We’ve causally been monitoring the state of the tableside Caesar salad since Rick Nichols trashed the opening preparation at Butcher & Singer. So we were intrigued when we saw that Jason Wilson of the Daily News ventured into the Steak 38 in Cherry Hill.

The true star of the show, however, was the waiter who prepared the tableside Caesar. We closely followed his performance as he crushed the garlic, anchovies and mustard powder in a giant wooden bowl, then dashed in the Worcestershire sauce and worked it into a paste.

He quickly added a coddled egg yolk and a drizzling of olive oil, working the mixture into a mayonnaise that he finished with a squeeze of lemon and a dash of red wine vinegar. Finally, he added a head of crisp Romaine lettuce, Parmigiano cheese and housemade croutons, tossed it all together, and served it on chilled plates. The mix of bold flavors was better than just about any other Caesar salad I’ve eaten over the past, say, two decades.

Caesar Salad done right [Philadelphia Daily News]