I’d been living in San Diego for about a year and was trying to get out of the business of being a chef. Of course, however, cooking was the only thing I really knew. It was 1990…or ’91…

I got a call from a chef I’d previously worked for in Berkeley. He offered me a job as his Sous Chef at his new restaurant in the Shattuck Hotel. Well, I’d have to move back home to Berkeley. I asked my girlfriend if she wanted to sell her truck, pack everything we owned into a U-Haul and drive to Berkeley so I could take this job. She said, ‘sure, why not?’
So we quit our jobs, sold the truck, and gave notice that we were moving out of our apartment. We got a U-Haul and packed it with everything we had left. We were on the porch drinking iced tea when I got a phone call from the chef. He said, ‘Chris, I got bad news. I got fired.’
‘You got what? Why?’
‘I got in a fight with the Hotel owner. He insisted I put Caesar salad on the menu. I don’t want Caesar salad on my menu. It just doesn’t fit. It doesn’t work for me. Neither one of us wanted to bend on it… He insisted, I refused, and I got fired.’
‘What?! I love Caesar salad, dude. I have everything we own in a U-Haul and no place to live and now I don’t have a job? What’s wrong with Caesar salad? I totally love Caesar salad!! Are you out of your mind?!’

This, by the way, is my recipe for Caesar salad dressing.

Caesar salad dressing

2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
2T. lemon juice

1C. canola oil
1C. Pure olive oil
2T. lemon juice
2T. water
1t. kosher salt
2 cloves garlic
2 anchovy filets
More Kosher salt and add some fresh ground pepper to taste

Make sure the bowl of your food processor is clean and dry, put in the blade and then put the eggs and 2T. lemon juice in the bowl of your food processor. Turn it on and blend the eggs and lemon juice together. With the blade still spinning, add the oil, drop by drop. A good way to do this is to use a squirt bottle. Fill it with the oil and then drop, drop, drop. Whether you use a squirt bottle or not, after you have added about 2 tablespoons of the oil, in this way, you’re beginning to establish an emulsion and you can begin to add the oil in a small steady stream, until you’ve added all of it. Then add the rest of the lemon juice, water, salt, fresh garlic, and anchovies.

Traditionally, one would toss it with fresh Romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese and toasted croutons. That’s exactly how I have made it for the last 20 years and to this day I still love Caesar salad.

Anyway, we drove north that night, to Berkeley. I immediately applied for and landed, the job as the Sous Chef at the same hotel, but under a different Head Chef. Caesar salad was definitely on the menu. Make mine with extra anchovies…