The Origin of Caesar Salad: There’s a Lot of Drama And It Has Nothing to do With Julius
You might think the Caesar, a classic party food, and preferred salad of millions is named after the famous romaine emperor, Julius Caesar.
And while you’d be right to assume such a thing, it is not the case.
Meet Caesar Cardini
Born in Northern Italy, Caesar Cardini moved to North America in 1910.
He opened a French restaurant in San Diego on University Avenue.
In 1920, prohibition passed across the United States, and while Cardini kept his French San Diego restaurant, he ventured to Tijuana to open a second spot where he could serve alcohol.
Cardini named his restaurant Caesar’s Restaurant-Bar located on Avenida Revolution.
At the time, many Southern California elites traveled to Tijuana for weekend drinks.
The elites fondly remember Tijuana as “Vegas before Vegas,” with several celebrities such as Charlie Chaplin frequenting the area.
The 3 Stories Behind The Caesar
There are three stories behind the lore of the famous Caesar.
Cardini’s daughter, Rose, claims July 4th, 1924 is the exact day her dad created his masterpiece.
Overrun with customers and short on food, Cardini decided to throw together what he had left: lettuce, olive oil, raw egg, croutons, parmesan cheese, and Worcestershire sauce.
Cardini served his creation as finger food, not a salad.
The second story claims that Caesar’s brother Alessandro is the mastermind.
Alessandro, an Italian air pilot in World War 1, came to Tijuana to help brother Caesar run his restaurant.
One night a group of American airmen partied at Caesar’s.
As a pilot, Alessandro wanted to treat them to a meal using the best ingredients he could find.
He used many of the same ingredients as his brother Caesar, but added anchovies.
Alessandro called it the “Aviator’s Salad,” in honour of himself and fellow pilots.
Alessandro left his brother to open his own restaurant in Mexico City, and Caesar took the opportunity to place his name on the dish.
The Final story claims that a Cardini wasn’t responsible for the salad at all.
It was an employee at Cardini’s restaurant named Livio Santini, an Italian immigrant who claimed to be using his mother’s recipe.
The dish became so popular Cardini adopted it as his own.
Caesar’s Rise To Fame & Culinary Excellence
Despite multiple origin stories, the Caesar rose to popularity.
Chef Julia Child travelled with her family to Caesar’s Restaurant to have the chef prepare his creation table-side.
Child wrote: “It was a sensation of a salad coast to coast”
And it was.
The salad spread from Mexico to San Francisco, and across the globe.
In the 1940’s Globe magazine called it the gastronomic highlight of the moment.
In 1953, the Caesar earned recognition from the International Society of Epicures in Paris as the greatest recipe to come out of the Americas in 50 years.
The Cardinis moved to Los Angeles and patented their family’s famous dressing in 1948.
Today, it’s sold as Caesar Cardini’s Dressing but there are several imitators on the market.
