Who doesn't love a nice salad when the heat hits? We gluttons with joneses for only the biggest, baddest salads, that's who. Come lunchtime, the Metropolitan Club (1210 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, 617.731.0600) rocks the roughage with its mix-and-match mélanges; you choose your "base bowl" (plenty substantial in itself, containing not only dressed greens but everything from eggs to potatoes to palm hearts to cheese), then pack it in with protein - black cod tips, perhaps, or chilled lobster, or sliced sirloin - and crown it with "crunch": options include crushed corn nuts, wasabi peas, and savory peanut brittle. (Heck, with all the work that goes into ordering, you'll need those extra calories.) We're also digging Tossed (Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.424.8677), which puts the ladies who lunch in their itty-bitty places with a huge and hearty (yet still reasonably healthy) "palette" of picks: think chickpeas and roasted sweet potatoes, shiitakes and jicama, roast chicken and smoked turkey, even wonton crisps and plantain chips. [Photo: Ekaterina Smirnova]
