Caesar salad

A salad of romaine lettuce tossed with an olive oil dressing, a coddled or raw egg, garlic, and grated cheese and topped with croutons and sometimes anchovies.

Origin: 1945-50; allegedly after a restaurant named Caesar's in Tijuana, Mexico.

History: 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, 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 added the dramatic flair of the table-side tossing "by the chef".

The salad recipe was created at a place operated by Cardini on the ground floor of the Hotel Commercial at the corner of 2nd Street and Main, Tijuana. 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.