crab and avocado salad

A few weekends ago, Chad and I were feeling adventurous on a Friday night, and decided to try someplace kind of trendy for dinner. We stopped into one of our usual special-occasion spots on the way home, only to find that they were completely full for the rest of the night.

So we tried a total longshot: Minetta Tavern, the Keith McNally restaurant that was one of the last spots that Frank Bruni rated before stepping down as the restaurant critic for the New York Times. For as long as I can remember, it's been the type of spot you have to call a full month in advance to get a reservation at, and even then, you'll probably be eating dinner at 5 or 11 pm.

But for some reason, I was feeling lucky. Rumor has it that Minetta Tavern keeps a few tables open for walk-ins, and we figured it couldn't hurt to ask. And to our (incredible) surprise, they led us to a fabulous table the second we walked in.

The meal was fabulous, but we both agreed that the best part was the crab, avocado and grapefruit salad that we shared as a starter. It was so good that I found myself craving it afterwards, and I decided to try to recreate the same dish at home. I accidentally left out one important ingredient (hearts of palm) because I forgot to pick them up in the grocery store, and the restaurant version used delicious baby watercress and chives as the garnish, not parsley, but I think overall, this came pretty close. Which is good, because I'll probably never pull of that kind of restaurant coup again.

Crab and Avocado Salad

INGREDIENTS

1 grapefruit

1/4 pound jumbo lump crabmeat

1 avocado

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sea Salt

Ground Pepper

Parsley, watercress, or chives, as a garnish

DIRECTIONS

Cut the grapefruit in half, and section it horizontally. Peel or cut away the rind. Reserve 1tbsp grapefruit juice. Cut the avocado into thin slices.

Whisk together the grapefruit juice, olive oil, a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper. Arrange the avocado slices on two plates, top with the grapefruit sections, and then the crabmeat. Drizzle with the dressing, and serve.

Serves two.