The story
In 1969 Walter Chell, restaurant manager at the Calgary Inn in Calgary, was asked to invent a signature drink for the hotel's new Italian restaurant. He thought of spaghetti alle vongole, the clam and tomato pasta he remembered from Venice, and spent about three months mashing clams into a nectar and testing versions on customers. Mixed with vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce and spices, it was named for his Italian roots, and an English regular is said to have praised it as a bloody good Caesar. Within five years it was Calgary's favourite mixed drink, and it went on to conquer the rest of Canada.
Also known as Bloody Caesar, Caesar cocktail.
On the Meridish menu
Caesar was the aperitif course on menu No. 23 on October 23, 2026. Its clue in the game, which hints at the place without naming it:
Vodka, clam-tomato juice, Worcestershire and a celery-salt rim. A hotel restaurant manager invented it in 1969 for a new Italian restaurant, inspired by spaghetti with clams.
In Meridish, every dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it. A guess within 25 km scores all 100 points. How scoring works.
Sources
Food history is often disputed. Think we've pinned it in the wrong place? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source.
