Iceberg Lettuce Wedges

The signature salad of the 1950s was the ubiquitous iceberg lettuce wedge with Thousand Island or French dressing. Recently, the iceberg wedge salad has resurfaced as a "reinvented" item on trendy menus. Today, steakhouses serve the wedge with blue cheese dressing. In Philadelphia, "The Iceberg Wedge" is a wedge of iceberg topped with blue cheese dressing, crisp-cooked bacon pieces and chopped fresh tomatoes.

Historical Note: "There once was a time--before the arrival of mesclun, frisee, endive, spring mix, packaged salads, radicchio and arugula--when iceberg lettuce dominated the produce aisle. Quartered, shredded, its leaves pulled off and transformed into cups for canned pears, it knew no rival until the 1970s when Caesar Chavez called for a boycott to protest the working conditions of California lettuce pickers. Tastes changed, too. The wedge of iceberg drowning in a thick dressing was replaced with vinaigrette-tossed leaf lettuces (especially romaine) and smaller, more exotic "designer" greens, all more nutritional and more flavorful than the "neutral" iceberg. Iceberg--a head lettuce, as opposed to a leaf lettuce--is also known as "crisphead" lettuce since one of its chief virtues (some say its only virtue) is that it stays fresher longer than leaf lettuces."
---"MARKET WATCH 6/23: Iceberg Lettuce," Jeanne McManus, The Washington Post, June 23, 1999, Pg. F04

1 small head iceberg lettuce
Favorite dressing: Ranch, French, Russian, Blue Cheese are good choices
Fresh chives for garnish

Peel off any wilted or discolored leaves from the outside of the lettuce. Trim the core even with the bottom of the lettuce and cut the lettuce into quarters through the core. If the quarters look too big for a single serving, either cut them in half or trim them to whatever size you feel is a good serving.

To serve, set the wedge of iceberg in the center of a salad plate, spoon the dressing over and sprinkle with a good pinch of chives.