MUSSO AND FRANK GRILL -- PART 4

A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC FOR NEARLY A CENTURY

Today, J.P. Amateau is only the third executive chef in Musso's history.

He now proudly serves the original Fettucine Alfredo -- as prepared for Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford -- as a regular menu item.

The steaks are many and reasonably priced considering Musso and Frank's fabled location and nearly century of history.

For a throwback, go for the Welsh Rarebit.

For dessert, you can't miss with a towering hunk of New York Style Cheesecake or a warm boysenberry pie.

Musso and Frank Grill is located at 6667 Hollywood Blvd.  (just east of Hollywood & Highland, a few short blocks from the Kodak and Grauman's Chinese theaters.

For reservations, call (323) 467-7788.

www.mussoandfrank.com

 

MUSSO AND FRANK GRILL -- PART 3

A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC FOR NEARLY A CENTURY

The Fettucine Alfredo at Musso and Frank has a great Tinseltown story behind its original recipe.

Silent film stars Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford were frequent guests at Musso’s.

While on their honeymoon in Rome, they dined at Alfredo’s restaurant and after tasting the Fettucine Alfredo, they begged Alfredo for the recipe.

He declined them.

The next night the newlyweds again dined at Alfredo’s and presented a golden fork and spoon to Alfredo.

This time they got the recipe and brought it back to Hollywood.

They asked Musso’s chef, Jean Rue, to make the dish.

Rue was a brilliant French chef who manned Musso's 

kitchen for more than half a century.

He often prepared it specially for the famous couple, but the dish was never added to the menu.

Musso and Frank review continues tomorrow, November 4

MUSSO AND FRANK GRILL -- PART 2

A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC FOR NEARLY A CENTURY

More stars have dined Musso & Frank's than there are stars on Hollywood Boulevard.

Manny the waiter has been graciously serving customers since 1957.

You're pretty certain the menu items haven't changed since the place opened.

No modern fusion here.

Just plenty of comforting standards, including breakfast and fabulous steakhouse-style hash browns served any time.

The Veal Scaloppini is delish.

If you're into something with red meat and red sauce, the spaghetti and meatballs is divine.

Musso and Frank review continues tomorrow, November 3

MUSSO AND FRANK GRILL -- PART 1

A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC FOR NEARLY A CENTURY

Since 1919, Musso and Frank Grill has been serving huge plates of man food -- red meat, past with red sauce, red wines and waiters wearing red jackets.

You walk in off the Times Square sleaze appeal of Hollywood Boulevard and into a man cave of throwback cocktails -- anyone for a Rob Roy, Side Car, or maybe LA's most storied Martini?

You have expect Raymond Chandler to be sitting in the corner booth, observing Old Hollywood and still working on 

The Big Sleep or another of his steamy mysteries.

Musso & Frank Grill's famous Back Room has been a second home to literary greats dating back to F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Chandler.

Musso and Frank review continues tomorrow, November 2

 

DOZENS OF SUGGESTIONS FOR FALL FICTION READING

BOOK CRITIC HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT SUGGESTS
A COMBINATION OF CLASSIC AND 
CONTEMPORARY FICTION FOR FALL READING

• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• Drood by Dan Simmons (a perfect companion to Wilkie Collins’ two best books, The Woman in White and The Moonstone.)
• The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
• My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
• The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles (a perfect companion to the  fantastic non-fiction book, Skeletons on the Zahara by Dean King)
• The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• America Classics: Moby Dick by Herman Melville (a perfect companion to the gripping non-fiction book, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick); The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald; anything by Raymond Chandler, but esp. Farewell My Lovely and The Big Sleep
• The Alienist by Caleb Carr (a perfect companion to the non-fiction book, Low Life by Luc Sante)
• The Poisonwood Bible by  Barbara Kingsolver (a perfect companion to the  fantastic non-fiction adventure travel book, Blood River: Terrifying Journey Through the World’s Most Dangerous Country by Tim Butcher)
• Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
• Anything by Graham Greene, but esp. The Heart of the Matter
• Anything by W. G. Sebald
• My three favorites by Mario Vargas Llosa: Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter; Death in the Andes; Feast of the Goat
• The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
• Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Tent of Orange Mist by Paul West
• Two books by Donna Tartt: The Secret History and The Little Friend
• Anything by Arturo Perez-Reverte, esp. Queen of the South and The Painter of Battles
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon