Caesar's is a restaurant inside a hotel of the same name on

Avenida Revolución Avenida Revolución (Spanish for "Revolution Avenue") is the tourist center in Tijuana, Baja California, México. It is a main thoroughfare of the historic downtown Tijuana, officially called ''Zona Centro'', which forms part of the ''Delegació ...

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

, Mexico. The restaurant is best known for originating the

Caesar salad A Caesar salad (also spelled Cesar, César and Cesare), also known as Caesar's salad, is a green salad of romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with lemon juice (or lime juice), olive oil, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, anchovies, garlic, Dijon ...

History

The restaurant was founded by Italian immigrants Cesare (Cesar) and Alessandro (Alex) Cardini. Tijuana experienced a boom in visitors from

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

in the 1920s due to

alcohol prohibition in the United States The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, an ...

. In the early years it was called "Caesar's Place" or "Caesar's Franco-Italian Restaurant". In 1931 the Cardinis moved to a larger building with hotel rooms, as many visitors from California wished to spend the night in Tijuana. According to legend, Caesar Cardini was at his restaurant in Tijuana on a particularly busy day when he improvised a salad with the ingredients he had on hand. On July 4, 1924, Cardini created the Caesar salad, which has since become one of the most ubiquitous dishes on restaurant menus worldwide. After Caesar Cardini sold the hotel and restaurant, it went through several ownership changes. In 1948, the Avakian family took over the property and continued to operate and preserve the restaurant’s legacy, including the tradition of preparing the Caesar salad table-side. Over the years, many names have been mentioned as the inventors of the salad, including Cardini's brother Alex Cardini and Livio Santini, a young chef at what was then Caesar’s Place, who some believe brought the salad recipe from his mother in Italy. Tijuana historian Fernando Escobedo de la Torre and businessman Armando Avakian Gámez have researched and concluded that the original salad was created by Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, in Tijuana. Their conclusion is based on testimonies, historical archives, and eight years of research. The salad became famous and was promoted by celebrities and other personalities, spreading its popularity to the United States and Europe. By around 1930, the salad was offered as “Romaine Parmigian Dressing” for 50 cents, according to an original menu on display at Caesar’s restaurant.

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

, the famous American chef and television personality, recounted in her 1975 book "From Julia Child’s Kitchen" her early memories of dining at Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana and experiencing the Caesar salad prepared tableside by Caesar Cardini himself. The restaurant experienced a significant reduction in U.S. visitors to Tijuana after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, leading to its closure in 2009 due to debt. Javier Plascencia's family took over the restaurant's operations, renovated it, and reopened it in July 2010 with a luxurious

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

interior reminiscent of the 1920s. The property where the restaurant operates continues under the Avakian family's ownership.Cesar’s Restaurant springs back to life
aprensa-sandiego.org In 2017, the ''

San Diego Reader The ''San Diego Reader'' is an alternative press newspaper in San Diego County, California. Published weekly since October 1972, the ''Reader'' is distributed free on Wednesday and Thursday via street boxes and cooperating retail outlets. Hi ...

'' called it the "classiest joint in Tijuana". Waiters prepare the "original" Caesar salads tableside. The restaurant and hotel were featured by

Andrew Zimmern Andrew Scott Zimmern (born July 4, 1961) is an American chef, restaurateur, television and radio personality, director, producer, businessman, food critic, and author. Zimmern is the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of the Travel Channe ...

in his

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

television special ''The Border Check''.

References

External links

Caesar's
- Grupo Plascencia
Caesar's
- Grupo Plascencia {{Restaurants in Mexico Restaurants in Mexico Organizations based in Tijuana Caesar salad