Beet and Avocado Salad from Frankies

at lunch time is very different than it is at dinner time. Obviously. But it's because of how the food appeals to you.

When you go to Frankies during the day, the salads on the menu, always enticing, pop off the page. At dinner, dishes of cavatelle and braciole can distract, but not on hot summer days. It was steamy when I stopped in, but in the garden under a tightly pulled cloth, there was a light breeze.

My staple at Frankies is the arugala and bufala mozzarella salad, but opting for the beets and avocado salad seemed the right thing to do at the time. And it was.

The salad was hearty and rich, yet refreshing too. Beets can be a very powerful flavor, or can also serve as a foundation for other flavors to be added to. In this case, the beets helped bring out the flavor of the avocado. With the help of a light balsamic dressing, the avocado was beautifully pronounced.

Complication through simplicity - that's a good way to describe this salad.