Dressing Done Right

Here's a question that probably hasn't kept you up at night but might start to after you read this: When was the last time you thought about salad dressing?

Not the salad itself — everyone has opinions about salads. But the dressing. That thing that gets poured on top, the thing that transforms a bowl of leaves from an obligation into something you actually want to eat. When was the last time you really, truly thought about where it comes from and what's in it?

At most restaurants — even many of the local restaurants in Salt Lake City that pride themselves on quality — salad dressing is an afterthought. It comes from a bag or a bottle, ordered from a food service distributor, stored in a walk-in cooler, and squeezed onto your salad with the same enthusiasm you'd give to dispensing hand sanitizer. Nobody makes it. Nobody even looks at it. It just... appears.

We think that's a shame. And at Hires Big H, we've been doing things differently since 1959.

Every Dressing, Made from Scratch

We need to be clear about something: when we say every dressing is made from scratch, we mean every dressing. Not most. Not the popular ones. Every single dressing that touches a salad at Hires Big H is made by hand, in our kitchens, from real ingredients. Ranch. Roquefort. Thousand Island. French. Italian. Vinaigrette. All of them.

This isn't a marketing claim. It's not something we say on the menu and then quietly cut corners behind the scenes. It's what our cooks do, every day, as part of the same from-scratch philosophy that governs everything on our menu. We grind our beef fresh. We cut our fries from whole potatoes. We dip our onion rings by hand. And yes, we make our own salad dressing.

We do it the hard way because the hard way tastes better.

The Dressings: One by One

Let's walk through them. Because each one has a story, and each one reflects the kind of care that separates a great American restaurant in Salt Lake City from a place that just serves food.

Ranch: The Real Thing

Ranch dressing is America's most popular dressing, which means it's also America's most abused dressing. Most of what passes for ranch in this country is a chemical approximation — a mix of powders, stabilizers, and artificial flavors that vaguely remind you of what ranch is supposed to taste like. It coats your mouth with a film that lingers long after the meal is over, and not in a good way.

Our ranch is different because our ranch is real. We make it with real buttermilk — the tangy, slightly thick, cultured kind that gives ranch its soul — and Best Foods mayonnaise, which is the only mayo worth using in a dressing. From there, we add our own blend of herbs and seasonings, mixed fresh and never from a packet.

The difference is immediate. Real buttermilk ranch has a brightness to it, a tanginess that cuts through the richness of the mayo and wakes up your palate. It clings to the lettuce without drowning it. It enhances the salad rather than overwhelming it. And it tastes like someone actually made it, because someone did.

People use our ranch for everything. Dipping their fries, their onion rings, their garlic bread. We see it happen every day and we love it. Good ranch is versatile like that. When it's made right, you want it on everything.

Roquefort: The Bold Choice

Roquefort is not blue cheese. Well, technically it is — it's a specific type of blue cheese, aged in the caves of southern France, with a flavor profile that's sharper, creamier, and more complex than the generic blue cheese you find at most restaurants. Real Roquefort has a bite that lingers, a creaminess that coats, and a depth of flavor that ordinary blue cheese can't touch.

We use real Roquefort cheese in our dressing. Not blue cheese crumbles from a bag. Not "blue cheese flavored" anything. Real, imported Roquefort, crumbled into a from-scratch base that lets the cheese be the star.

And here's something the regulars know: that same Roquefort cheese shows up on our Roquefort Bacon H burger. It's one of the most distinctive burgers on our menu — our signature H burger topped with crispy bacon and real Roquefort cheese. The same cheese, the same quality, whether it's on your salad or your burger. That's consistency. That's what it means to care about every item, not just the headliners.

Thousand Island: Sweet Meets Tangy

Thousand Island dressing has been around for over a century, and in that time, it's been simplified and mass-produced into something barely recognizable. The original was a carefully balanced mix of mayonnaise, ketchup or tomato, pickles, and seasonings — sweet, tangy, and layered with flavor.

That's the version we make. Ours has that classic sweetness balanced by acidity, with visible bits of relish and a texture that tells you it was mixed by a person, not extruded from a machine. It's nostalgic in the best way — it tastes like the Thousand Island your grandmother might have made, if your grandmother was really good at making Thousand Island.

French: A Classic Done Right

French dressing is one of those things that most people haven't had done well. The commercial versions are too sweet, too orange, and too thick. They taste more like candy than dressing. Real French dressing has a tomato base with a vinegar backbone, a touch of sweetness that doesn't overpower, and a smooth consistency that drapes over greens like silk.

