Peter Moruzzi takes you to America's finest mid-century restaurants—continental-style fine dining establishments, historic steakhouses, lounge restaurants, and Polynesian palaces—that persevere in U.S. cities large and small. Through exclusive new and vintage photography, Moruzzi celebrates culinary pioneers and multigeneration restaurateurs, uncovers authentic gems, and debunks the predicted demise of the white tablecloth restaurant. The book includes a comprehensive directory of more than 200 classic restaurants found in cities from all 50 states.
Classic restaurants range from "continental-style" fine dining, with their softly lit wood-paneled interiors, starched tablecloths, curved booths, tuxedoed captains, and tableside service, to historic establishments retaining original character, decor, ambiance, and traditional menus. The many restaurants featured in this book are archetypal examples found throughout America. All share an inviting time-machine quality.
Cultural historian Peter Moruzzi is passionate about the mid-twentieth century: its nightlife, classic dining, and architecture. He is the author of the illustrated histories Havana Before Castro: When Cuba Was a Tropical Playground and Palm Springs Holiday: A Vintage Tour from Palm Springs to the Salton Sea, both published by Gibbs Smith. Moruzzi resides in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles and in Palm Springs.
"A time capsule of midcentury restaurants, the kinds where every dish had two names: Oysters Rockefeller, Steak Diane, Cherries Jubilee, Bananas Foster." —New York Times Style Magazine.