A typical
Caesar salad comprises
romaine lettuce and
croutons dressed with
Parmesan cheese,
lemon juice,
olive oil,
egg,
Worcestershire sauce, and
black pepper, originally prepared tableside.
Caesar Cardini, who ran restaurants in
Tijuana,
Mexico, in the
1920s-
1940s, is commonly credited as the creator.
[1] [2]There are several stories about the specifics of the salad's creation. Cardini was living in San Diego but also working in Tijuana where he avoided the restrictions of prohibition. As his daughter Rosa (1928-2003) reported,[3] her father invented the dish when a Fourth of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies. Cardini made do with what he had, successfully adding the dramatic flair of the table-side tossing "by the chef".
Another story is that the salad was created for a group of Hollywood stars after a long weekend party, and still another, that Cardini's brother Alex created it as "Aviator's salad" for a bunch of San Diego aviator comrades who were in a hurry, and the dish was renamed later, when Alex was a partner of his brother. A few fellows among Cardini's personnel also claimed the authorship, but without success. [4] [5]
As a historical addendum, the salad recipe was created at a place operated by Cardini on the ground floor of the Hotel Comercial at the corner of 2nd Street and Main. In 1929-1930, Cardini moved his restaurant to the newly constructed Hotel Caesar on Main St., nowadays Avenida Revolución, near the corner of 5th St. The Hotel Comercial is long-gone, but the historic "Comercial" building still stands at the same location, and the Hotel Caesar's continues to operate to this day. The restaurant closed in 1993, but after a renovation in the late 1990's, the bar in the hotel began preparing table-side "ensalada Caesar per tradition" and claim to serve the "original Caesar salad". [6]
