BajaNews
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Caesar's restaurant re-opened.
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-7978-a-great-spac...
Jul 28, 2010
Chef Javier Plascensia of Bonita’s Romesco Baja Med Bistro, whose family also owns a number of respected restaurants in Tijuana, including Villa
Saverios, has taken over Caesar’s, the historic Tijuana restaurant (Avenida Revolucion at Calle 5), where original owner Caesar Cardini was said to
have invented the Caesar salad in the 1920s. The restaurant closed last year, but Plascensia re-opened it last weekend with a big celebration and will
be overseeing the kitchen. It’ll serve the classic salad tableside, along with other traditional dishes from the restaurant’s heyday. Also on the menu
will be Mexican craft beer and great wine from Baja California.
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Lista
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I peeked at this one thinking of Caesar's in puertacitos...it was alway nice having a beer and taco on the road when you finally got off of that
horrible pavement, that dirt seemed real nice!
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capt. mike
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anyone know that famous steak house in TJ that was featured on No Reservations on the travel channel when they featured Baja Norte? Anthony Bordaine's
show?
i want to go there in 2 weeks.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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KASHEYDOG
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Mood: SO MANY TACOS, SO LITTLE TIME... Gotta Go, See ya there.... 
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Could this be what you're looking for Capt. Mike 
http://www.ladiferencia.com.mx/
Don\'t mess with the old dog...... Age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery! Brilliance only comes with age and
experience.....  ....  ....
Are you getting the most out of life OR is life getting the most out of you ??
Twenty years from now you\'ll be more disappointed by the things you didn\'t do then the things you did.
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capt. mike
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i don't know - i don't think that's the one i recall.
i'll go to his site and search shows and see if i can find.
this is the only time i think i'll be in TJ for 3 nites in my life so i want to parse the town well in food and drink.
thx!
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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tjBill
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The new Caesars should be a lot better if its run by Javier Plascensia.
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Gypsy Jan
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Hi Capt. Mike
It was Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods who went to TJ, not Anthony Bourdain (yet). See: http://search.travelchannel.com/travel/Bizarre%20Foods%20Mex...
Andrew went to La Diferencia, which is a wonderful restaurant and has beef on the menu, but it is more focused Mexico central classical cuisine.
If you are looking for a an all out meat experience, there are better places for that in TJ, like Cheripan (Argentinian Steak House).
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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capt. mike
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ok, thx - i recall Andrew now - but i swear Anthony did a TJ spot too - guess not.thx! i'll hope to get time to go to them.
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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bent-rim
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Does anyone have the original recipe for Caesar Salad?
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DENNIS
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Here's a bunch of them....all original:
http://tinyurl.com/4mnb5md
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bent-rim
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Dennis,
Muchas Gracias. When I was out out to dinner with my wife the other night we had a Caesar Salad made at the table. As I was watching the waiter, I
realized, hey I could do this. The first google posting seems to have the same ingredients the waiter was using, although he wasn't very forth coming
about what he was using.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bent-rim
Dennis,
Muchas Gracias. When I was out out to dinner with my wife the other night we had a Caesar Salad made at the table. As I was watching the waiter, I
realized, hey I could do this. The first google posting seems to have the same ingredients the waiter was using, although he wasn't very forth coming
about what he was using. |
Yeah...these guys can get weird. They change an ingredient, six grains of salt instead of four, and act like it's their invention.
Like some people when they come to Baja. They head off the beaten trail once, then act as though they are the first humans to see that spot and get
real secretive about it. [surf spots excepted]
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Bajahowodd
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Or, you could do this!
http://www.marzetti.com/products/cardinis/detail.php?bc=2&am...
Or what purports to be the original.
http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/caesar.htm
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mcfez
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bent-rim
Does anyone have the original recipe for Caesar Salad? |
The undisturbed recipe is printed in the book of " Baja Legends". Page 64-66
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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Woooosh
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
It was Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods who went to TJ, not Anthony Bourdain (yet). See: http://search.travelchannel.com/travel/Bizarre%20Foods%20Mex...
Andrew went to La Diferencia, which is a wonderful restaurant and has beef on the menu, but it is more focused Mexico central classical cuisine.
If you are looking for a an all out meat experience, there are better places for that in TJ, like Cheripan (Argentinian Steak House).
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KasheyDog posted the correct link, it'n not on the Travel Channel site. Dog this guy eat around or what? Geesh- he's been everywhere.
Zimmerman was smitten with the seafood and baked clams at the "mobile" Reuben mariscos diner permanently parked on the street katy-korner from the SY
Costco.
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods/Episodes...
[Edited on 2-23-2011 by Woooosh]
\"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\"
1961- JFK to Canadian parliament (Edmund Burke)
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Gypsy Jan
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From Ed Bedford's Column in the San Diego Reader
The Salad? The Salad — Caesar's Restaurante in TJ
By Ed Bedford | Published Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011
Caesar’s Restaurante Bar, in Caesar’s Hotel
1059 Revolución Avenue, near Calle 5, Baja, 664-685-5608
"It’s Willy’s badge that gets everyone’s attention. The sheriff’s badge. People run for the exit. Others yell, “Sheriff! Sing us ‘La Bamba’!”
Okay, nobody ran. And not everybody recognized the blue eyes, the badge, the charro hat, and the red-gray beard of William Clauson, the guy who
brought the world “La Bamba.”
