10 Unforgettable Kale Salads Across America

Take oh-so-gently steamed kale; pair it with roasted Winter squash, candy-sweet steamed beets, and smoked duck that tastes like the bacon of your dreams; and dress it with a truly magical tahini-soy dressing, and you have Samovar Tea Lounge's kale salad. Need we say more?

When a salad spurs not one, but two prominent food bloggers to attempt a home hack of the recipe, you know it must be stellar. Then again, given the anchovy-, pecorino-, and crispy-bread-crumb-dressed salad's pedigree — we're talking Barbuto, Top Chef Masters' Jonathan Waxman's NYC eatery — it's little mystery why it made our list.

Blueberries and seaweed together in a salad? We thought the same thing when we first stumbled upon Urban Picnic's version of a kale salad, but now we maintain that you can't knock it till you've tried it. With a sesame-ginger dressing and plenty of blueberries, tomatoes, carrots, almonds, nori, quinoa, and seasonal fruit (we've seen mandarins and even the occasional watermelon), it's the perfect mix of sweet, tangy, and salty. Intrigued? Here's your homemade fix.

The All Hail Kale salad from VeggieGrill blends Asian and Baja Californian flavors in the most exceptional way. Quinoa, a sweet corn salsa, and red cabbage slaw combine with agave-roasted walnuts, tempeh, and ginger-papaya vinaigrette. Kale never made a mouth water so.

The crispy kale salad with lime, chile, and Thai basil at Battersby in Brooklyn is so popular that one national editor proclaimed it the dish of the year. It's unique in that kale leaves are roasted in the oven until crisp and chip-like, then drizzled with a Thai vinaigrette before being tossed with herbs and shaved vegetables. Try your hand at an at-home version.

You might not expect a barbecue joint to make one of our nation's finest kale salads, or any standout salads for that matter, but when said barbecue joint is helmed by Tim Love, it's no longer a mystery. As one might expect, Woodshed Smokehouse's version is hardly an ascetic affair; not only is that tangle of greens smothered in a warm guanciale dressing, but it's also garnished with Manchego cheese and crisp Granny Smith apples.

What makes celebrities love Westwood's Napa Valley Grille so? It must be the California restaurant's signature kale chopped salad with its kale-romaine mix, toasted almonds, golden raisins, quinoa, shaved parmesan, and lemony basil dressing.

Northern Spy Food Co.'s wholesome, uncooked version has cheddar, almonds, roasted squash, pecorino, lemon juice, and olive oil, and will convert even the biggest kale-salad skeptics. Stomach grumbling yet? Make it at home.

The kale salad from The Boarding House in Chicago uses a caesar salad as inspiration, finely shredding lettuce and kale and topping it with shaved pecorino, white anchovies, and a red-wine-poached egg.

Friends: this is the kale salad to end all other kale salads. It's so remarkable that we spent countless times perfecting a make-at-home version for when we can't make it to The Plant. Its wide range of textures (tender dino leaves, red quinoa, creamy avocado, fresh carrots and cucumber, almonds for chomping) are deeply satisfying, and you'll come back again and again for the punchy lemon-cumin vinaigrette.