L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants is an illustrated history of dozens of landmark eateries from throughout the City of Angels. From such classics as Musso & Frank and The Brown Derby in the 1920s to the see-and-be-seen crowds at Chasen’s, Romanoffs, and Ciro’s in the mid-20th century to the dawn of California cuisine at Ma Maison and Spago Sunset in the 1970s and ’80s, L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants celebrates the famous locations where Hollywood ate, drank, and played.

Author George Geary leads you into the glamorous restaurants inhabited by the stars through a lively narrative filled with colorful anecdotes and illustrated with vintage photographs, historic menus, and timeless ephemera. Over 100 iconic recipes for entrees, appetizers, desserts, and drinks are included.

But L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants contains much more than the fancy, high-priced restaurants favored by the Hollywood cognoscenti. The glamour of the golden age of drive-ins, drugstores, nightclubs, and hotels are also honored. What book on L.A. restaurants would be complete without tales of ice cream sundaes at C.C. Brown’s, cafeteria-style meals at Clifton’s, or a mai tai at Don the Beachcomber?

Most of the locations in L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants no longer exist, but thanks to George Geary, the memories are still with us.

George Geary is an award-winning author and educator. A former pastry chef for the Walt Disney Company, Geary is a Certified Culinary Professional, and was recently chosen as the Culinary Educator of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. He is perhaps best known for creating all of the cheesecakes for The Golden Girls and other top-rated television programs. George has worked as a critic and/or judge for ABC’s The Taste with Anthony Bourdain, America’s Next Best Baker with Jeff Foxworthy, Hell's Kitchen, Supermarket Superstar and many other popular television shows. Geary also teaches cooking classes aboard Holland America Lines.

For over 30 years Geary has been involved with the judging of culinary contests for major food manufacturers such as Canola Producers, Veg-all, Hormel Products, Hershey Foods, Knott’s Berry Farm Foods, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Fleischmann’s Yeast, San Diego Union Tribune, ABC News, and many more. From 1982–2010, George was the Culinary Coordinator of the Los Angeles County Fair.

Geary is the author of nine cookbooks including: The Cheesecake Bible, The Complete Baking Cookbook, and 125 Best Cheesecake Recipes. He is presently the featured chef on the San Diego Living television show on the CW Network in San Diego. He lives in Los Angeles.

Introduction

C. C. Brown’s
Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery
Musso & Frank Grill
Ambassador Hotel
Tam O’Shanter Inn
Formosa Café
The Brown Derby
Pig ’N Whistle
Taix French Restaurant
Bullocks Wilshire Tea Room
The Town House of Lafayette Park (Zebra Room)
Tick Tock Tea Room
Perino’s
Schwab’s Pharmacy
Don the Beachcomber
Clifton’s Cafeteria
Chasen’s
Cock ’n Bull
Florentine Gardens
Romanoff’s
Hollywood Palladium
Ciro’s
Tiny Naylor’s
Scandia
Miceli’s
Hamburger Hamlet
Ben Frank’s
Lawry’s California Center
L’Escoffier at the Beverly Hilton
Trader Vic’s at the Beverly Hilton
La Scala
Cyrano
Chez Jay
Dan Tana’s
Ma Maison
Carlos ’n Charlie’s
L’Ermitage
Hamptons
L’Orangerie
Le Dome
Michael’s
Trumps
Spago Sunset
72 Market Street Oyster Bar and Grill

Acknowledgments
Recipes Index