The Chinese Chicken Salad was most likely created by Sylvia Cheng Wu at her Santa Monica restaurant called Madame Wu's Garden. It was a popular hangout for Hollywood A-listers in the 1960s, and as legend has it, Cary Grant was a regular there and asked her for a Chinese-style chicken salad based on a dish he'd had elsewhere. Quick thinking Wu put together a salad inspired by a dish from her childhood with chicken and a variety of vegetables.  These days, this Asian chicken salad sits in the pantheon of great salads alongside the Cobb, Caesar, and Niçoise salads. It's usually made with napa cabbage, carrots, scallions, and mandarin oranges, topped with crunchy almonds and wontons. The dressing is tangy, sweet, and sour with a spicy kick from ginger and mustard.