As salads go, the Cobb Salad is an unusual combination of ingredients. Romaine and iceberg lettuce, turkey, bacon, tomatoes, feta cheese, and hardboiled eggs aren’t odd to find in a salad on their own. But all of them together are a unique combination. What makes the Cobb Salad even more distinctive is its presentation. The other ingredients are artfully arranged in rows atop the lettuce, providing a feast for your eyes before you dig in. At Classic Kitchen Cafe, we believe that the visual appeal of your food is almost as important as the taste, and the Cobb Salad is one of the best examples.
Let’s take a look back at the origins of the Cobb Salad and how this artfully arranged food became a staple of restaurants and cafes everywhere.
An Inventive Meal
The Cobb Salad is named after the man who invented it, Robert Howard Cobb. He owned the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood, California, in the 1930s. The story goes that Cobb was hungry one night in 1937 and searched his restaurant’s kitchen for something to eat. What he found was a collection of various ingredients, including lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, hardboiled eggs, chicken, bacon, and Roquefort cheese. He chopped all his ingredients into small pieces, arranged them in neat rows on top of his lettuce, and drizzled everything with French dressing.
The Brown Derby Restaurant
Mr. Cobb was pretty pleased with his impromptu meal, so he added it to the menu of the Brown Derby. It was an instant hit with the restaurant’s patrons and became a permanent addition to the menu. The Brown Derby was a famous Hollywood restaurant, and word soon spread about Cobb’s new salad idea. Other restaurants throughout California and across the country started to make their own variations, using available ingredients and adapting to local tastes.
The Lasting Appeal of Artful Food
Part of the Cobb Salad’s appeal is the unique combination of ingredients, but diners also love the presentation. The neat rows of bacon, hardboiled egg, cheese, and other ingredients look beautiful on the plate before the diner mixes them together. It’s a feast for the eyes as well as for the taste buds.
Enjoy Traditional Food at Classic Kitchen Cafe
At Classic Kitchen Cafe, we’re proud to offer our patrons traditional dishes made well. Our menu features the food you crave when you want to harken back to a simpler time.
