Which restaurateur is most often credited with creating Caesar salad in Tijuana, Mexico?

The restaurateur most often credited with creating Caesar salad in Tijuana, Mexico, is Caesar Cardini.

Cardini, born Cesare Cardini in Italy, operated Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana, where American visitors came during Prohibition. The best-known origin story places the salad’s creation on July 4, 1924, when a holiday rush left the restaurant short on ingredients. Cardini improvised a tableside salad from romaine, croutons, cheese, eggs, seasonings, and dressing ingredients.

The dish was originally served as whole romaine leaves that diners could lift by the stem. Its fame spread among Hollywood visitors and eventually throughout North America. Cardini later trademarked and marketed a bottled Caesar dressing.

The attribution is not entirely uncontested: accounts also credit Cardini’s brother Alex, restaurant staff, or cook Livio Santini. Nevertheless, Caesar Cardini is the standard answer because he is the person most widely associated with the restaurant and the salad’s popularization. The dish is named for Cardini, not Julius Caesar.