How Columbia’s 1905 salad became one of Tampa’s most iconic dishes

Ybor City – Over half a million bowls whip the tableside each year. at Columbia Restaurant in Sand Keys, Sarasota, St. Augustine and Celebration. Tourists munch on food at Tampa International Airport before returning home. This recipe is prepared on Kelly RIPA’s live television and is smashed over the internet with food blogs and ticutocs.

However, the original 1905 salad swears a different flavour at Ybor City, washed away by a sangria pitcher and sopped up with a chunk of lasegunda Cuban bread at the original location of the restaurant.

“This is definitely one of Tampa’s signature dishes,” said Andy Husse, author of the University of South Florida Library and Florida research curator. “Cities that deserve salt have their own sandwiches…but how many cities have their own salads?”

Columbia Restaurant is now in its 120th year. Spread throughout the city’s block, Cuba’s Spanish dining establishments are Florida’s oldest, continuous operational restaurant and the largest location in the state serving Spanish cuisine. There are 1,700 seats and 15 dining rooms, each with a gorgeous decoration and history.

It is also known for its large and colorful salads.

Richard Gon’s Mart, fourth-generation “caretaker” of Columbia Restaurant Group, said: “We have sangria, paella, and Cuban sandwiches… but if you take the salad, there’s a problem.”

Tony’s special

The culinary story begins in the 1940s with a late-night snack called Tony Noriega. He worked as a server at several Latin restaurants in Ibor, including Colombia.

“Tony says that salad originated in his kitchen in the middle of the night, and went home after a big night and was hungry for salad,” the Tampa Tribune food editor wrote in 1955.

Noriega shared his sensitivity with his favorite clients. It soon came onto the Colombian menu.

“The Tony Salad was a big deal. In Tampa, where we had a sit-in dining experience, almost everyone had a version of that salad,” said Husse, who wrote a book on the history of Columbia restaurants. “It’s kind of a Cuban sandwich-like creation, but in the form of a salad.”

The exact ingredients vary depending on the restaurant and duration, but the base was always lettuce, ham and Swiss cheese.

Tony’s special also included “onions, green chili peppers, chopped warped eggs, warped eggs, warped eggs, olive oil, vinegar, and dash of it,” according to an ad for the 1947 Tampa Tribune. Other accounts mention black olives and celery.

Noriega is S. I opened my own spot, Tony’s restaurant, on Dale Mabury Highway. He worked in the 1950s and 1960s. According to the Huse book, Noriega “was proud of his illustrious career in salads and never resented the imitations he saw in town.”

Even as the recipes were refined, the food continued to be a hit in Colombia.

“The salad flavor reflects (Noriega’s) Spanish and Italian ancestry, appealing to his patronage of Eversity, his hometown,” Husse wrote in his book. “It became an iconic symbol of Tampa’s Latin roots, and Cesar (Gon’s Mart) renamed the ‘1905’ Salad in the 1970s as Colombia’s 75th anniversary approached. ”

In the 1980s, Columbia offered a complimentary 1905 salad along with all the appetizers.

“They realized when they did mathematics that they lost $1 million on olives alone, among all the different places around Florida,” Husse said. “They immediately thought this had to be something La Carte.”

The secret of success

The recipe has been fine-tuned over the years, but these days it has been prepared with extreme accuracy. Colombia trademarked the dish’s name.

This has not stopped other restaurants around Florida from putting their own spins on. For example, you can get a 1981 salad, such as one Disney Springs restaurant. Comes with artichokes.

In Columbia, meals start with greens in large silver bowls. Ybor’s kitchen has something crisp and crisp just for iceberg lettuce.

“If you want to make it with romaine lettuce, you can do it,” Gon’s Mart said. “Did you put in bibletus? Ah, my God will help you.”

Jeff Hook recalled one chef who decided to push a different kind of lettuce during the opening of the celebration place.

Like a soaked arugula, he didn’t last long.

“It’s a wet salad, an old-school salad,” said Houck, vice president of marketing for the 1905 Family of Restaurants. “There are a few things you won’t ruin.”

Next, a pile of sliced ​​ham and Swiss cheese is added to the bowl. Both must be engraved on matchsticks.

“There’s a certain range of types,” Houck said. “There’s an architecture in the salad that really helps you enjoy it.”

The chef is happy to use turkey and shrimp instead of pork.

Sliced ​​tomatoes have also been added, but people sometimes rule them out. Gonzmart said Colombians are calling the version “1903” salad. It is named after the year the family’s first saloon opened at Ebo. It burned out and was replaced by Colombian Restaurant in 1905 by Cashimiro Hernandez Sr.

Finally, imported Spanish olives are sprinkled for a blast of salted water.

Next is Showtime.

Tuxedo servers wheel bowls prepared to hungry customers. They pull the gloves and soak everything in a charming vinaigrette.

You can buy bottles from the gift shop or make the dressing fresh, but Gonzmart insists on preparing for a day or two in advance.

“People make it and offer it right away. You need to allow all the ingredients to be merged and mixed,” he said. “The garlic must be fresh, the garlic must be crushed, then you have to blend it all together.”

Squeezed lemon, bright and tart flashes. A generous dash of Worcestershire sauce from Lea & Perrins – two large circles swirled around the bowl for each person on the table. The server is not shy. Colombia is the largest consumer of Lea & Perrins worldwide, passing through 20,000 bottles a year. The company president came to Ybor once to sample the salad.

Houck said that when he saw the customer whipped in front of him, he seemed to be enjoying the food more. During the pandemic, the server prepared a 1905 salad from kitchen safety. But people saw the brown spots of Worcestershire and thought the lettuce was withered.

Finally, the server makes grated cheese from the rain – 10 cranks per person Romano. The salad is thrown again for proper measurements and served on a chilled plate. Pile up on cracked pepper, unraveling the sides of Cuban bread, life is good.

Some get it as a shared starter, while some get something to crouch while the table waits for the paella. However, USA Today once named one of the best salads to cook meals in 1905.

That’s how Houck orders it. When he started working in a restaurant group, he ate six dishes in his first week.

“Now people are discovering Tampa’s cool and tasty things,” he said. “Bring it. I’ll feed the salad.”

Try the original 1905 salad

Columbia Restaurants are located in St. Armand’s Circle in Sarasota, the historic district of St. Augustine, Sand Key in Clearwater, City of Ybor in Celebration near Orlando, and St. Armand’s Circle. There are also Columbia Cafés at Tampa Bay History Centre and Tampa International Airport. Visit Columbiarestaurant.com for hours.

To cook at home, use this recipe from the restaurant.

Original “1905” salad

4 cups of iceberg lettuce, broken to 1½ “x1½”Ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/8½ cup baked ham, julienned 2 inch x½ cup Swiss cheese, Julienne 2 inch x⅛”½ cup green Spanish olives1 cup “1905” dressing (recipe below)¼ cup Romano cheese, grated2 tablespoons of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce1 Lemon

Mix lettuce, tomato, ham, Swiss cheese and olives in a large salad bowl. Add “1905” dressing, Romano cheese, Worcestershire and one slice of lemon juice before serving. Throw well and eat immediately. Create two full salads or four side salads.

“1905” Dressing Recipe

1/2 cup extra virgin Spanish olive oil4 garlic cloves, chopped2 teaspoons dried oregano⅛ Cup White Wine VinegarSalt and pepper to taste

Mix olive oil, garlic and oregano in a bowl. Mix the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. For best results, prepare and refrigerate one to two days in advance.