Curly endive spears?

[Jenise]

One of the most interesting foods I had in San Francisco was a salad with a few whole very pale white/yellow endive leaves, otherwise identical to Belgian endive in color, flavor, width and length, wherein the outer edges were curly/frilly. They were very attractive. Anyone seeing this produce in your area?

I wonder if it might be chicory. Endive and chicory are often mistaken here and elsewhere. Chicory meets your criteria, colour flavour and frills but is a much more open structure, like an oak leaf lettuce etc rather than tightly embraced.

Doesn't sound like anything I've seen here, but I'll keep an eye out for it.Where did you have this?

[Robin Garr]

Do you think they might have just harvested the outer leaves to make a pretty presentation? Sounds kind of foo-foo, but if the price was right ...

[Jenise]

No, Barb and Robin, neither of those. They were the color, size and shape of a Belgian endive leaf--the curliness on the sides wasn't just rough edges, they were like, oh what, like the legs on a centipede maybe. Individual little spikes.

Mike, this was at Boulevard in San Francisco, and I believe the menu even called out the _____ endive in the name of the salad I ordered. I took a pic of the dish, let me me see if that shows it well enough.

No, Barb and Robin, neither of those. They were the color, size and shape of a Belgian endive leaf--the curliness on the sides wasn't just rough edges, they were like, oh what, like the legs on a centipede maybe. Individual little spikes.
.

Ooh - kinky!

Fairly broad leaf like regular endive? Probably escarole - take a look and tell us if you see it.

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/seeds/veg ... -escarole/

Perhaps it's puntarelle?

[Jenise]

No, Barb and Robin, neither of those. They were the color, size and shape of a Belgian endive leaf--the curliness on the sides wasn't just rough edges, they were like, oh what, like the legs on a centipede maybe. Individual little spikes.
.

Ooh - kinky!

Fairly broad leaf like regular endive? Probably escarole - take a look and tell us if you see it.

https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/seeds/veg ... -escarole/

No, not escarole, I'm familiar with that. This is a Belgian type endive.

[Jenise]

Perhaps it's puntarelle?

Good suggestion but no, not that.

[Jenise]

endive.jpg

Okay, so here's a picture of the salad I had at Boulevard with the curly Belgian endive. The truffle slices give you a scaled idea of how small and narrow the spears were. (The salad also consisted of burrata cheese, white corn and microgreens.)

Like comme ca this?: http://endive.com/how-to-pronounce-endive

[Jenise]

No, I know and understand curly endive. It has a different texture and flavor than Belgian Endive. And of course, bigger heads. Smaller/younger heads are known as frisee. This was neither. It was exactly the color, texture and sweeter flavor of Belgian Endive, with leaves about the same length and width as Belgian endive at the base but wider at the top.

Hmmmm...this is turning out to be rarer than I thought.

Was it this? http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce ... _14356.php

Was it this? http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce ... _14356.php

Aha! We may have winner!

[Robin Garr]

Coraline chicory, pronounced ‘cora-leen,’ is a brand-new variety of chicory. Coraline chicory is a variety of Cichorium intybus and is related to dandelions, endive and radicchio. Coraline chicory is only grown in one place, California’s Rio Vista. The new variety began production at the end of 2016 and is currently being served in high end restaurants in Sacramento and California’s Bay Area.

[Jenise]

Indeed, that's probably the guy. The picture isn't as convincing as the description--but that's probably it! And now we all know we can't go out and buy it--DANG!

Aw - I was looking forward to seeing it with your terrine....