"Look, if you see a chicken Caesar on the menu, you know that somebody's made compromises."
"Another reason to love Mexico - unless you insist on putting sad, overcooked, characterless strips of grilled chicken cutlet on top of it and mashing it down into landfill. God does not want you to put chicken in your Caesar."
Anthony Bourdain rejected adding chicken to a Caesar salad as a betrayal of the dish's simplicity and flavor balance. He argued that chicken turns a focused salad into a compromised, diluted version that masks the impact of a carefully made Caesar dressing. Bourdain invoked culinary tradition and minimalist reverence for letting the dressing remain the centerpiece. The original Caesar recipe originated with Cesare Cardini in Tijuana during Prohibition-era 1924, reinforcing its non-Roman roots and original form. Although some chefs and restaurants commonly add chicken for protein or appeal, the purity-of-recipe stance prioritizes authenticity and the dressing's dominant role.
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