What is the best potato salad? The easy answer is that it’s the one on already your plate! A more complex answer, based on appearance, texture, flavor, and creativity, takes some thought. But no matter the answer you come up with, there’s no guarantee that the person next to you will agree. At a recent blind tasting of nine potato salads available at Pittsburgh grocery stores, caterers and restaurants, seven tasters expressed wildly different views on which one was the best, and why.
What Makes the Best Potato Salad?
Our tasting crew quicky separated into different camps. Several of us belonged to more than one camp, making each and every option we tasted an occasion for full-throated discussion about what makes a great potato salad. The only thing everyone agreed on: it must contain potatoes! And onions and celery. Hard boiled eggs are optional but recommended.
The Vinegar Caucus, as we came to call one especially vocal group, were looking for the lively, acidic tang of vinegar as a balance to the comforting blandness of the potato itself. Mostly, these folks felt that more vinegar was “more better.” But for every vinegar lover, there was a hater to even out the scores.
Most of those haters, deemed Creamy Dreamers, wanted a more mayonnaise-forward experience from their potato salad…but sour cream was also acceptable. They felt that the velvety mouthfeel of a classic potato salad needed a lot of one or both. Mustard Mavens, on the other hand, took umbrage at mayo’s dominance and searched for the enlivening spice of mustard to play across the palate.
Last, but not least, the Herbal Party had big praise for any hint of fresh dill and/or parsley. Even celery seeds were called out with admiration at one point.
Because the goal of our tasting was to identify “the most likely to succeed” picnic side dish that requires no labor, we turned to familiar grocers like Giant Eagle and Trader Joes. Whole Foods, oddly, was out of potato salad every time we stopped by. We invited three local caterers, Fluted Mushroom, Bistro to Go, and All in Good taste Productions, to submit their entries. And we visited two local restaurants, StuntPig and Coop de Ville, to include their versions of this American summer holiday classic in the mix. The discussion of each was lively! And fun.
Pittsburgh’s Potato Salads
All In Good Taste Production
All In Good Taste Production’s Herbed New Potato Salad set us off on our tasting journey with its balanced, classic flavors, textures, and presentation. Everyone acknowledged the appeal of tradition here, and it was in every taster’s top three rankings.
Trader Joe’s Potato Salad
Trader Joe’s Potato Salad is also classic in its own way. It has the familiar virtues of the kind of potato salad you’d find in a big, well chilled bowl at a church picnic. Even though the recipe includes a dash of hearty horseradish, this option remains resolutely in the middle of the road in terms of flavor texture, and appearance.
Stunt Pig
Stunt Pig, the esteemed food truck and Squirrel Hill sandwich spot, says their potato salad is “grandma-style.” If your grandmother had great knife skills, it deserves the name. Potatoes, celery, onion, and herbs were perfectly chopped so that every forkful was a balanced bite. We’re pretty sure none of our grandmothers used pricy whole grain mustard, but this gourmet detail got a lot of praise. The “vinegar caucus” and the “herbal party” were united in their praise of this one, putting it in most people’s top three. However, if you don’t like a tiny bit of al dente chewiness in your potato, this one is not for you.
Grandma’s Kitchen Mustard Potato Salad
Grandma’s Kitchen Mustard Potato Salad from Giant Eagle promises mustard. And indeed, it was very mustard forward. Was it anyone’s favorite? No. Not even the Mustard Mavens gave it a #1 ranking.
Coop de Ville Deviled Potato Salad
Coop de Ville Deviled Potato Salad sports a wonderful paprika-forward color, which promises the smoke and spice of classic BBQ and possibly a whiff of Hungarian mystery. The tasters, alas, felt that neither was part of the flavor experience. It sure looks good, though!
Giant Eagle Deviled Egg Potato Salad
Giant Eagle Deviled Egg Potato Salad: Middle of the road. Traditional. However, this could be your easy-peasy platform for customization. Add your own freshly ground pepper and a handful of fresh dill and it becomes a front runner. Or perhaps a tablespoon of sweet relish and handful of chopped onion. This one is a solid base from which to work upward.
Bistro to Go
Bistro to Go’s potato salad is chunky and brawny, yet gentle in flavor. It’s the salad equivalent of Hoss on Bonanza: always ready to help and full of good feelings. Have two helpings. Hoss would.
The Fluted Mushroom
The Fluted Mushroom’s potato salad arrived still-warm from the kitchen. This distinction made us dream of eating it with just-off-the-grill Texas-style brisket and a cold beer. It would be the perfect complement to both.
Grandma’s Kitchen Smashed Loaded Potato Salad
Grandma’s Kitchen Smashed Loaded Potato Salad from Giant Eagle made a few of us feel like we needed boots: it was wet. Others, though, all of them Creamy Dreamers, liked the double barrel creaminess of mayonnaise and sour cream.
To wrap up this exercise in comparative “saladology,” we suggest that you stage your own blind tasting at your next picnic or holiday celebration. Gather up a few of your preferred options and do what we did: dig in and enjoy the ways in which your taste buds agree and disagree with your neighbor’s. Tell us about your conclusions! We want to know.
The Tasters
- Karen Cascone
- Sarah Cascone
- Ethan Chmura
- Star Laliberte
- Justin Matase
- Jackie Page
- Keith Recker
Story by Keith Recker
Photography by Star Laliberte
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