Brooks Reitz measures out olive oil for inclusion into his Caesar salad dressing, Tuesday, November 19, 2024, in Charleston.
Brooks Reitz's parents were experts at hosting dinner parties.
They had company over constantly, perhaps one of the reasons the owner of Leon's Oyster Shop, Little Jack's Tavern and Melfi's became so enamored with the restaurant business. Their food wasn't necessarily fancy, but it was carefully prepared with quality ingredients.
Most meals didn't happen without Reitz's mother making her famous Caesar salad, a riff on a recipe she discovered in the circa-1975 cookbook "Virginia Hospitality."
She would pull out her big hand-carved wooden bowl. She'd smash the anchovies, rub the garlic, add the fresh lemon juice and crack an egg. Sharp, smelly flavors would fill the kitchen as she finished the dressing with blue cheese.
"I have loved a good bold, bracing Caesar salad since," Reitz said.
Reitz is not alone in his nostalgic admiration for the salad, which turned 100 this year and is still served at the Mexican restaurant where it was birthed. As Charleston's dining scene becomes increasingly dynamic, the Caesar endures as a timeless classic available at all kinds of restaurants.
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The Caesar salad reportedly spawned just south of the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana in July 1924. It's named after the man many say invented it, Césare Cardini. The Italian immigrant combined a whole coddled egg, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce -- but not anchovies -- to make the first Caesar dressing.
The salad's complicated history can be traced to his restaurant Alhambra Cafe, where Cardini used those leftover ingredients to create the now-iconic salad for a Fourth of July celebration. (Some suggest it was first made by the mother of one of the restaurant's cooks, Livio Santini.)
Most, though, associate the dish with Cardini's second restaurant, Caesar's, which he opened in 1926. It's unclear when anchovies entered the equation, but the salty fish has become a staple in the dressing at Caesar's, which is still open today in Tijuana.
Its namesake salad is prepared using garlic, whole anchovies, Dijon mustard, Parmigiano-Reggiano, lime juice, olive oil, salt, freshly cracked black pepper and a coddled egg yolk. The restaurant sells more than 2,500 a month.
Caesar salads in Charleston
Berkeley's in Charleston doesn't sell quite that many, but it is a popular menu item at the Rutledge Avenue restaurant, owned by New Jersey natives Marc and Elizabeth Hudacsko. Their Caesar is served simply with romaine lettuce, pecorino cheese and croutons.
And yes, anchovies are used to make the dressing.
"It's my favorite salad," owner Marc Hudacsko said. "I just love it."
Wonderful Caesars dot the Lowcountry, from the cheese-showered, breadcrumb-crisped offering at Coda Del Pesce on the Isle of Palms to the simple citrusy Caesar at Edmund's Oast downtown. Many lean into the classic combinations Cardini made famous, but a salad so widely served was bound to produce riffs and variations -- and the Caesar certainly has over the years.
In Charleston, Marbled & Fin's is adorned in zested and shaved Parmesan and slices of a French cheese named Mimolette. The goal was to make a Caesar that was "unique," chef Eucepe Putriano said before we published a review of the East Bay Street restaurant.
At Basic Kitchen, Charlie Layton created a vegan version inspired by a family tradition back in Bedford, England. For birthdays, the Laytons would visit a locally-owned Italian restaurant, and each time, Layton's mom would order a Caesar salad with anchovies. He was initially deterred.
"Little did I know I would grow to love that super salinity," the chef said.
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To produce that saltiness in a vegan dressing, Layton uses capers and sea beans. They're combined with cashews, cashew cream and nutritional yeast to replace the Parmesan. It's been a huge hit at the Wentworth Street restaurant, which focuses on fundamentals like local ingredients and nourishing preparations.
"It's our highest selling salad," Layton said. "And we sell a lot of salads."
Reitz admits that his Italian-inspired restaurant, Melfi's, doesn't serve his "death row Caesar." But, he's proud of the one they're delivering at the upscale King Street destination, where little gem lettuce is drizzled in dressing spiced by Calabrian chilis. Reitz likes to eat the lettuce -- sprinkled with cheese, croutons and bread crumbs -- like little tacos.
Reitz plans to eventually serve a Caesar salad at his recently opened New Orleans restaurant. He's considering adding English blue cheese to the dressing; a subtle tip of the hat to his mother.
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