Chef Jade Investigates the Origins of the Cobb Salad

LOS ANGELES - July 15, 2024 - PRLog -- As I explore Southern California, I'm slowly realizing how many iconic dishes originated in this influential area. The lineup of L.A. area originals includes such classics as the hot fudge sundae, the French Dip sandwich, the cheeseburger (invented in Pasadena), the oyster cocktail, and the Orange Julius. Add to that illustrious list, the Cobb Salad. This beloved, protein-heavy salad was invented at the legendary Brown Derby, in Hollywood. While the restaurant shuttered back in the 1980s, it left an indelible mark on American food culture, thanks largely to its landmark salad. Here's how it all started.

A Restaurant for the Ages

Founded as a small cafe in the 1920s – I can just imagine stars like Douglas Fairbanks and Clara Bow sipping coffee here before heading into the studio – the Brown Derby quickly became one of Hollywood's most popular restaurants. It probably didn't hurt that the restaurant was so hard to miss: true to its name, it was shaped like a giant brown derby. The original Brown Derby spawned a national chain of restaurants, which helped the Cobb Salad become a household name. But the origins of the salad itself can be traced back to one fateful late-night snack.

A Hasty Meal

If you've read some of my other food origin stories (I'm looking at you Buffalo Wings), you may have noticed a pattern: so many of our country's favorite dishes were thrown together for a hungry customer who wanted a meal in a hurry, usually late at night. They say "haste makes waste," but it can also make some pretty amazing dishes, it turns out. In this case, the customer was none other than famed showman Sid Grauman.

According to legend, Grauman had stopped in the Brown Derby late one night in 1937. After rummaging through the fridge, co-owner Bob Cobb whipped up a salad of lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, avocado (this is California, after all), chives, bacon, and hard-boiled eggs. Grauman quickly fell in love with the filling salad and came back the next day to order what he named the 'Cobb Salad." Given Grauman's knack for backing a winner (he built the iconic Chinese and Egyptian theaters, which are still major tourist attractions), it's not surprising that the dish quickly became the talk of the town.

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