The time was the late 1960’s. The place was Cocoa Beach, Florida. It was gloriously exciting to be young and involved in mankind’s greatest adventure of the 20th century. Every week we heard the thunderous boom and earthshaking rattle as the rockets took off to push the envelope of the unknown. The greatest of these was the mighty Saturn V, soon to carry man to the moon and back. Ah, those were the days!

At the end of every busy week, we all relaxed at T.G.I.F., mingled and hoisted a few at the popular lounges that were so crowded we could hardly get in the door. Afterwards there were some wonderful restaurants to feed the hungry mob, and Ramon’s was generally conceded to be among the very best of these. At that time Ramon’s had two locations. One was called Ramon’s Rainbow Room, atop a six-story bank building completely glass-sided, and known, appropriately, as the “Glass Bank”. The original Ramon’s was a nondescript low building with dark woodwork and not very comfortable furnishings. But it was magic! All the available wall space was covered with signed pictures of all the astronauts, photos of the launches and other Space memorabilia. The astronauts themselves were frequently to be found there, and no successful launch celebration was complete without a party at Ramon’s.

The food at both Ramon’s locations was the same, but the atmosphere was totally different, and soon the Rainbow Room bowed to the inevitable and closed. Everything served there was delicious, but no meal was perfect without Ramon’s signature Caesar salad. It was unlike any other Caesar salad you’ve ever tasted; creamier, with a hint of sweetness and perhaps a bit of curry. The chef would never divulge the recipe, but many folks tried to duplicate it with varying success. Several versions were published in the Today newspaper, forerunner of USA Today and still published locally. I have tried several versions, and this one seems to be closest to the original. This recipe came to me courtesy of an “old Florida boy”, whose family was one of the pioneers of the citrus industry in Merritt Island, just south of today’s John F. Kennedy Space Center.