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FijiFlavors · Tijuana
Salad of romaine lettuce leaves with a dressing of egg, lemon, garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese, served with croutons. It was created in Tijuana by the Italian cook Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, according to Tijuanan historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre.
Traditional dish from Tijuana, Baixa Califórnia
Also known as: Caesar salad, ensalada Caesar, ensalada Caesar's
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Ensalada César — Tijuana, Mexico
Caesar salad is made with whole or torn romaine lettuce leaves tossed in an emulsified dressing of egg, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and grated Parmesan cheese, and served with croutons. In many Tijuana establishments it is assembled tableside, in a wooden bowl, in front of the diner.
Its story begins in the 1920s. With Prohibition in effect in the United States, many Americans crossed the border to eat and drink in Tijuana. Caesar Cardini, an Italian cook who settled in the city in 1920, ran a restaurant there.
According to historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre, who researched the subject for years and authored the book Caesar: la ensalada más famosa (Larousse, 2024), the salad was created on July 4, 1924, a very busy day because of the American Independence Day holiday. Sources differ about the first restaurant and about the role of Cardini’s brother, Alex, who also claimed the creation.
In 2024, Tijuana celebrated the centenary of the salad with a festival. The recipe spread worldwide with many variations, such as versions with chicken or anchovy; the Tijuana version remains faithful to the leaves, the dressing and the croutons.
Tijuana , Baixa Califórnia
Created in Tijuana by the Italian cook Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, according to historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre.
Romaine lettuce; egg; lemon juice; garlic; olive oil; Worcestershire sauce; Parmesan cheese; croutons; salt and pepper. Some versions include anchovy.
As a starter, eaten with fork and knife or, in the old-fashioned way, by taking whole leaves with the hand. In traditional Tijuana restaurants, the dressing is prepared at the table.
Year-round, as an appetizer or light dish.
Your questions
Yes. It was created in Tijuana, Baja California, by the Italian cook Caesar Cardini on July 4, 1924, according to historian José Fernando Escobedo de la Torre.
In the 1920s, with Prohibition in the United States, many Americans crossed the border to eat and drink in Tijuana, where Cardini ran a restaurant.
No. The original recipe uses romaine lettuce, an egg-lemon-garlic-olive oil dressing and Parmesan, with croutons. Chicken is a later addition.
Flavors of Mexico
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White fish taco coated in a light batter and fried until golden, served on a corn tortilla with cabbage, tomato-and-onion salsa, mayonnaise or cream, and lime. It originated around 1960 at the stalls of the Mercado Negro, the fish market at the port of Ensenada.
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Pork slowly cooked in its own lard in large pots until tender inside and golden outside, served in tacos. Quiroga, near Lake Pátzcuaro, is called the capital of carnitas: families in the town have been making them for more than a century.
Raw shrimp butterfly-cut and cured in lime with chiltepín chile, served with cucumber and red onion. It originated in the mountains of Sinaloa as a meat broth with water and chile and reached the coast, where shrimp took the place of meat. It is presented as the state’s most representative dish.
Freshwater fish with a long snout, grilled whole over coals and eaten with tortilla, lime, salt and chile amashito. It lives in the rivers and lagoons of Tabasco and is one of the state’s most representative dishes, with roots in pre-Hispanic cuisine of the southeast.
Distilled spirit from blue agave named after the city of Tequila, in Jalisco, surrounded by agave fields. It has a designation of origin since 1974, and the agave landscape and the region’s old industrial facilities are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Red snapper cooked in a tomato sauce with olives, capers, garlic, onion, herbs and pickled chiles güeros or jalapeños. A coastal Veracruz dish, from the Gulf of Mexico, considered one of the country's best-known fish recipes.
Pork marinated in achiote and bitter orange, wrapped in banana leaf and slowly cooked in an earth oven, the pib. A Sunday family dish from Yucatán that combines the pig brought by the Spaniards with a Mayan cooking technique.
