The Machus Red Fox Salad was once served at the swanky Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield, Michigan. It is a simple chopped salad with wedges of ripe tomatoes, rings of red onion, crumbled roquefort and chopped crisp bacon. What truly makes the salad (besides the bacon and blue cheese) is the dressing. It’s a super simple, light and sweet dressing that brings all these wonderful ingredients together.

Machus Red Fox Salad

While I was chatting with my mom on the phone about her Detroit-style pizza recipe, she was telling me how she loved [she still loves to actually] to recreate recipes at home — something I already knew because hello?! that apple doesn’t fall to far from the tree.;)

She told me about the time when she read a request in the Royal Oak Tribune food section, that someone was looking for the recipe to the Machus Red Fox Salad dressing. First of all, this was before internet, before food blogs and way before a simple entry into the Google search bar could answer your question in seconds. People turned to their local newspaper and had to wait and hope to find an answer. Huh. Imagine that?

Of course, my mom had already made a copycat version of the Machus Red Fox salad dressing and replied back to the newspaper, I’m assuming via postal mail and The Tribune printed my mom’s recipe in the newspaper, giving her full credit. My mom still has the clipping attached to a recipe card. How cool is that??

Machus Red Fox Salad dressing

I asked my mom for that recipe too and she texted me a snapshot of the article.

Later that night, I was thinking about our phone call and wondered how did a salad get the name Machus Red Fox? There had to be a story there, right? It was too late to text my mom, so I did a quick Google search [bless you technology!] and what I found out, made her story so much more interesting than it already was. From what I found/read, the Red Fox was a hip restaurant in its prime during the 60’s and 70’s (and eventually closed in 1996) that mainly wealthy people frequented. It also is the last place Jimmy Hoffa was seen at.

Machus Red Fox Salad ingredients

So I’m only guessing here, but I think this is the restaurants “house salad” and I can totally see why. It’s the perfect salad for just about anything. It’s light and delicious and the perfect starter or side salad to any meal. I made it and served it with my Detroit-style pizza and it was delicious.

It makes a large salad so it’s a great salad to feed a crowd. But you could easily scale it down.

The dressing though is where the money is at.

prep salad ingredients

Crumbled roquefort, sliced red onion, ripe tomato wedges and crispy chopped bacon. I totally get why people loved this salad.

salad dressing

The dressing is SO simple: into a jar or container that has a tight-fitting lid, combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil (back then they used salad oil but what is that exactly? jk) and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.

Shake the dressing really well so the sugar has a chance to dissolve.

drizzle dressing

In a large bowl combine 1 medium head of chopped romaine with 1 head of chopped iceberg lettuce. If serving immediately, toss with enough of the dressing to lightly coat the leaves, not drench the lettuce.

toss salad greens with dressing

If making in advance, do this right before serving.

Machus Red Fox Salad

Then top those dressed greens with wedges of tomatoes (I used campari), the chopped crisp bacon pieces, crumbles of blue cheese and slices of red onion.

Serve with extra dressing on the side.

Machus Red Fox Salad

Enjoy! And if you give this Machus Red Fox Salad recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!

Machus Red Fox Salad

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
4.72 from 7 ratings
Leave a Review »
Yield: 6 servings

Machus Red Fox Salad

A salad once served at the Red Fox in Bloomfield, Michigan is a simple chopped salad with tomatoes, red onion, roquefort, crumbled bacon and a light sweet dressing.

Ingredients

FOR THE DRESSING:

  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup light olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more or less to taste

FOR THE SALAD:

  • 1 head ice berg lettuce, chopped
  • 1 small head romaine lettuce, chopped
  • 6 compari tomatoes, cut into wedges
  • 1 medium onion, sliced red onion
  • 4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
  • 2 ounces crumbled roquefort blue cheese
  • freshly ground black pepper

Instructions 

  • In a small jar or container with a tight fitting lid, add the sugar, vinegar and olive oil. Secure the lid and shake well until the sugar has dissolved. Season with kosher salt to taste.
  • In a large bowl toss the lettuces with a little of the dressing. The leaves should be lightly dressed and not soggy. Top with wedges of tomatoes, red onion slices and sprinkle with cooked, crumbled bacon and blue cheese. Grind fresh black pepper over top and serve with the extra dressing on the side.
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 243kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 14g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 8g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 12mg, Sodium: 442mg, Potassium: 754mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 18g, Vitamin A: 10637IU, Vitamin C: 25mg, Calcium: 119mg, Iron: 2mg