美国国家公共电台 NPR Celebrities Need Comfort Food Too: A Hollywood Hangout Turns 100

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Here in LA, for a hundred years now, generations have eaten at a restaurant that says it is the oldest in Hollywood. Stars, studio heads, writers have settled into Musso & Frank's red leather booths to negotiate, gossip, drink and, oh, yeah, eat. NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg went to see how Musso's is doing in its centennial year on Hollywood Boulevard.

(SOUNDBITE OF RESTAURANT AMBIENCE)

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE¹: The restaurant opened before there was a Hollywood sign. The Musso & Frank Grill² is such an institution, it's listed in the book "1,000 Places To See Before You Die," such a showbiz staple³ that "The Kominsky Method" pals⁵ on Netflix have lunch there every day.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STAMBERG: Alan Arkin, as Agent Norman Newlander, watches Musso's ancient, bent-over waiter shuffle⁶ slowly to his booth. In a red jacket and bow tie, his silver tray shakes as he slowly delivers Norman's martini, two olives in an icy glass. Norman's pal⁴, Kominsky, arrives. Alex, the waiter, shuffles⁷ back with Kominsky's regular slowly. It takes an eternity⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE KOMINSKY METHOD")

ALAN ARKIN: (As Agent Norman Newlander) Look at this. For you, he runs.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRINK BEING STIRRED)

SONNY DONATO: What we do is, we don't shake 'em.

STAMBERG: Sonny Donato has been making Musso's famous $13 martini for seven years.

DONATO: We stir the ice. That keeps the alcohol from being what they call bruised⁹. We have all of our glassware chilled.

STAMBERG: Gin, or vodka?

DONATO: Well, traditional, always gin.

STAMBERG: Olives, or lemon peel?

DONATO: We go olives, unless people specify¹⁰.

STAMBERG: It's always about what the customer wants. Full disclosure - we are recording¹¹ at 11:00 a.m. For journalistic integrity, this reporter felt obligated to try the martini.

Oh, my goodness. Perfection. Look at this. Look at this. Calf's liver. Lamb kidneys. The menu has food my father loved.

It would take many martinis to order some of it.

Calf's sweetbread. Tongue. Liver and onions, Rolling Stone Keith Richards' favorite. Sauerbraten. Chicken pot pie.

MARK ECHEVERRIA: We serve comfort food.

STAMBERG: Mark Echeverria is Musso's fourth-generation owner-operator. They have updated lots of the menu, lightened it, slimmed it down. But...

ECHEVERRIA: People want to know that they can come into a restaurant and get that dish that they had 30 years ago. The Welsh rarebit. That's for me. Waiter Sergio Gonzalez (ph), he stands up straight and moves at a pace. Sergio has doubts - are you a cheesy girl? Assured that I am, he brings a warm metal platter with a swimming pool of melted cheese and a big spoon.

SERGIO GONZALEZ: It has a cheddar cheese sauce with beer.

STAMBERG: Isn't there Worcestershire sauce in there?

GONZALEZ: Yeah. Worcestershire sauce, too. I'm sorry. And a little bit - a little dash of Tabasco, too.

STAMBERG: Served over toast points with - for my diet - some slices of tomato. Delicious. Sergio's pleased.

GONZALEZ: Some people order Welsh rarebit, and they don't even know what Welsh rarebit is. Where's the rabbit?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Where is the rabbit?

GONZALEZ: Where's the rabbit?

STAMBERG: They want to know, where's the rabbit...

GONZALEZ: Yeah, rabbit. No, no, no.

STAMBERG: ...In the Welsh rarebit.

GONZALEZ: No, no. It's not rabbit. It's Welsh rarebit. Oh. 'Scuse me. (Laughter).

STAMBERG: Wonder if movie star patrons Clooney and Pitt, maybe Johnny Depp, like Musso's Welsh rarebit? Or earlier regulars, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Dorothy Parker, William Faulkner? Owner Mark Echeverria says Musso's started as a writers' hangout.

ECHEVERRIA: The Screen Writers Guild¹² was actually across the street. Back in the '20s and the '30s, these studios were hiring novelists to come and write screenplays.

STAMBERG: William Saroyan, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

ECHEVERRIA: He even mixed his own mint juleps behind the bar.

STAMBERG: The movie moguls didn't like what those guys wrote.

ECHEVERRIA: Studio execs would just hack¹³ it. And then the novelist would come to the Screen Writers Guild to complain and then walk across the street and get drunk at Musso's. (Laughter).

STAMBERG: Film and TV people still come to Musso's, especially on Thursdays for the chicken pot pie. Waiter Sergio Gonzalez has served them for 47 years, almost half the life of the place. Sergio, 66 now, just works lunches. It's good exercise, he says, walking all day. Hard on the feet.

GONZALEZ: You have to wear the right shoes. Spend a lot of money on that. Because I know. If you don't have good shoes, at the end of the nine, oh, my God.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STAMBERG: For a century now, through droughts, downpours, mudslides, fires, earthquakes, there's been Musso & Frank's. I have a friend, Barry (ph), who worked nearby during the big Northridge quake in 1994. The town was terrified. Afterward¹⁴, Barry had dinner at Musso's. It was business as usual, he says, packed. Everyone needed comfort food that night.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STAMBERG: I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

3 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

4 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

5 pals   

n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙

参考例句：

• We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
• CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网

6 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

7 shuffles   

n.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的名词复数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的第三人称单数 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼

参考例句：

• She shuffles cards expertly, all the guys stare in amazement. 她熟练地洗着牌，爷们都看呆了。 来自互联网
• Fortune shuffles cards, but we discard them. 命运负责洗牌，而出牌的是我们自己。 来自互联网

8 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

9 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

10 specify   

vt.指定，详细说明

参考例句：

• We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
• Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 guild   

n.行会，同业公会，协会

参考例句：

• He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
• You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。

13 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

14 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。