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Bonus: The Odd Origin(s) of Caesar's Salad

Most of you who checked the origin of Caesar's Salad probably accept the story that it was invented in Mexico by Caesar Cardini at Caesar's Grill, in Tijuana, Mexico. But the story has MANY San Francisco ties. (Its ties to Chinatown will be explained in a second)

The first person who put the Caesar salad into the American culture was none other than Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle columnist, in his column on August 27th, 1946, and even Caen mentioned that the salad had been well established by then, believed to have been invented 2 decades before.

The Cardini version does NOT have anchovies, but instead, has Worcestershire sauce. And it is usually mixed at the table by the server or the chef.  

However, San Francisco has a different story. There was also a Caesar's Grill in San Francisco during the prohibition, and may have existed as far back as 1911. Historians can find no link between Caesar Cardini and the San Francisco Caesar's Grill though. And this Caesar's Grill also served a Caesar's salad, a fact attested by its existence on a menu today at Cafe Zoetrope, that shared the same location, decades later. Cafe Zoetrope claimed that their recipe was recreated from the original recipe back in the 1920s at the San Francisco Caesar's Grill. 

Caesar's Grill, San Francisco, courtesy SFPL

Cafe Zoetrope's Menu today claims to use the sale Caesar salad recipe
created originally in the same building, at Caesar's Grill a la 1924. 

Cafe Zoetrope is in the Sentinel building, at the corner of Columbus and Kearny, adjacent to Chinatown. 

To further muddy the waters, there are at least TWO other people who claimed to have invented the Caesar salad, and both of them worked next to Caesar Cardini. One story stated that Caesar's brother Alex had came up with the salad's recipe. A different story claimed that Beatriz Santini invented the salad in 1918 in Austria. Years later, her son worked for Caesar Cardini in Mexico and recreated her salad for the staff, and the recipe was... recreated by Cardini for their menu. 

But no matter who you accept as its creator, there's little debate... the caesar salad is delicious... because it used a lot of oil and umami flavors. 

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About the author

Kasey is a professional tour guide and amateur historian who specialized in Chinatown History and Tours. You will often find him guiding groups sampling delicious food and learning interesting historical tidbits about Chinatown most weekends.

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