The Century-Long Saga of the Caesar Salad

In the dimly lit dining room of Caesar’s, just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, Efraín Montoya stood beside a table draped in white cloth, tossing whole romaine lettuce leaves in an intensely pungent, creamy dressing, before topping them with garlicky, golden croutons. Above the checkered floors of the dining room hung a large portrait of the man for whom the salad — and the restaurant — are named: Césare Cardini.

Over his 14-year tenure, Mr. Montoya, an ensaladero, has made tens of thousands of the Caesar salads served at the restaurant, hailed by many as the dish’s birthplace.

The winding legacy of the Caesar salad is inextricable from Tijuana, which plans to commemorate the dish’s 100th birthday on July 4 with a four-day festival. “If you come to Tijuana and don’t visit Caesar’s,” Mr. Montoya says, “it’s as if you didn’t come to Tijuana at all.”

The legacy of the Caesar salad is inextricable from Tijuana, Mexico, where it was first served a century ago. The border city will host a four-day festival honoring the dish.Credit…Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times

The celebration kicks off on Avenida Revolución on Thursday, complete with a gala and a cocktail party featuring chefs like José Andrés and Dominique Crenn, and the unveiling of a new sculpture of Mr. Cardini. Grupo Plascencia, the company that now operates Caesar’s, hopes that the festival can restore some glory to a city long derided as dangerous.