July 4, 2024

Anyone who has ever had lunch with me knows my favorite dish is Chicken Caesar Salad with crunchy romaine lettuce (the lighter leaves), diced grilled chicken rather than just cut in strips - croutons and Parmesan cheese - with dressing on the side which I add as I go. An advantage of dressing on the side is taking leftover salad home with a covered cup of dressing that can be eaten later - so the salad doesn't get soggy. I've eaten Chicken Caesar in five star restaurants as well as my local diners.

I've seen Caesar Salad prepared with any number of added ingredients from different proteins - to other salad vegetables and even pasta. It's a meal in itself and a beloved favorite of others beside myself.

The basic Caesar salad has a long history that - believe it or not - goes back 100 years. The salad's creation is generally attributed to the restaurateur Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who operated restaurants in Mexico and the United States. Cardini lived in San Diego but ran one of his restaurants in Tijuana to attract American customers seeking to circumvent the restrictions of Prohibition. His daughter, Rosa, recounted that her father invented the salad at the Tijuana restaurant when a Fourth of July rush in 1924 depleted the kitchen's supplies. Continue reading