Merlino's Belvedere Salad

I live in Fremont County, Colorado.  If you were to ask just about anyone who has lived in the area for awhile, they would likely know exactly what you are talking about if you say, "Merlino's Belvedere Salad". 

Merlino's Belvedere was an Italian restaurant that was open in Canon City, Colorado, for 67 years (1946 to 2013).  This restaurant (the building is still vacant) is literally just around the corner from my house.  We moved here in 1992 and went to the restaurant a number of times before it closed. They were famous for handmade pasta, seafood, aged steaks, and (I imagine) this salad.  I also really liked the bread they served with the salad, but I haven't met a lot of bread that I don't like.  I imagine this is the kind of restaurant folks liked to visit for a special event such as a wedding anniversary or birthday.  When my son was on the high school tennis team, we had an end-of-season Team Dinner in the banquet room at the restaurant.  We went there when our neighbor's son-in-law got baptized.  Heck, we went their a LOT with the same neighbors.  These neighbors, Don and Donna Jean, loved to go to the Belvedere.  They baby sat our son from birth to age two and this is where Zach's love of stinky cheese was born.

I had kind of forgotten all about the salad until we went to a new restaurant in Canon City a few weeks back.  There is a new place called "Bikes and Brews" and the Merlino's Belvedere Salad is on their menu.  I was chatting with another customer at the restaurant and she was asking how I liked the salad. She said her son had worked at Merlino's Belvedere years ago and they had made the dressing at home.  She said she recalled that the dressing was really simple and easy to make but she just couldn't recall all the ingredients. It got me to thinking I could do a Google Search for the salad dressing recipe and maybe I could find it.


I found it and I have probably made the dressing six times in the past few weeks.  My husband and I are really enjoying it.  The dressing couldn't be more simple and you likely have the dressing ingredients in your pantry.  For the salad and dressing, you will need:

• iceberg lettuce
• tomatoes
• blue cheese crumbles
• extra virgin olive oil
• light olive oil or peanut oil
• red wine vinegar
• salt
• garlic powder
• dried basil

I found the recipe on a blog for an olive oil store www.ilfustino.com
Here is the recipe link (Click HERE)




Merlino's Belvedere Salad Dressing Recipe

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup light olive oil (or peanut oil)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl; stir with a whisk and allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes.  Alternatively, you can put all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid; shake to combine.

The Merlino's Belvedere was chopped ice berg lettuce, diced tomatoes, and blue cheese crumbles.  If you are not a fan of blue cheese, this salad might not be for you.  You could try the salad with grated mozzarella cheese but it just won't be the same.  For my salads, I am washing an entire head of ice berg lettuce and allowing it to drain well.  Then I chop the lettuce into bite sized pieces and store it in the refrigerator in a large plastic tub (with a lid); I line the plastic tub with some paper towels to wick away any moisture.  If your lettuce is watery, it will dilute the flavors of the dressing.  If you have a salad spinner that removes excess moisture from your greens, this would be a great time to use it.

For each salad, I place the ice berg lettuce in a bowl and top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the dressing.  Next, toss the dressing and lettuce around in the bowl so that the lettuce is coated with the dressing.  Top the salad with diced tomatoes and blue cheese crumbles.  Dig in and enjoy!