Caesar's
Caesar's is a restaurant on Avenida Revolución in Tijuana, Mexico, famous as the home of the Caesar salad.[1] Restaurateur Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant, opened the restaurant in 1923,[2] and it is now under chef Javier Plascencia, leading chef of Baja Med cuisine.
History[edit]
The original Caesar's bar and restaurant was first opened in an alley in 1923, and its salad became famous after its reported invention on July 4 of the following year.[3][4] Julia Child said that she visited the restaurant during her youth in 1925 or 1926.[5] In 1926 it moved to 2nd Street, and a year later it moved to its current location at the Hotel Caesar's on Avenida Revolución Street between 4th and 5th streets. Cardini bought the hotel and restaurant in 1932.[6]
Following a huge reduction in U.S. visitors to Tijuana after 9/11 and subsequent long border wait times to return to the U.S., the restaurant closed in 2009, due to debt.[7] Javier's father Juan José Plascencia renovated the restaurant and reopened it in July, 2010, with a luxurious art deco interior reminiscent of the 1920s.[8] In 2017, the San Diego Reader called it the "classiest joint in Tijuana".[9] Waiters prepare the "original" Caesar salads tableside.[9]
The restaurant and hotel were featured by Andrew Zimmern in his Travel Channel television special The Border Check.[6]
References[edit]
- ^ Khan, Sarah (6 February 2018). "Through a Tijuana Turnstile and Into Tacos and Tortas". The New York Times.
- ^ "Cesar Cardini, Creator of Salad, Dies at 60". Los Angeles Times. 5 November 1956.
Caesar Cardini, 60, credited with the invention of the Caesar salad, died [...]
- ^ "We Can Thank Tijuana and Prohibition for the Caesar Salad". Food & Wine.
- ^ "Zagat". www.zagat.com.
- ^ Lacey, Marc (21 October 2008). "Wary Tourists Toss Aside a Chance to Taste History". The New York Times.
- ^ a b "Tijuana's Last Days of Bullfighting". Roads & Kingdoms. 7 November 2017.
- ^ Bramen, Lisa. "Hail Caesar—The Birthplace of the Famous Salad Closes". Smithsonian.
- ^ Cesar’s Restaurant springs back to lifelaprensa-sandiego.org Archived 2 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Rudkus, Sammi (5 August 2017). "Arguably the classiest joint in Tijuana". www.sandiegoreader.com.