100 Years of Perfect Martinis

29 Jan 100 Years of Perfect Martinis

Musso & Frank Grill Celebrates in Style

The simple martini. Is there such a thing? Infused with history, culture and even a bit of mystery, the martini has been exalted for years. One hundred years as a matter of fact when it comes to the Musso & Frank Grill’s martini.

The venerable Hollywood establishment turned 100. It, and its famous martini, almost a celebrity itself, got the star treatment. To help celebrate Musso & Frank’s owners brought in Zynger Events to fete the grill’s staff, patrons and celebrity clients.

• 

The first thing we did was help to create a Musso & Frank Museum. It would be “open” throughout a week’s worth of events each night. Guests could peruse the museum’s display of old account books that featured the names of customers such as Marilyn Monroe, as well as vintage menus, classic typewriters, and tableware throughout the years. In addition, we created a time capsule filled with current news clippings, guest books and more. Currently its plan to have it be on display in the “under construction” private dining room sand will be opened on the restaurant’s 200th anniversary in 2119.

But before that can happen, the 100th year anniversary had to be celebrated right. The week began with a launch of the coffee-table history and recipe book, “The Musso & Frank Grill” by Michael Callahan and a foreword by well-known novelist and frequent patron, Michael Connelly.

That evening, we orchestrated a martini demo (twist our arm!), a chicken pot pie cooking demonstration and a cake cutting of that evening’s specialty cake. Side note: We would bring out a different commemorative cake each event throughout the week–7 in total.

• 

Historically, Monday night is the one night the restaurant has never been open. The staff, many who have been at Musso & Frank Grill their entire working careers, have that night off. In honor of them, on Monday of this celebration week, we produced a staff appreciation dinner at the Jim Henson Studios for 300 employees and their families.

“The dinner was one of my favorite events of the week, really lovely,” Ryan recalls. “Many of these people have worked at the restaurant for decades. It was very much a family barbecue.”

• 

In the middle of the week, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, we produced patron dinners, inviting those dedicated customers who have supported the restaurant for a century. “One fun element of these evenings was bringing out custom menus that showed the pricing of what it had been in 1919,” Ryan says. “Of course, no one was charged anything at these events, but guests got a kick out of seeing how prices have changed.”

• 

On Friday (the actual Centennial) during the day, Hollywood Boulevard, which Musso & Frank has called home for 100 years, was shut down for a media event–the reveal of the restaurant’s star on the famous boulevard. “This was fun for us,” Ryan recalls. “Normally star reveals are handled by the FHollywood Chamber. We were honored that they let us produce this one. ”Celebrity guest speakers, and a presentation of the Award of Excellence from the Chamber of Commerce to the restaurant owners today–John and Cathy Echeverria and their son Mark Echeverria; Steve and Anne Jones; and Richard and Kristen Kohlmeyer. “The award was a first for a restaurant,” Ryan says.

A first, but not a last. As Michael Connelly writes in his foreword to the Musso & Frank book, “A hundred years old and it’s just getting started. ”We look forward to producing the 200th anniversary!”

• 

*FUN FACTS*

*Best enjoyed while drinking a martini!

• What would become Musso & Frank was founded in 1919 by Frank Toulet, who three years later formed the famous partnership with a similarly forward-looking restaurateur named Joseph Musso.
• In 1922, the two men hired French chef Jean Rue–a culinary master who would wind up showcasing his artistry at Musso & Frank for 53 years and creating a menu that remains mostly intact to this day.
• Current Executive Chef J.P. Amateau is only the third person to serve in that position in the restaurant’s entire 100-year history following the tenures of Jean Rue and his successor, Michel Bourger!

• In 1927, Musso and Toulet sold their restaurant to a duo of Italian immigrants named Joseph Carissimi and John Mosso (a coincidentally similar name).
• Today Musso & Frank is owned and operated by the families of Mosso’s three grand daughters: John and Cathy Echeverria and their son Mark Echeverria; Steve and Anne Jones; and Richard and Kristen Kohlmeyer.
• Feature films and TV shows which have been shot inside, outside or even on the roof of Musso & Frank’s started with Buster Keaton’s “Cops” in 1922. Throughout the years, it was followed by such films and shows as “The Day of the Locust,” “Ed Wood,” “Swingers,” “Sex and the City,” “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001), “Charlie’s Angels” (2003), “MadMen,” “Ray Donovan,” “Bosch,” “Scandal,” “The Kominsky Method,” and Quentin Tarantino’s July 2019 release, “Once Upon A Time In…Hollywood.”
• Literary figures that were known to have perched at the bar stools include Faulkner, Saroyan, Fitzgerald, Hellman, Huxley, O’Hara, Hemingway. If they were noted authors of the 20th century, they were at the bar at Musso’s, drinking—and drinking, and drinking—elbow to elbow with the likes of Gable and Bacall.