Still Chasing the Elusive Caesar Salad

Admittedly this is not a hunt that requires extensive physical activity.  You will be doing this work seated and only moving your eyes to see if it's listed.  In my case, I will be moving my mouth, too.  When Charlie's - A NY Joint upped it's Caesar from $6 to $10, Richie declared a ban on ordering one there.  And, in truth, he had a point.    A head of romaine lettuce at your local supermarket is (probably) less than $2 and a bottle of Gerard's Caesar dressing is ? $3?  $4?  And lasts through several if not many heads of romaine.  And Charlie uses it; he used to make their own and it was great!

We were on Richie's quest at Scardino's, 4803 Torrance, in Torrance, for Chicken Cacciatori.  He loves it and Charlie's only serves it now and then as a special.  He has even given the servers there our phone number and e address in the event it's going to be in the rotation.

But enough about that.  Scardino's Caesar was listed at $6 and I was allowed to go 'head on which I did.  The portion was huge!  I'd ordered a small and asked our server, "This is a small?" and she nodded brightly and said, "Yeah."

Unfortunately the "romaine" was a dark green and I suspected it was kale.  Romaine should be a lovely pale green with ruffled leaves and long, prominent main veins.  The dressing was more parmesan than anything else and was billed as their own concoction.

So much for Scardno's Caesar.

Next we went to El Torito, 600 S. Sepulveda, Manhattan Beach, where the menu promised a "Mexican Caesar" with tomatoes ("Must you?") and pepitos for crunch and their own dressing.  And what again looked like kale. 

My bacon-wrapped shrimp were good and I bet you could make them at home:  Take one mild chili pepper, "butter" it with cojito cheese, stuff in a good-sized shrimp, wrap it in bacon and deep fry it. 

And get a head of romaine and a bottle of Gerard's.