Spring Lettuces with Strawberries

My last summer in New York City was excruciatingly hot. I was living in a tiny railroad flat in the Village with my sister, who had just graduated from high school and had come to stay with me before she went off to college.

We worked all day and played all night. I had only one fan to cool down the apartment, so we went out every evening to find cooler quarters. Often it was out to dinner, sometimes to the movies, and on the weekends, we went to clubs.

One evening, I still don't know what possessed us, we decided to make dinner. We walked to the grocery store just a few blocks away. Since I kept nothing in the fridge but boxes of leftover takeout, we quickly filled a shopping cart with groceries and proceeded to head home, slowly, in the heat, carrying two bulging grocery bags apiece.

Less than a block from my apartment we passed one of our favorite restaurants, Quattro Stagione. It looked cool and inviting inside. We loved Quattro Stagione for many reasons. It was cheap. It was close by. And dinner always included a salad, their special salad of greens and, unexpectedly, strawberries.

We didn't need more than a moment to agree that a home cooked meal could wait for another day. In we walked with our huge grocery bags. We fit them carefully around our tiny table and proceeded to devour dinner, a big bowl of pasta and that unusual salad.

Quattro Stagione no longer exists, but as best as I can recall, their side salad was simply lettuce in a vinaigrette with strawberries. Now that strawberry season has finally arrived, I'm feeling compelled to recreate Quattro Stagione's salad as best I can. I'm thinking simple mixed greens, good balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a dash of salt, and a grating of pepper. If I'm feeling fancy, I'll add few thin slices of red onion, otherwise I'll let those juicy ripe berries shine on their own.

There are lots of dishes that take advantage of strawberries in season, but there are few quite as simple and unusual as this one.

--Tracy Schneider