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. “Even though some of these restaurants opened before I moved to the United States, I appreciate the style and flamboyancy of these historic establishments. They paved the way for Nobu restaurants and I am honored that the old L’Orangerie restaurant is now Nobu Los Angeles. The book is fantastic and a must-read.” —Chef Nobu, Nobu and Matsuhisa Restaurants “The wake of Tinseltown’s heyday left behind some of the most iconic art and culture in American history. This is the perfect book for the food-obsessed who are also romanced by L.A.’s rich history.” —Curtis Stone, chef and restaurateur “This is a wonderfully evocative look at L.A. dining in an earlier time—and a reminder of how many good and imaginative restaurants the city has had, and how much fun it was to eat in them back then, before the era of restrictive diets and hipper-than-thou cuisine.” —Colman Andrews, editorial director of TheDailyMeal.com “The best of L.A.’s food history is all bound together in George Geary’s remarkable book. Our restaurants in Los Angeles would never exist without these legends.” —Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Los Angeles chefs and restaurateurs “George Geary’s book is a retrospective sublimely rich in history and flavor. It is a testament to L.A.’s diverse cornucopia of cuisine.” —Suzanne Tracht, executive chef and owner of Jar “From the Googie-inspired diners to the wholly fictional 'South Seas' of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s to the movie star hangouts of the Brown Derby and Chasen’s, L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants is a giddy, celebrity-filled look back at the culinary scene of twentieth century Los Angeles. I dare you to read this book and not feel nostalgic for those days.” —Russ Parsons, former food editor of the Los Angeles Times “A splendid ride through Old Hollywood! George Geary entices our sense of taste with his descriptions of famous dishes and recipes from L.A.'s classic restaurants and our sense of adventure with his antic tales of Golden Age celebrities. For me, the best part was the sense of preservation in the descriptions, facts, architect listings, and pictures of the fabulous buildings that housed these iconic restaurants, many of which have been lost to time.” —Joselle Celine Gilvezan, historic preservationist “Anybody who remembers (or wants to time travel to) the glory of Imperial Los Angeles of the mid-twentieth century will want to grab a bowl and start whipping up a batch of Hamburger Hamlet’s Onion Soup Fondue or that hot fudge sauce from C.C. Brown’s. . . . The book augments impossibly rare photos of Walt Disney at the Tam O’Shanter, Lucy & Desi at the Brown Derby, and Orson Welles at Ma Maison, plus matchbooks, menus, and swizzle sticks sprinkled throughout that help make these old joints jump from the page.” — Los Angeles Magazine “George Geary takes readers on a journey to where the rich and famous ate in the golden age of Hollywood in this illustrated history of Los Angeles’s landmark eateries. From Trader Vic’s to Perino’s, there are stories to tell and food to talk about.” — National Culinary Review “In his new book, L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants , George Geary pays homage to the spots Tinseltown’s elite once frequented. He also shares recipes for classic dishes like the Brown Derby’s cobb salad and the C.C. Brown’s 1909 brownie sundae.” — KCRW “A beautiful ode to La La Land’s restaurants and bars.” —TheDailyBeast.com “ L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants celebrates Hollywood’s famous culinary landmarks, reminding us of the breadth of cultural pleasures the city has to offer.” — Los Angeles Review of Books “From Musso & Frank Grill in the 1920s, to Ciro’s in the mid-twentieth century, to Spago in