Learning About Restaurants

Posted on: 21 June 2017

Your boss needs you to work late. The twins have a soccer game. When everyone is pressed for time, making dinner is the last thing on your mind. Fortunately, a hot, delicious pizza delivered to your door, such as by Chuck's Pizza, is only a phone call away. Adding a salad can liven up pizza night while everyone tucks in to a hearty, healthy family dinner.

Focus on Flavor

While a ho-hum garden salad will suffice, a fresh combination of flavors can balance and enhance your favorite pie. Consider your toppings, sauce and cheeses of choice and pair them with vegetables, fruits and dressings that can harmonize and play off of flavors and textures in the pizza. You can put a fresh salad together quickly after work or assemble one ahead of time for a nearly instant dinner. 

Meat Lovers' Pizza

Meat toppings add salty, savory, rich flavors to pizza. Salty, meaty flavors are enhanced by both sweet and sour flavors. Try it with a watermelon-feta salad dressed with a tart vinaigrette. Substitute berries and tangy goat cheese with equally tasty results. 

White Pizza

Garlic and olive oil combine to make a flavorful base to a classic pizza. The sweetness and acidity of citrus fruits provide the perfect foil for the richness of a white pizza. Try a salad of orange or grapefruit sections tossed with your favorite greens, sweet onions, and a white wine or champagne vinaigrette.

Veggie Pizza

Sautéed or roasted vegetables lend a subtle sweetness to an otherwise savory pizza. Salads topped with smoky bacon and dressed with a tangy, slightly bitter mustard dressing combine sweet, meaty, tart and bitter in delicious four-part harmony. 

Pesto Pizza

The combination of basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, and olive oil is a match made in heaven when paired with tart and sweet, ripe tomatoes. Caprese salad is a classic, but a spinach salad with tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and balsamic vinaigrette is hard to beat. 

Spicy Toppings

Spicy pizza toppings such as hot Italian sausage and hot peppers call out for something sweet and sour to tame the heat. Choose a couple of fresh fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, peaches and pomegranate seeds. Pair them with mildly sweet and crunchy fennel and some tender greens. Toss with a lemon juice- or apple cider vinegar-based dressing sweetened with honey. 

Cheese Pizza

Sometimes a simple cheese pizza can be incredibly satisfying. To balance the rich, creamy flavors of the cheese try pairing the pizza with an arugula with a lemon and garlic dressing. The slight bitterness in the greens and the acidity of the lemon juice with elevate cheese pizza to new heights.