A nostalgic green

HUCSERWith the return of the VW Bug and bell-bottoms comes iceberg lettuce—temporarily displaced by salad-in-a-bag—but making a comeback, at least in some of New York's trendiest restaurants, as well as retro-diners in Baltimore and Hollywood hangouts. The '90s version, however, has some added panache—disguised under buttermilk-Roquefort dressing and dollops of caviar, sprinkled with delicate scallion shavings and dotted with honey-toasted walnuts. Some iceberg proponents say that they are rebelling against the health police of the '80s, reveling in the nutritionally underwhelming value of iceberg, and the thought of lots of gloppy dressing. Others feel that the backlash has more to do with getting down to basics and the growth of organic farming. Mike Pardus, a chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., says, "Iceberg is less intimidating to Americans than those spiky green and red leaves."