Actually, you can see some people thinking, Who is that guy? Truth to tell, Willy does look like an hombre who just rode in from the old West. It
really sticks out here because we’re in Caesar’s. Yes, that Caesar’s: the TJ eatery where César Cardini invented (drum roll, please) the Caesar salad,
just the most famous salad in the world. On this spot, back on the Fourth of July, 1924 — d’agh — or maybe a few doors away, because the hotel was
only built in 1927.
Whatever, it’s a small miracle that this restaurant’s here, again, because last I heard, Caesar’s had gone bankrupt and closed its doors, what with la
violencia and TJ tourism tanking. Seems that seven months ago, new owners came in with money and refurbished and reopened a much classier joint than
the one that had closed.
In fact, it’s really looking good. Maybe too good. No more black Naugahyde booths and old carpeting. Now it’s black-and-white tile flooring, dark-wood
chairs, white tablecloths, a heavy-timbered ceiling, dozens of black-aproned waiters, low lights, a classy bar with a huge copper/brass espresso
machine glowing against the mahogany and mirrored walls... How much is everything gonna cost now?
I decide to go hunt down Willy to give me support. He used to sing in here as the charro güero — the blonde cowboy — and he’s an icon on this street.
See, Willy’s been a singer ever since his American parents brought him to this restaurant when he was ten years old, sat him down out on the
streetside patio, first table on the left (one table remains), and had him listen to a group of mariachis. “That moment transformed my life,” he says.
“I was from Swedish-American stock, but from that day I wanted to be Mexican and sing like the mariachis.” It was Willy who discovered the fisherman’s
song “La Bamba” when he was in Veracruz. He slowed it down, simplified it, sang it, then gave it to Ritchie Valens who…well, you know the rest.
I find him in his museum–folk club in the pasaje down the block and offer to buy him lunch — if it’s cheap enough.
“I’ve had lunch,” he says. “But I’ll come with you.”
We sit down. Waiter throws cloth napkins over our laps.
’Course, there’s no discussion as to what I’m having.
“The salad?” Willy says.
“The salad,” I say. Last time I had it, 2004, it was a really good and tasty experience. Have to see if the new guys have got it right.
“Salad? ¡Salúd!” says Willy.
He should know if it’s right, too, because Willy’s old enough to have known César. “Oh, yes,” he says. “Back in the ’50s, Mr. Cardini served his salad
tableside to me.”
José Antonio, the waiter, has brought a menu anyway. The prices are mostly way above what I wanna outlay. Like, the beef ribeye is 210 pesos, say,
$17.50; Caesar’s carne asada with “Spanish and Argentinean chorizo” is 190 ($16); and fish dishes, like the salmon meunière, are about the same. I
mean, compared with San Diego, great. Just more than I can handle right now. And way more than the TJ hotdog guys down in Plaza Santa Cecilia. Yes,
prosciutto-stuffed chicken breast is less, but not by much — 175 pesos (about $14.50). Some of the pastas (’cause, hey, César was Italian, right?) are
cheaper: fettuccine Alfredo is 90 pesos ($7.50), and the house ravioli goes for 110 ($9).
“Still do the Caesar’s salad tableside?” I ask.
“Most certainly,” José Antonio says.
He rolls up a wheeled table and starts crushing garlic into a large, dark, wooden salad bowl, then squishing anchovies and adding mustard. He holds up
each ingredient so we can see. He shakes in some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, some Maggi soy, squeezes in lime, grinds in pepper. Then he
takes two raw eggs that have been floating in a bowl of hot water (“for two minutes”), cracks off the shell tops, siphons off the whites, then drops
the yolks in, stirs, and adds olive oil. Now he hauls out four giant romaine lettuce leaves (“Always leaves from the heart,” he says, “never the outer
ones”), slides them through the gloop in the bowl, and places them, splaying out from the middle, on the plate. He adds croutons and parmesan cheese
and hands the plate to me. He also brings out a basket of hot French bread.
I mean, maybe it doesn’t sound like much, but it looks like plenty on the plate.
I grab a fork.
“Uh, no,” says Willy. “Mr. Cardini always said it tastes so much better if you eat it by hand. If you’re seen using a knife and fork in here…well, I
have a reputation to uphold.”
’Course, he’s right. Tradition and all that. And, boy. This whole ceremony is exactly how I remember it from 7 years ago, and, Willy says, exactly as
it first happened 87 years ago, that fateful Fourth of July night when guests arrived, César’s larder was bare, and he made a big tableside deal out
of the few things he had left to offer them — as the legend goes.
Yes, I could have added grilled chicken breast for another $2, and maybe I should have, just to bulk out ye olde belly, but I’m happy, and the taste
of the garlic-olive-anchovy mix is really good, and the bread does the filling.
But mainly what I feel is relief. That the old heart of Tijuana’s pumping again. That the simplest, most famous salad in the world is, well, back
where it belongs.
“Willy,” I say. “Let’s go to your place. Maybe ‘La Bamba,’ one more time?”
The Place: Caesar’s Restaurante Bar, in Caesar’s Hotel, 1059 Revolución Avenue, near Calle 5, Tijuana, (011-52-664) 685-5608
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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bent-rim
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Gypsy Jan,
Thank you for posting Ed Bedford's article. It was a great read and the ingredients are the same except for the soy sauce and lime juice, the waiter
only used lemon juice. I'll try it both ways.
Again, muchas gracias.
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