r/StupidFood • u/Ezgru • 2d ago

Pretentious AF This 3 Leaf Caesar Salad

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Dressing made table-side. Slothed into three leaves, with a crouton crust bread. I think I was being punk’d in this steakhouse tonight.

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u/Sungodatemychildren 2d ago

Caesar salad is modern cuisine, it was invented in the 1920s. The shitty thing about OPs meal is the paltry amount and the terrible excuse for a crouton.

-35

u/meowmeowgiggle 2d ago

In what world do you live where "modern cuisine" is a hundred years old??

Modern cuisine is influenced by classical cuisine, that's why we still have Caesar salads.

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u/Sungodatemychildren 2d ago

In the world where dishes like Caesars salad can be found on the menus of tons of restaurants without it being "retro" or whatever. If I see Caesar salad on a menu without additions, I expect dressed lettuce and croutons, aka a non-shitty version of what OP got.

Would you consider corn dogs, Reuben sandwiches, Vichyssoise, Banh Mi, or Chicago deep dish to be non-modern foods?

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u/meowmeowgiggle 2d ago

To quote myself, since I guess you missed it:

Modern cuisine is influenced by classical cuisine, that's why we still have Caesar salads.

The traditional presentation evolves and becomes modern. If it doesn't evolve, it is colloquially "classic."

Everything you listed has indeed been modernized to the point that if you made any of them traditionally, from scratch, they would be palatably unrecognizable to most people (notably for reduced salt and sugar). Nevermind the flavor differences in all of those foods as we have dramatically modified plant crops and dramatically fattened/otherwise modified livestock.

What the OP was given was a traditional Caesar salad. However, even when listed as such, the commoner expects the lettuce chopped. Were I making the menu, I would include "whole-leaf romaine" in some way in the description.

It's not about "akshually" and all about operating a restaurant that the customer can interact with as smoothly as possible and have proper expectations of what they're ordering. (Personally I think descriptions are far more important than names. I skip names, go straight for "WTF is it?" If there's no description, they're forcing me to make the wait staff answer extra dumb questions that could be printed on the menu.)