Thread: Fans of Caesar!!! Where are You???

Caesar salad that is. Traditional. Made tableside. Not kitchen made. No bottles or cans. No reimagined presentation. Just made in front of you by talented wait staff.

For years my wife and I have enjoyed regular evenings out including diner at a number of our favorite steak and seafood spots. During this time, one by one, this fabulous salad has dissappeared from menus or moved to the kitchen with horrible results or even worse made with mass produced goo. It's hard to believe that in a city of more than 6 million people we're down to one place where the owner refuses to let tradition die. The cart, the big wooden bowl ...... let the magic begin.

If you're a fan of tableside created caesar salad please tell me where you find it in your area. If you like caesar salad but have never had one made like this then do yourself a favor and try finding one at a place near you. If they do it right you'll always be happy you did.

Drats... I was thinking I could go for a Bloody Caesar (or 6).


Rim a highball glass with the juice from the lime wedge and a combination of celery salt and salt.
Add the vodka and clamato juice.
Season with pepper, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauces to taste.
Stir well.
Garnish with a celery stick.

Regards

Kaptain "Uh.... skip the celery stick and add more vodka" Zero

I haven't had this experience since I was less than 10 years old and living in Houston, TX. Some Irish steakhouse, the name escapes me. Man, my mouth is watering just running over some of those delicious memories of filet mignon.

Oh, right, the tableside Caesar salads were yummy, too.

I don't get out much, it's a small area, however when I go to Canada I do like the restaurants. I am going to say the last time I had a Caesar sale made table side was at Ruth Crist Steak House in Edmonton, either that or the MacDonald Hotel. It has been a few years. The salad chef that came out made the dressing at the table, which is the heart of a Caesar salad. Complete with fresh grated cheese. It was good and I was able to say no croutons and go easy on the dressing. It was as good as if I made it myself, ok maybe a little better.

Honestly can't remember the last one I had made table side.
It was a great salad and you're so very right, the ones that come out of the kitchen are nothing more than a side salad.

Might have to venture back to the bigger city areas and see if I can find a place that still does it.

Since this seems to be a dying art in the hospitality business and based on replies from other friends I thought I would start a list. If you're a member here who travels regularly or occasionally for vacations you may want to try some of these places and enjoy an old time traditional real Caesar salad. Also there must be a few places in some of the big cities we haven't heard from so come on you big city folks. Let me know where I can find one in your home town.

Caesar's - Tijuana, Mexico ***The Home of this Gastronomic Delight***
Caesars

The Marine Room - La Jolla, CA
La Jolla Restaurants on the Water | The Marine Room

The Dal Rae - Pico Rivera, CA
The Dal Rae

The Octagon - Toronto, Canada
The Octagon Restaurant | Thornhill's Premium Dining Experience

Jacobs & Co. - Toronto, Canada
https://jacobssteakhouse.com/

Peter's Fine Dining - Markham, Canada (Toronto area)
Peter's Fine Dining | Best Steak and Seafood in Markham

Zorro's - Mississauga, Canada (Toronto area)
Zorro's Steakhouse | Mississauga, ON | (905) 671-1149

Lombardo - Buffalo, NY
Ristorante Lombardo

Red Osier - Stafford, NY
https://redosier.com/

Bern's - Tampa, FL
Bern's Steak House is a unique culinary experience

The old-school traditional steakhouse with the darkened dining rooms, simple menu of various chops and seafood, maybe some Sinatra on the sound system, seemed to fade out for awhile with all the latest new dining out trends (Applebee's and other chains, fer chrissakes). We had a few here in the Upstate of SC, all owned by a few Greek families (as are all the best restaurants around here).

We even had one just up the street from here, the legendary LeBaron's, that had a band and dancing on Saturday nights, a suit of armor out front, old ladies in furs and jewels, cigarette smoke so thick you couldn't breathe or see, the whole 9 yards. It closed years ago.

But just anecdotally, the traditional steakhouse appears to be making a comeback, and if there's enough demand, that table-side Caesar will pop up here and there too as you found. Just like with our world of straight razors and other traditional pursuits, more and more people seem to be willing to pay more to get away from the mass-produced, all-you-can-eat chain crap. Enjoy!

My dad's oldest sister Leora worked most of her adult life as a waitress and one place that she always talked about was 'The Old Virginia Steakhouse' in I believe in Pasadena or Glendale California. Somewhere around the Boars Nest is an article about the restaurant that she'd saved.The picture shows dark hardwood chairs and tables and what I'd bet was leather upholstery, there were chandeliers; it was a very elegant looking environment.

She said the head Chef was from France and that he could really cook some wonderful dishes/however she said he couldn't fix a decent chili to save his soul.

Besides the article Leora had saved (probably stole) a glass from the establishment, I find it a very classy design.

Originally Posted by Brenngun

Caesar salad that is. Traditional. Made tableside. Not kitchen made. No bottles or cans. No reimagined presentation. Just made in front of you by talented wait staff.
....
If they do it right you'll always be happy you did.

Many restaurants have backed off on 'eggs' used like this.

I just learned that eggs can be pasteurized Sous Vide... i.e. cooked at 135F/57C for two hours.
This takes raw eggs off the menu on the health department checklist.

Let your favorite restaraunt know this trick (remind them) and you can be rewarded with
a traditional Caesar, fresh mayo and more again. There are dinner choices like pasta carbonara
that become easy for the commercial kitchen when they have pasteurized eggs.

The over very easy eggs of my youth are gone but could come back with this trick.

Yes fresh unwashed eggs still warm from the birds are better...

The only way to get a decent Caesar salad in these parts.......well really any kind of Caesar Salad........is to whip it up yourself. Yours truly has actually become quite good at it. I like a strong anchovy component to the dressing which grosses many people out (like SWMBO) worse than the raw egg. A Caesar and a BBQed steak and you're living large, no doubt about it.