Ours is made from scratch with real tomato, real vinegar, and real spices. It's the kind of French dressing that makes you remember why French dressing became popular in the first place — before the food industry got hold of it and turned it into something unrecognizable.

Italian: Bright and Herbaceous

A good Italian dressing is all about balance. The oil, the vinegar, the herbs, the garlic — every element needs to play nicely with the others. Too much vinegar and it's harsh. Too much oil and it's flat. Too many herbs and you can't taste the salad underneath.

We make ours with a blend of herbs and spices, real vinegar, and quality oil, mixed fresh so the flavors are vibrant and distinct. It's the dressing for people who want their salad to taste clean, bright, and full of life. No artificial colors, no mystery ingredients. Just a honest Italian dressing made the way it should be.

Vinaigrette: Light, Fresh, and Fat-Free

For those watching their intake, our vinaigrette offers something remarkable: a fat-free dressing that actually tastes good. Most fat-free dressings compensate for the missing fat with sugar, artificial thickeners, or so much sodium that your lips pucker. Ours doesn't. We've developed a recipe that's light, tangy, and genuinely flavorful without any of the fat.

It's proof that eating lighter doesn't have to mean eating worse. When you start with real ingredients and actual skill, you can make something delicious regardless of the fat content. Our vinaigrette is a testament to that.

The Salad Itself: Built to Impress

Of course, great dressing needs a great salad to go with it. And ours is no afterthought.

We build our salads on a base of both red leaf and iceberg lettuces. The red leaf brings color, texture, and a slight peppery note, while the iceberg delivers that satisfying crunch that no other lettuce can replicate. Together, they create a foundation that's both interesting and familiar.

On top of that, you'll find shredded purple cabbage for color and crunch, ripe tomatoes, and house-made croutons that are actually worth eating — golden, crunchy, and seasoned with care.

And then there are the beets.

Our Signature Beets

If you've never had a Hires Big H salad, the beets might surprise you. They're dark, juicy, earthy, and sweet, and they've been a signature ingredient on our salads for as long as anyone can remember. Most people don't associate beets with a burger place, and that's exactly why they work. They're unexpected. They add a depth of flavor and a pop of color that elevates the entire salad from "side dish" to "something you actually ordered on purpose."

Regulars know about the beets. They look for them. Some people order the salad primarily for the beets, and we respect that completely. When you find an ingredient that surprises and delights, you hold onto it.

Soup and Salad: The Best Deal in Town

Here's something the smart lunch crowd has figured out: our Soup and Salad combo, at just $11.40, is one of the best values at any local restaurant in Salt Lake City. You get a bowl of our made-daily soup alongside a full salad with your choice of any of our from-scratch dressings.

Think about that for a moment. For $11.40, you're getting two items that are both made entirely from scratch, with real ingredients, by real people, in a real kitchen. In a city where a mediocre fast-casual salad costs you fifteen dollars and comes with a dressing from a squeeze bottle, our Soup and Salad is quietly one of the best lunch deals around.

It's the kind of meal that makes you feel good twice — once while you're eating it, and again when you see the bill.

Why We Bother

Making six different salad dressings from scratch, every day, is a lot of work. It would be so much easier to order them pre-made. The food service distributors would love it. Our prep cooks would have more free time. Our food costs might even go down.

But here's the thing: easy has never been the point.

Don Hale didn't open Hires Big H in 1959 because he wanted to do things the easy way. He opened it because he believed that food made from scratch, with real ingredients, by people who give a damn, tastes better than food made any other way. That belief has been passed down through three generations, and it applies to everything — including the dressing on your salad.

When you sit down at Hires Big H and pour our ranch over your salad, you're not just getting dressing. You're getting a philosophy. A commitment. A family's stubborn insistence that the details matter, that the stuff nobody notices is exactly the stuff you should care about the most.

We do it the hard way because the hard way tastes better. Every dressing. Every salad. Every day.

Come Taste the Difference

Next time you're looking for a great American restaurant in Salt Lake City, come see us. Order a salad. Try the ranch — the real kind. Ask for the Roquefort and taste what actual imported cheese tastes like on a bed of fresh greens. Or go light with the vinaigrette and marvel at how good fat-free can taste when it's made with intention.

Better yet, get the Soup and Salad for $11.40 and make your lunch hour something worth remembering.

Find us at any of our three locations across the Salt Lake Valley. Browse the full menu. Explore the Hires Big H shop. And the next time someone tells you salad dressing is just salad dressing, send them our way. We'll change their mind.