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My guest this week is Chef George Geary with his new book L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants – Celebrating the Famous Places Where Hollywood Ate, Drank, and Played.
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 vintage drinks are included, and all are updated for today’s cook and kitchen.
While many people have heard the story of Elizabeth Taylor requesting that Chasen’s famous chili be flown to her on the set of Cleopatra in Rome, L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants will offer facts and trivia that aren’t as well known to the general public, such as Bob Hope’s favorite place to enjoy a hot fudge sundae after the Academy Awards, the restaurant where part of a table was sawed off to accommodate a pregnant Lana Turner, and the pharmacy where composer Harold Arlen wrote “Over the Rainbow” for The Wizard of Oz.
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, a late-night breakfast at Ben Frank’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. And with Geary’s updated recipes, we can still enjoy many of the same iconic dishes that kept customers coming back to their favorite haunts week after week. L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants will have you longing for the days when going out for a meal was truly a special event. Get your copy NOW!
George Geary
George Geary CCP teaches in over 120 schools world wide. A regular contributing editor to several magazines and newsletters, he has also been the pastry chef and production manager for the Walt Disney Corporation and the Marriott Corporation. Besides writing, George owns a culinary tour company where he takes students on culinary adventures of France and major cities of the country. George can be seen on local and national morning news programs. Currently George is the Resident Chef on San Diego Living on the CW Network. Learn more about George at www.georgegeary.com
Then it’s all about Party Planning with Crystal McDonald from Xclusive Events. Xclusive Events is a widely recognized and leading organization that provides professional event services to all segments of an event. We specialize in delivering compelling event solutions for our clients. We are passionate about providing our customers with engaging and memorable experiences for their events. Xclusive Events gives a touch of class to every event and gathering.
Focusing on wedding receptions to large corporate functions, Xclusive’s unique business model helps event planners and one-time party managers to keep their event smooth and flawless. www.xclusiveeventservices.com
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2013 Viña Requingua Potro De Piedra Family Reserve
The Family Reserve 85%-Cabernet Sauvignon – 15%-Cabernet Franc aged for 18-24 months in new French Oak. It has a dark red-purple color with a complex nose featuring intense notes of plums, cherries, licorice, vanilla and cocoa. Full bodied structure with firm, rounded tannins as well as hints of cherry and toffee on the finish. This is a BIG bold Bordeaux style blend that would be great with grilled steak or your holiday rib roast.
Comes in attractive 6 bottle wood cases, a great gift idea! Available at Jacob Liquor Exchange on North Rock Road.