All hail Caesar(s)
plus women in food are crushing it
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither was the perfect Caesar salad.
Loyal readers of this newsletter know that I am a big fan of Caesars: salads and Roman dictators (I was a Classics major 2x). In the last four years, I’ve had at least one Caesar salad a week and usually more than two. This week, I had nine. Some might call this boring, excessive, or bad for me. They would be wrong. Because the Caesar salad is perfect in many variations on many occasions. Join me as I dive into the empire of two Caesars, in a new segment I’m calling, Dish Dissected.
The History
Julius Caesar
Widely regarded as one of the greatest military strategists, (Gaius) Julius Caesar conquered Gaul, slaughtered nearly half a million people, and significantly expanded Rome’s territory. As a politician, he dominated Roman politics along with Crassus and Pompey until 50 BC, when his relationship with Pompey broke down. In 49 BC, he crossed the literal Rubicon and marched on Rome.
After the ensuing civil war, he instituted many public reforms, expanded citizenship, introduced a new calendar, and more. He proclaimed himself dictator for life (he was descended from a god and thought he deserved it) and was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 BC.
Ultimately, his work led to the rise of the Roman Empire, which, as your boyfriend knows, was very legit.
As an author, he wrote some (quite boring from my recollection) accounts of his military exploits, but was a much more exciting protagonist in works by Cicero, Shakespeare, and other literary icons.
Caesar Salad
Cesare Cardini created the first Caesar salad in the ‘20s (the 1920s, not BC) in Tijuana, Mexico. His restaurant, Caesar’s, was a popular spot for San Diegans looking for something stronger than water during Prohibition. One evening, these customers ate through Cardini’s supplies and he was forced to improvise — romaine lettuce, Parmesan, lemon, bread cubes, olive oil, eggs, and Worcestershire. Thus, the Caesar salad was born.
By 1935, Cardini had perfected and trademarked his recipe. By the 1950s, it had gone global. Today, it is on 35% of U.S. restaurant menus.
Cesare didn’t know that he had created the only salad that could live up to his own namesake, Julius Caesar, in terms of historical and cultural significance.
Caesar’s legacy created one of the greatest empires (3.7%) of the world, but Caesar salad has it beat: not even the great Genghis Khan provided this much dressing to the world.
Current Significance
For its 100th anniversary, searches for the salad eclipsed Julius Caesar for the first time in June 2024.
Caesar’s Descendants
Over the years, the Caesar salad has been exploited and bastardized by every recipe developer, news outlet, and restaurant. This is, for the most part, because the dressing is so good. A classic Caesar dressing consists of eggs, oil, acid (lemon juice), and umami (anchovies and/or Worcestershire), but I don’t hate a little Dijon, a little less egg, or a lot more cheese.
In order to honor its namesake, a Caesar salad must contain: greens, cheese, some crispy bits, and obviously, dressing. Anything else with containing Caesar dressing has a birthright to his name, but “salad” should be reserved for the OG.
5 Excellent Caesars in NYC
Working Lunch Caesar
Daily Provisions Kale Caesar: add a salmon fille you’re feeling rich (or if you can expense it)
Caesar at the Bar (Personal)
Chez Ma Tante: little gem and chicory combo tossed in a chunky anchovy and lemon dressing (sans egg), smothered in shaved parm and breadcrumbs.
Caesar at the Bar (Shared)
Diner: I have eaten this 50/50 romaine and radicchio combo with a 50/50 martini 55 times. It is never the same — sometimes the lettuce needs to be cut, often there is a little too much garlic in the dressing — but I would happily order it another 55 times.
Caesar for the Table
Oxomoco: the only thing I don’t like about Mexican restaurants is that they rarely have a salad. If more offered this grilled romaine Caesar, I would never eat anywhere else.
Caesar Delivered by Moped
Motorino: the fresh anchovies are a game changer. Plus, then you can say you had vegetables with your pizza.
Honorable Mentions
Barbuto: delicious but needs to be rearchitected. You lose half of the cheese on the way to your mouth.
Gage & Tollner: the Parmesan crisp is revolutionary.
Little Fino: the Calabrian chili in the dressing makes this a star.
Sailor: a lemon-forward lighter variant that is perfect for brunch.
Sweetgreen custom: swap romaine for an extra serving of kale, swap roasted chicken for blackened chicken, add red onions because you love them and hate your coworkers
The Fly: the ultra creamy dressing on crunchy romaine is the perfect side to the signature chicken.
Bad Caesars
b’artusi: I liked the pecorino but the croutons tasted like old sandwich bread.
Pura Vida: this tasted like a gas station salad: slightly damp, old kale mixed with pre-sliced parmesan (a crime), and an overly lemony dressing. The only redeeming quality was that the croutons were well-toasted.
Tartinery: I love a chickpea addition (see: Daily Provisions) but these were fresh from the can and the dressing had no umami.
Westville: every time I eat here I swear I’m never going back.
My House Caesar
This is a mash-up of the Diner Caesar and my beloved raw and roasted kale salad (which I made at least once a week for seven years). I tend to use kale because it feels heartier as a main, but often swap in little gems and Radicchio variants as a side. It’s endlessly riff-able, but if you don’t like it, I probably don’t like you.
A few rules:
Pour the oil in slowly: it keeps the dressing from breaking
Bread must be torn, not cubed
You can add as much cheese or as many anchovies as you want
Other Stuff to Chew On
News
ChatGPT x food collabs aren’t going well:
Novo Nordisk is falling behind in the race to win the obesity drug market. Former employees say it’s because of the culture. Do you know what helps innovation and risk-taking? Diverse, empowered teams.
Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will harm nearly 30K retailers. 95 percent of counties with the highest rates of people receiving SNAP have limited access to retailers that accept SNAP benefits.
More Americans are pulling back on fast food and eating at home.
I love to see women in food topping Forbes’s list of richest self-made women: Marian Ilitch & family (Little Caesar’s Pizza), Lynda Resnick (Wonderful Company), Peggy Cherng (Panda Express).
Culture
- explained why you should never go to Trader Joe’s on Sunday:
Zero spacial awareness at the banana tower and apple shelf, standing so close to the cheeses and veggies and meats that you can see hot breath colliding with fridge condensation, total avoidance of traffic pattern flow within aisles, ransacked shelves where eggs used to sit (maybe, idk, never seen them stocked), carts abandoned everywhere you look by people stronger than you who just gave up, couples making out in front of some of the most insane chip flavors you’ve ever seen, employees desperate to stock shelves but seemingly wearing blinders as they do, the slowest reading you’ve ever witnessed of every single identical frozen food item.
Obsessions
In celebration of National Cheese Day, Jellycat released cheese-themed “amuseables” and the camembert is cute… but why is it $40?
Discovered Martha Haversham and cannot get enough.
Peacock hadn’t loaded the first part of the Top Chef (Destination Canada) finale when I checked, no spoilers please!
et tu Brute?
Sophia
My favorite NYC Caesar used to be at Coppola's on the UWS (now closed). The key was that they served it on a chilled plate (and the lettuce was cold)- the perfect touch! Also, if you're into more creative Caesar salad riffs: from NYT Cooking, try Kenji Lopez-Alt's Fried Shallot Caesar and Jerelle Guy's Parmesan-Crusted Salmon Caesar- both delicious and fun!
Omg thank you for the inclusion!! Also I *adore* caesar salads — and agree the Westville one is an abomination — so this it's an honor to be included in this Substack all around