Caesar Salad Festival in Tijuana This Sunday: Did You Know Its Roots Are in Baja?

djjewelz/Flickr

If you're up for a spur-of-the-moment trip across the Mexican border (and who isn't these days?), this weekend would be a good time to go, as in, Sunday, Tijuana will play host to the annual Caesar Salad Festival, put on by Caesar's Restaurant on Revolution Road.

Raise your hand if you knew the Caesar salad was born in Baja. OK, OK, foodists. We see you. But this is a little-known story. The Caesar salad is a staple on Italian menus everywhere, so one might assume it was first made in some Roman kitchen. A nod to Julius Caesar, maybe? It's an easy mistake, but many say no. The man behind the salad is actually Italian transplant to Tijuana Caesar Cardini. Or at least one version of the story goes that way.

According to his daughter, Rosa Cardini, it was at a 1924 Independence Day celebration that Caesar ran out of ingredients for his holiday menu. Making do, he grabbed what he had -- romaine lettuce, olive oil, raw egg, garlic, Parmesan cheese and Worcestershire sauce -- and put it together tableside, to the delight of American visitors. The salad then proceeded to sweep the nation.

This Sunday, Caesar's Restaurant, which was taken over by Juan Plascencia (father of Javier Plascencia) in 2010, will host a party on the blocks surrounding it featuring local music, art, a children's area and "gourmet cuisine," which we can only assume includes the famous salad itself.

The free festival begins at noon, and continues until an as-yet-undetermined time.

Never have we seen so much fanfare over well-dressed lettuce, but we like it.

See also: Anthony Bourdain's Baja Episode of No Reservations Will Make You Want to Cross the Border Immediately.
See also: 'Stick a Fork in It' column Tijuana Sí!.