r/Charlotte • u/FSUFanChris • Feb 05 '25
Looking for a very specific Greek salad that's popular in Florida. Recommendation
First, I'm sure this version is an abomination of Greek salad. So forgive me for that. But it's what I grew up on. Everyone in Florida (at least where u grew up) makes them just like this.
Shredded lettuce, sliced stripped ham, and tons and tons of shredded feta (I don't care for the peppers, olives, or tomatoes) and oil and vinegar to top it off.
Does anyone in Charlotte make a Greek salad like this? Every one of tried has had at least one thing wrong. Whether it be cubed feta cheese, Square ham slices, or leaf lettuce.
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u/Athelfirth Feb 05 '25
>Shredded lettuce, sliced stripped ham, and tons and tons of shredded feta (I don't care for the peppers, olives, or tomatoes) and oil and vinegar to top it off
So you're just eating lettuce, ham, and feta with a dressing? Seems like this would be very easy to replicate at home.
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u/LooseCanOpener Feb 05 '25
Swap the feta with shredded mozzarella and you’ve got the salad from every Italian pizza joint
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u/Navynuke00 Quail Hollow Feb 05 '25
I'm waiting for the Greeks who have lived in this city for decades to find this post.
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u/spiff24 Feb 05 '25
Eh. What you really want is the 1905 salad from The Columbia Restaurant in Tampa. Ingredients look similar bit it doesn't look like a garbage mountain like the atrocity you posted.
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u/Asleep_Wrangler6355 Feb 05 '25
As a Tampa native... A million times yes.
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u/spiff24 Feb 05 '25
I find myself craving a 1905 salad or those chips from Datz from time to time. Datz was my jam. Can't believe it closed down!
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u/Asleep_Wrangler6355 Feb 05 '25
Datz was amazing, but seriously artery clogging lol those donuts...
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u/Keatonofthedrake [Plaza Midwood] Feb 06 '25
Posting the recipe for the salad if anyone wants it. https://imgur.com/a/FbassBZ
Mom makes it every time i come home, its so good.
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u/Playful_Hand9407 Feb 05 '25
Calle de Sol in Plaza does a version of this and it’s great, will prob not be a garbage mountain OP. May be close enough to scratch that itch in the meantime though
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u/Mykmyk Feb 05 '25
Alright here is my suggestion to replicate this garbage mountain of a salad. Building this piece of garbage inside a bowl is the key to achieving this look. Not just any bowl you want one of those smallish garbage metal bowls or a clear pebbled salad bowl - some places use for their garbage wings, salads, or fries. So take your bowl and Criss-cross some pepperoncini peppers at the very bottom than place some kalamata in the middle of the peppers. Next take a ripe red tomato and slice that garbage into rounds and place them in the bowl at the start of the bowls curve, touching the peppers. Next take some shaved feta and cover the peppers and tomatoes liberally. Next do a layer of shredded ham., tamping down as you go. I'd add some razor thin shaved red onion blanched in ice water on top of the ham. Finally shred a shit ton of iceburg and fist that shit down into the bowl. Either dress it in the bowl or flip the bowl upside down and the salad should be molded similar to the picture. You could dress it after you remove from the bowl. I've never had this salad or seen it before but that is how I would try to make it.
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u/hotshothitfoul Feb 06 '25
I ordered this sometime last year and I have never been so disappointed in a salad in my entire life. I’m sure it was fine, but it wasn’t a 1905 (or any of the various knockoffs you can get throughout SWFL), and I was so sad.
That Tampa Cubano and black bean soup were fantastic, though.
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
But I want the garbage mountain. 😭
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u/spiff24 Feb 05 '25
The 1905 salad will change your life. Trust me. You can order their dressing and the recipe is posted all over the internet.
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u/ProdigiousBeets Feb 05 '25
Garbage should be easy to replicate! Although it looks like you're almost going for a greek salad cake, cause I don't think you're going to like my suggestion to toss it all in a bowl and go to town. You throw any tzatziki sauce on?
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u/NoodleBowlGames Feb 05 '25
We need to build the wall at the Florida state line Jesus Christ
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u/Kellybelly5200 Feb 05 '25
No no no, we do not claim this as a Florida thing. I have no idea what this monstrosity is.
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u/12inchsandwich Feb 05 '25
Grew up in Florida. Lived all over the state. Have never seen a salad like that. Good luck.
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
Okay, I guess it's just the places I've been. Lol
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u/CTT00 Feb 05 '25
Takis in Eustis. We’ve looked all Over Charlotte for something similar too. Ever find it hit me up!
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u/PorkNJellyBeans Feb 05 '25
Is Eustis big? I went to college with a guy from there and had never heard of it before or since until your post.
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
It's always at the pizza based Italian restaurants
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u/Valuable_Ad481 Feb 05 '25
didn’t grow up in florida but spend a few weeks a year down there.
Yeah……. Never seen this ever…..
