Highly Opinionated: An Editor’s Favorite Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps in LA

In Eater LA’s ongoing series, Highly Opinionated , Eater editors delve into one specific, oft-debated food obsession in Los Angeles. This month we take on chicken Caesar salad wraps from an array of cafés and lunch spots around the city. We carefully evaluated a variety of metrics to compare the Instagram hyped (Ggiata) to the unpretentious (Birds) to the dark horse (Goop).

Here are one editor’s favorite chicken Caesar wraps in Los Angeles. When I was coming of age at the very peak of the Y2K era, the chicken Caesar wrap ruled my world. My go-to Caesar wrap destination at the time was the Palo Alto location of World Wrapps , a ‘90s chain that specialized in wrapping various “global” dishes in a tortilla and is considered one of the originators of fast-casual dining .



Embodying the optimism of the era, World Wrapps had a utopian vision of almost any food reimagined as a burrito-esque creation; a June 1995 article in the San Francisco Examiner dubbed World Wrapps “the clean-cut, Gen X answer to fast food,” further adding: “After a World Wrapp meal, you can still play volleyball, ride bikes or go to the health club. After a Tex-Mex burrito, only a siesta will do.” As a teenager, sinking my teeth into a chicken Caesar wrap from the chain, this felt novel — the convenience and satisfaction of a burrito only filled with.

.. salad ? World Wrapps faded into obscurity as the years passed ( reemerging in 2016 under new ownership , and with a more modern look and menu), and health-conscious, fast-casual dining moved in many different directions.

For a long while, the supremacy of chicken Caesar wraps seemed to subside. But something remarkable has happened in the past few years: Like low-rise jeans and the original lineup of Blink-182, chicken Caesar wraps aren’t just back, they’re wildly popular, appearing on Los Angeles restaurant menus and TikTok feeds with a growth rate that can only be described as viral . So in LA, where the power lunch still reigns supreme and salad culture is elite , which chicken Caesar wrap rules them all? For this story, I committed to an honest taste-test of nearly a dozen wraps, with the decision-making for the ultimate title rooted in fairness, not hype.

Here are the three best chicken Caesar wraps in Los Angeles, plus a few more worth noting. Located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood — mere steps from the Viper Room and Supreme store — Dialog Café’s primary raison d’être seems to be people-watching. Its crowded patio is full of influencers in all-white, brunching businessmen in oversized sunglasses (this is LA after all; no suits), and hangover-nursing partiers.

The lines are long and the menu is making no attempts to innovate. It is friendly but unassuming, and parking requires a Herculean effort. And yet the Dialog Café chicken Caesar wrap is savant-like in its alchemy.

For starters, the wrap is toasted — a trick that any Bay Area native knows, from the great Mission burrito tradition, adds extra stretch and flavor to a well-made flour tortilla. Within its walls, you’ll find a generous amount of finely shredded chicken, a fresh-tasting bed of chicory, and a strong umami component thanks to the liberal inclusion of Parmesan cheese and sesame breadcrumbs, all dusted with a flurry of cracked black pepper. The dressing ratio is just right, unifying all of these textures with a savory, reliably Caesar flavor that’s homemade and creamy, not watery or overbearing.

At $14.95, it was also one of the most affordably priced wraps on the roster. It could cure a hangover, but you could also eat one and hit a Pilates class an hour later (I know from experience).

It is the perfect lunch, and the best chicken Caesar wrap in all of Los Angeles. Ggiata Delicatessen , maker of allegedly New Jersey-style Italian sandwiches and employer of skater bros, describes its chicken Caesar wrap as “perfect” — fair play — and I have to agree that its rendition is excellent. When I told friends and acquaintances that I was working on this list, Ggiata was the wrap many of them asked about first.

A breaded chicken cutlet gets sprinkled with flaky salt and diced into bite-sized pieces, then mixed with chopped pepperoncini (smart), homemade croutons (of sesame-crusted sourdough), shaved Parmesan, and, of course, crunchy romaine, all of which are tossed together in a huge metal salad bowl (like God intended) and wrapped into a Burritos La Palma grilled tortilla. This last element is crucial: La Palma is lauded for its tortillas and the grilling process adds a subtly smoky flavor to the wrap. At $17, its price falls squarely in the average zone as far as the going rate for a CCW in LA.

But it’s worth it — the finished product has fabulous crunch, a proper balance of acidity, and garlicky depth. The thoughtful extra Caesar dressing on the side for dipping is likely what solidified its social media reign. If you do not live in Los Angeles and have not actually tasted the food at Goop Kitchen , the restaurant outpost of Gwyneth Paltrow’s online store or magazine or business or whatever it is, please reserve your judgment.

