The Caesar Salad Competition “romaines” one of my favorite events of the year. The University of Houston Hilton College and hotel hosted this year’s 29th annual competition featuring 19 area restaurants and hotels vying for Best Creative, Best Classic, Best Presentation and Consumers’ Choice awards. One of the best parts of the evening, besides the open bar, was the freedom to smell of anchovies and garlic without shame or fear of offending other attendees. You wear the garlic stank 24 hours with honor. You tasted 19 Caesar salads? Everyone will know.

While I’ll spare you the details of each of the 19 remarkable salads that guests sampled (sometimes twice), I’ve highlighted my picks for the most notable and interesting from the 14 Creative category entries.

TRINITI Showcasing a level of artistry we’ve come to expect, Triniti was able to manipulate the egg in terms of textural contrast. A bed of traditional, chopped lettuce and crushed hard-boiled egg was simple and a good change of pace for those eaters who don’t want to think about raw eggs in the Caesar dressing. Topping off the serving was a peppery shot of Bloody Maria — a salty chaser of sorts that was Trinti’s rendition of a Bloody Mary. If you’re finishing off your salad with a shot, you’re doing something right.

THE WESTIN DOWNTOWN The presentation of the entry was neat and tidy, a break from so many of the entries that lacked architecture — but what also deserves a nod are the tiny paper lanterns and Chinese-themed decor that the Westin used to decorate their booth. I’m torn, because the entry was as minimally “Caesar” as possible, but it was nevertheless really, really good. Peking duck with chopped romaine and Caesar dressing were wrapped in delicate crepes and came with a hoisin dipping sauce. I didn’t even taste the Caesar components in my first bite, but the sweet hoisin sauce may have overshadowed it. I did dissect it though, and indeed there was a small amount of Caesar salad rolled into the Peking duck pancakes.

LA GRIGLIA One of my favorites in the creative category was La Griglia’s Caesar martini (photo at top). This adventurous concoction featured black peppercorn, pecorino cheese and lemon-infused vodka garnished with a romaine leaf, anchovy and a sliver of cheese with a green olive anchor. While I don’t expect this to be showing up on the bar menu, manager Rich Parrott successfully proved to the world that even a salad can have an age restriction. If you love a dirty martini, this will wow you. If you don’t care for dirty martinis, it might be your idea of a cocktail nightmare.

LATIN BITES The perfectly bite-sized, spoon-shaped endive leaf (at right) was home to a creamy Caesar-inspired mousse that included roasted Peruvian panca peppers that rested on top of poblano, mushroom and a slice of cherry tomato. Finished with a dusting of sweet crystalized rose petals and an earthy, quartered botija olive, Latin Bites somehow earned my (personal) Consumer Choice vote without even plying me with alcohol. I wasn’t about to rush home to practice crystalizing rose petals in an effort to recreate it myself, but the creativity and beauty of the entry was impressive.

KIRAN’S Stealing the show was Kiran’s Indian-inspired Caesar. With house-made black garlic vindaloo croutons and Cornish game hen served in a paper-thin papadam shell bowl (which stayed miraculously crunchy), spiced cashews and dried fruit rocked the pants off this submission. Not only did I enjoy the smallish (but large enough to be considered a side salad at a restaurant) bowl of eclectic spices, but listening to chef Kirin Verma (photo below) describe how all of the components were individually prepared in an authentic South-Indian style was fascinating. When presented with the coveted wooden salad bowl for the Most Creative category, event co-host Randy Fournier publicly recommended that her entry be added to the Kirin’s menu immediately.

 The 29th Annual Caesar Salad Competition winners include:

• Kiran’s (Most Creative)
• Houston Club (Best Classic)
• Westin Downtown (Best Presentation)
• Hilton America’s (Consumers’ Choice)