How the Caesar came to rule

1924

Some say it was a California creation, but the most accepted version is that it was invented by Caesar Cardini at his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, where, during Prohibition, rich Hollywood types went to drink and dine.

The original salad was made with whole romaine leaves, according to John Mariani in his "Dictionary of American Food and Drink," so the stars and moguls could eat it with their fingers.

The late Julia Child, who interviewed Cardini's daughter, wrote that the original dressing contained just six ingredients — coddled egg (an egg cooked for exactly 60 seconds, which helps make the dressing creamy and stick to the lettuce), olive oil, lemon, garlic, Worcestershire sauce (not anchovies) and Parmesan cheese. The salad was made from scratch at tableside.

1950s

The Caesar was popular in California, and a recipe for it was published in Louis P. De Gouy's "The Salad Book" (Greenberg, 1950). He reports that it was "a new taste sensation from California." The Society of Epicures in Paris votes the Caesar the "greatest recipe to originate from the Americas in 50 years."

1971

Shortcuts and revisions to the salad are now common, reports the Time-Life cookbook series "American Cooking." In the volume on "The Great West," written with the help of culinary icons James Beard and M.F.K. Fisher, it notes, "Nowadays chopped anchovies are often added to the dressing. Some latter-day heretics scoff at the idea of coddling the eggs; beaten raw eggs, they say, do just as well." The authors point out that the real secret to the salad is the garlicky croutons, added at the last minute to maintain their crunch.

Mid-1980s

Brad Nelson, vice president of culinary for Marriott International, says the Caesar was basically a tableside-prepared salad until the 1980s, when it started showing up in casual restaurants on both coasts. Marriott added the salad to its hotel restaurant menus in 1985, "and by 1987, it was everywhere," he says.

The first bagged Caesar salad kit is introduced by Dole Foods. The first year, the company sold 500,000 bags, and sales were less than $2 million. By 2005, Dole sold 36 million bags and sales were $90 million. The company now has four Caesar kits as well as five other salad varieties. "But the regular Caesar outsells everything. It accounts for more than 80 percent of the kits sold," says Eric Schwartz, president of Dole's fresh vegetable division.

2006

The Caesar is everywhere, from fast-food giants such as McDonald's to sandwich chains such as Panera. It's also showing up again in its original form as a salad prepared tableside in posh restaurants. "It's so old-school, it's new again," says Robert Chestnutt, restaurant manager of The Willard Room in the historic Willard InterContinental. The Willard charges $16 per serving, and Chestnutt says it accounts for 40 percent of all appetizer orders.

Candy Sagon, The Washington Post