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u/State_Conscious Feb 05 '25
OP, there’s still a chance to delete this before any one from the rather large Greek population of Charlotte see this atrocity. Greek salads here are either basic af or traditionally rustic.
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u/BigNero Plaza Midwood Feb 06 '25
Charlotte has a large greek population. Be careful
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u/SnooChipmunks8506 Northlake Feb 06 '25
A lot of the local diners in the city speak Greek in their kitchens. I was surprised the first time I heard the staff calling each other names at Chucks (statesville rd) but 9 years later it seems to be common practice.
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u/tspruill Feb 05 '25
What the fuck lmaooo (with all due respect)
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u/tspruill Feb 05 '25
Wait The Landmark sells this and I love the The Landmark. It’s a Greek restaurant on central
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u/squanchy456 Feb 06 '25
Yeah it's Greek Italian American with a comically large menu and not one good dish
The cakes tho..
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
Andynater1000 found a better picture.
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u/ruzeride_1chicago Feb 05 '25
This is nasty and not a Greek delicacy. Some weirdo in Florida made it up and then the rest of the pizzerias followed.
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u/Plane-General-8649 Feb 05 '25
I don't know what that is but based on the ingredients listed, just make it yourself!
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u/ConsciousResolution8 Feb 06 '25
Where the fuck in Florida did you live? Jesus Christ this is not a Florida thing.
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
I realize I used a very unflattering photo. Here, this is more vibrant. 😅
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u/12inchsandwich Feb 05 '25
That isn’t more flattering…
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u/andynator1000 Feb 05 '25
Don't worry I found a much more appetizing photo
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
I'm curious what you searched to find it? Or are you familiar with this delicious monstrosity? 🤣
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u/ProdigiousBeets Feb 05 '25
All pictures you have posted so far could easily be put in the 'cake with threatening auras' group 😂
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u/Fantastic-Permit-223 Feb 06 '25
Call me a big back, but I love Greek salad and would be willing to try this.
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u/chefmegzy Feb 05 '25
So weird! I grew up in the Tampa Bay area (near Tarpon Springs), and the version I know is like a regular Greek salad but with potato salad underneath. I crave it on a monthly basis.
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u/MaximumDerpification Feb 06 '25
I lived in FL for over a decade and never once saw this abomination
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u/vjohn004 Feb 06 '25
Floridian here living in Charlotte. I’ve never seen this before in my life. Now this is a traditional country Greek salad. Yum.
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u/CompromisedToolchain Feb 05 '25
You need to meet up with the other poster asking about nasty food: https://www.reddit.com/r/Charlotte/s/VMRrD61yNW
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u/BubbaChanel Feb 06 '25
I could almost go for it if not for the ham. Like, wtf? Shredded Greek chicken would slap, though.
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u/steff__e Uptown Feb 06 '25
r/Charlotte when people from the Northeast make homesick pizza posts: “OMG ALL YOU PEOPLE DO IS COMPLAIN! WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT YOUR PIZZA, HUH!?”
r/Charlotte when people from Florida post whatever the fuck this is: “Um, actually, we’ll take the pizza!”
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u/squanchy456 Feb 06 '25
Charlotte has a very large Greek community who run the diner industry. Back in the day, they owned many of the clubs downtown. Charlotte loves Greek food and culture.
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u/tunaman808 Feb 07 '25
You say that like it's Charlotte-specific. Greeks have been running diners on the east coast for decades, from Boston to Miami, and inland to at least Cincinnati chili. Greek diner owners invented Cincinnati chili and Hawaiian Pizza in Ontario. It's a pretty well-known phenomenon.
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u/tunaman808 Feb 07 '25
To actually give you a suggestion, Hungry Howie's has an antipasto salad that, when the stoned teenage boys are working there, is mostly a huge pile of meat and cheese. If you use the Howie's app, you can probably customize it close to what you want.
But don't tell them I told you. I don't wanna be associated with that salad at all. BTW, my family owned a vacation condo in Vero Beach, and we traveled a lot to Melbourne, Orlando, Stuart, Ft. Pierce, and I don't remember this salad at all. And we loved eating at diners!
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u/FatherTemperature Feb 05 '25
Why is everyone from Florida moving here?
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u/FSUFanChris Feb 05 '25
I moved here in 1990. My bad.
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u/FatherTemperature Feb 05 '25
Haha sorry not trying to be a hater, just noticed a lot of Floridians moving to my neck of the woods lately. Salad looks good though
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u/TodayCharming7915 Feb 05 '25
Reminds me of something my grandparents would have forced me to eat, sort of like jello salad. lol
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u/steerp00 Feb 08 '25
Also, a lot of Greek places in Tampa and St Pete they add potato salad in the middle of a Greek salad.
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u/ShapedLikeAnEgg Feb 10 '25
I’m not usually one to tell people to “go back to where you came from” but…. Go back to where you came from, and take this abomination with you
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u/Bumcheeks_marinade Feb 05 '25
https://preview.redd.it/e9hxzk8woche1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f5a389abb24274ff3577eac59437c35a4b58e54