‘Blood feud,’ booze, and Tijuana — inside the wild origin story of the Caesar Salad

Caesar salad, according to common acclaim, is named for Roman emperor Julius Caesar. 

You can stick a knife in that delicious myth. 

Instead, credit romaine emperor Caesar Cardini, an immigrant restaurateur from Italy, according to food historians.

He lived in San Diego, California and operated restaurants there and just across the border in Tijuana, Mexico, with his brother Alex. 

The salad’s inventor, however, is the source of an international dispute and, apparently, a civil war among the Cardini clan.

“To his dying day, Caesar said he invented it at his Caesar’s Place in Tijuana,” writes food historian Martin Lindsay on his website, ClassicSanDiego.com.  

“And to his dying day, Alex Cardini said he invented the salad at their first restaurant, Alex and Caesar’s, and named it after Caesar.”

Lindsay has reported and spoken extensively on the history of Caesar salad. 

The family spat, he writes, “was a blood feud.” 

The brothers eventually parted ways in business. 

Caesar’s daughter offered a convincing origin story in later years, and even an exact date, made memorable as Americans rushed south of the border to celebrate Independence Day on foreign soil. 

Tijuana exploded as a hotspot for American tourists and day-trippers when the U.S. embarked on the 14-year experiment of Prohibition in 1920. 

The ban on alcohol is what actually drove the Cardinis of California to open restaurants in Mexico. 

The border city of Tijuana offered easy access to gambling and cheap, legal booze, among other things. 

Yanquis flooded Caesar’s to celebrate on July 4, 1924, according to the restaurateur’s daughter, Rose Cardini. 

“Overrun by Americans and running short of supplies in the kitchen, her father threw together what was left,” Food & Wine Magazine reported in 2017.

“Stalks of lettuce, olive oil, raw egg, croutons, Parmesan cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Originally intended as a finger food rather than a salad and prepared tableside for flair, it was a hit.”

Caesar salad grew famous almost overnight. 

It left quite an impression on a young girl and future celebrity chef from Pasadena, who visited Caesar’s with her family around 1925 or 1926. 

“My parents, of course, ordered the salad,” Julia Child, who would have been 12 or 13 at the time, wrote many years later.

“Caesar himself rolled the big cart up to the table, tossed the romaine in a great wooden bowl … I can see him break two eggs over that romaine and roll them in, the greens going all creamy as the eggs flowed over them.”

The “French Chef” recalled more delicious details. 

Whole leaves of romaine, to be lifted like a utensil with the fingers, served with olive oil, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, garlic and one-minute boiled eggs. 

Caesar’s is still open today.

Its salad is still a hit. 

The current owners claim in several reports to sell about 100 Caesar salads per day, each still prepared tableside.