No. 16: Fried green tomato salad from Cafe Roux

To whet your appetite for The Pitch’s annual Best of Kansas City issue, we’re counting down our favorite Top 50 dishes each weekday until October 7.

Fried green tomatoes have become a very fashionable starter lately. The upscale Webster House serves its version of the Southern side dish as an appetizer with creamed spinach and tomato chutney. The Louisiana-style nightclub-restaurant Fat Fish Blue offers the crunchy tomato slices with collard greens and a Cajun-spiced mayonnaise.

The healthiest way to enjoy this dish is as an ingredient in a light, summery salad — like the one created by Cafe Roux owner Jen Coniglio and her culinary consultant Jason Czaja. Surrounded by fresh greens, bits of fluffy goat cheese, almonds and a tart green-onion vinaigrette, it makes the lowly unripe tomato seem almost elegant.