date: March 25, 2010

The Louie salad is one of those great west coast inventions from the turn of the 20th century, originating in the fine dining cities of either Seattle or San Francisco, depending on who you talk to. What isn't disputed is that this "King of Salads" featured the prize of the Pacific Northwest fisheries, the Dungeness crab.

From our earliest (and admittedly, smaller) menus over 33 years ago, The Fish Market has served the Crab Louie salad. We have also offered the salad with the delicious and sweet Canadian bay shrimp (these coming from the cold waters of Gaspe Bay off the coast of Quebec). Between the two salads, our most popular with guests is - not surprisingly - a combination of Dungeness crab and bay shrimp.

The Louie's main ingredient sits on a bed of field greens and crisp iceberg lettuce, surrounded by sliced tomato, cucumber, hard boiled egg, radish and red onion. The Louie dressing's addition of chili sauce distinguishes it from its east coast (Thousand Island) counterpart. Paired with a dry Reisling or Chenin Blanc, and accompanied by fresh sourdough bread, the Louie salad is ideal on a nice spring day.