Everyone I know who has actually ordered from Goop Kitchen has agreed that it’s surprisingly good food, a point of view I shared even before tasting Goop’s lovely, near-innovative take on the chicken Caesar wrap. It is, of course, very Gwynethified, starting with the fact that it’s fully gluten-free — made with a Siete cassava-flour wrap instead of a flour tortilla. The cassava wrap may feel a bit unconventional at first, more chewy and less airy than flour, but holds up well and is a nice change of pace compared to the layers of dry, dusty lavash encasing many of the other CCWs I tried around the city.

The use of little gem lettuce, with its refreshing snap and high water content, is a clever alternative to classic Caesar romaine. This was the only Caesar wrap I tried that came standard with avocado (not for an additional charge), adding a buttery fattiness that fits in well with the crunchy, delightfully garlic-forward croutons. The Caesar dressing also has a touch of Calabrian chile in it, which adds a suggestion of heat, though I wouldn’t call this wrap “spicy.

” The chicken is high-quality white meat, somewhere between shredded and cubed. At $19.19, we’re at Goop pricing — no surprises there.

All around, there is a surprisingly balanced synthesis here of bold flavors that rest in a satisfying spot between traditional Caesar and fancy hippie food. Alfalfa Alfalfa makes an extra-spicy, extra-crunchy rendition of the CCW, with generously mixed in homemade spicy Calabrian Caesar dressing and a high ratio of croutons. Unlike Goop’s allegedly Calabrian-chile-spiked dressing, this one really does have a kick to it, and there are hot cherry peppers in the mix as well — together creating a heat that made my nose run a little bit, a personal barometer of spicy food that means it’s really invigorating.

While there’s great flavor here, I would have loved more of the free-range roasted white meat chicken, and I could not find and ID the crispy shallots that are listed as a component. This one is really for crouton-lovers; the crispy croutons are plentiful to the point of exceeding my imaginary daily allotment. Alfalfa has two LA locations — one in Larchmont and one in Santa Monica — as well as, interestingly, four locations in New Jersey, where it started.

Birds This unassuming pub in Hollywood’s Franklin Village is reliable, unbothered, and not concerned with having a cool factor, and that’s what I love about it for a casual lunch in the area. If you are in pursuit of a very ‘90s experience of a chicken Caesar, look no further than its combination of crispy white-meat chicken, romaine, tomato, Parmesan, and Caesar dressing wrapped in a thin lavash. It’s not the most structurally sound, especially compared to a stretchy, glutinous tortilla, but as far as lavash goes, it’s serviceable.

The breading on the chicken has a nice crunch, and the ratio of dressing feels correct, although theirs is a bit watery and lacking in flavor. The tomato wasn’t the best, either, but then again, they were wildly out of season when I paid a visit. Overall, it’s exactly what the entire ambiance of Birds promises: a throwback to simpler times.

California Chicken Cafe This local chain has a cult-like following, and while I don’t totally understand that, I respect it. The chicken Caesar wrap was an enjoyable experience, but simply not one that to me embodies the true spirit of a CCW. It starts with a whole wheat wrap, and I must ask: why? But the rotisserie chicken is juicy and shredded; the extra-crispy pita croutons, pleasing.

There is a somewhat minimal amount of lettuce, considering that this concept is, after all, based on a salad, but for some reason there was quite a bit of tomato, which I would not typically consider a Caesar attribute. The dressing is mayo-based (or they might be adding both Caesar dressing and mayo), which, while tasty enough, again feels a bit antithetical to its namesake. For my preferences, I would love a little more garlic, or perhaps just more overall umami.

Erewhon Yes, Erewhon has a chicken Caesar wrap . In true Erewhon fashion, it is organic and comes in a “wholesome whole-wheat spinach tortilla,” which is a vehicle for several of their other handhelds and decidedly fine because it does have a good stretch to it. However, Erewhon’s choice to use sliced chicken instead of shredded or cubed catapults its wrap into more of a health-food vibe, and the lack of croutons or crunch of any kind brought me sorrow, despite promises that it “offers a satisfying crunch from organic crostini.

” Perhaps this particular wrap was defective, because it was crostini-less. Also, because this is a grab-and-go option, the lettuce was limp by the time I was able to take a first bite. I am, by most accounts, an Erewhon princess, but this was not it.

Get a Hailey Bieber smoothie or the eggplant lasagna instead. Parakeet Cafe This one is for the kale-lovers. Local chain Parakeet Café aims to LA-ify the chicken Caesar wrap, or so seems to be the objective given the use of a spinach tortilla, the filling base of massaged kale, and the inclusion of crunchy garbanzo beans instead of croutons.

It also includes a smaller ratio of butter lettuce and a lower ratio of chicken than the others on this list; this likely makes it the healthiest pick of the bunch, if that’s your goal. Despite the mention of caper furikake on the menu, which excited me, I couldn’t particularly taste it, and the dressing, while tasty, was a bit light. That being said, if you’re in Beverly Hills and feeling kale-forward, here’s a CCW for you.

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