Sterling Cooper copywriter Paul Kinsey is a Mad Man with a Bohemian heart. He grows a beard, smokes pot (and a pipe), and has liberal views. Controversially for the times, he also dates a young black woman, Sheila White, with whom he travels to Mississippi to be a freedom rider. During a meeting with executives from Madison Square Garden, a Sterling Cooper client, his political convictions lead him to overstep his bounds by a mile. To build a new Madison Square Garden, the owners want to demolish Pennsylvania Station, a precious New York architectural landmark, but community activists and protestors are opposing the scheme. “Rape of 34th Street,” some call it. Paul offends the three Garden officials by siding with “the lunatics,” as the executives call them, and challenging their plan himself.
To try and repair the damage, Roger Sterling and Don Draper later invite Madison Square Garden vice president Edgar Raffit to meet them at a restaurant for lunch. When Raffit arrives, he balks at joining them at the table, indicating that the Garden’s relationship with Sterling Cooper is over. But as Roger, and then Don, work their magic, he sits down.
“Change is neither good or bad; it simply is,” says Don to Raffit, and he begins to sketch out a plan to persuade New Yorkers that the new Madison Square Garden “is the beginning of a new city on the hill.” When Don adds, “If you don’t like what is being said, change the conversation,” Raffit picks up a menu and we know Don has put Sterling Cooper back in the game.
When the waiter appears, Roger orders, “Iceberg wedges, blue cheese, bacon.” The classic wedge salad was a ubiquitous entry on restaurant menus throughout the 1950s and 1960s, though variations of it date back as early as the 1910s. The wedge salad, which begins with a wedge-shaped slice of iceberg lettuce (so named for its ability to remain fresh when shipped long distance packed on ice), began to fall out of favor in the 1970s as consumers discovered other leaf lettuces—many more delicate and flavorful than the traditional iceberg—and lighter, healthier dressings than the fat-laden, cheese-based dressings that defined the wedge. Originally known as crisphead lettuce, iceberg has hung on, however, especially in steak restaurants.
Roger and Don salvage the Madison Square Garden account at an unidentified steak and chop house, so we turned to a cookbook from the Palm, a restaurant referenced in Mad Men, for our wedge salad recipe. (In season 4, episode 7; “The Suitcase,” the younger staff of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce go to the Palm for dinner and drinks before watching a screening of the rematch between Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay.) Served cold, a fresh wedge of iceberg (also known as heart of lettuce) may be plain, but it’s always refreshing—maybe even refreshing enough to salvage a business relationship gone sour.
ADAPTED FROM THE PALM RESTAURANT COOKBOOK BY BRIGIT LÉGÈRE BINNS (RUNNING PRESS, 2003)
NOTE: We added crumbled bacon to the Palm’s classic wedge per Roger’s preference. This recipe makes a large serving with two wedges per plate.
Make the dressing in advance. The cheese and the oil should stand together for approximately forty-five minutes, so the cheese softens and macerates in the oil.
2 iceberg lettuce hearts, quartered and cored
1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, sliced
Crumbled bacon, to taste
3⁄4–1 cup Blue Cheese Dressing (see recipe below)
YIELD: 4 SERVINGS
4 ounces Danish or French blue cheese, at room temperature
1⁄2 cup olive oil
1⁄2 cup mayonnaise
11⁄2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
YIELD: 1½ CUPS