Serious Eats: New York
The Tuna Salad of My Dreams
I'm not a tuna salad freak, but I know what I like. I like the tuna salad sandwiches on rye or white toast at Eisenberg's, though I haven't been there since the latest owners took over. Nothing fancy there, just canned Bumble Bee Tuna and Hellman's mayo, mashed together with a big spoon. I like a classic salad nicoise, made with canned tuna (the way Julia Child liked it), but I've never had a tuna salad I craved until I had Giancarlo Quaddalti's tuna, red onion, and bread
salad at Teodora, the best Italian restaurant in New York that no one knows about.
I was reminded of this last night, when I had another quietly perfect meal at Teodora (141 E.57th St. (just west of Lex on the north side of the street). I don't know what it is about the tuna salad that makes it so great. Quaddalti uses Italian tuna, shaved red onion, toasted bread cubes, red wine vinegar, capers, and I don't know what else. I have asked Quaddalti, and he won't give up the recipe. Maybe I'll try again.
It's not a particularly pretty plate of food, with its various shades of dark brown, red, and tan. But it tastes like heaven. It is the tuna salad of my dreams, and maybe of yours as well.
But perhaps there are other great tuna salads out there in the world. I don't know.