MUSSO & FRANK GRILL: THE STORY OF AN LA ICON

The bar at Musso & Frank Grill | Photo: Yuri Hasegawa

Mark Echeverria, the COO, CFO and proprietor of Musso & Frank Grill, shares a story that has become part of the lore of the Hollywood landmark. Back in the early days of Musso & Frank, Charlie Chaplin would come here with his colleagues. To get to the restaurant, they would race down Hollywood Boulevard by horse and the loser would pick up the tab for lunch. As they ate, they kept an eye on the horses from the only booth with a window view. "It's still known as the Charlie Chaplin booth," said Echeverria by phone, "and it's still, by far, the most-requested booth that we have."

Joseph Musso and Frank Toulet opened their namesake restaurant on Sept. 27, 1919. They hired French chef Jean Rue, who would helm the kitchen for 53 years. In 1927, Musso and Toulet sold their restaurant to two Italian immigrants, John Mosso and Joseph Carrissimi. Today, Musso's is owned and operated by the third and fourth generations of the Mosso family - Echeverria is Mosso's great-grandson.

The surrounding neighborhood has changed a lot since 1919 - for one thing, Hollywood Boulevard is no longer conducive to horse racing. For more than 100 years, Musso's has remained a constant, elegant fixture on a street that's in a continuous state of hustle and bustle. Outside, the latest tunes blast from cars and sidewalk cafes as street performers try to catch your attention and trendy t-shirts pour out of souvenir shops. Inside, dark wood booths come with coat hangers on the side - a rarity in warm and casual Los Angeles. A bartender in a red jacket makes change at a register that pre-dates the digital age by decades.

Even the menu hasn't been drastically altered over the years. "We've done a few little tweaks to the menu," said Echeverria. "All those tweaks are to bring the recipes and the food to a modern-day palate… In 1919, the recipes that we have are rather bland by today's tastes." Their current executive chef, J.P. Amateau is only the third person to hold that position in the restaurant's history. He's also a local who used to frequent the restaurant as a child. "J.P. has really been able to walk an extremely fine line and do it extremely successfully," said Echeverria.

The most-ordered item is filet mignon, cooked over an open-fire mesquite grill that's been seasoned for more than 30 years. Also popular is the Grenadine of Beef, which has been on the menu since the early 1920s. "We've got regulars that have been coming in for 40 years that have never tried anything else," said Echeverria.

On the cocktail side, the restaurant is famed for their Martini (named one of the 20 best cocktails in America by GQ), which is stirred and served with a sidecar on chilled ice.

Echeverria, who grew up in Northern California, remembers traveling to LA at least once a month and visiting the restaurant when his grandmother was running the show. In 2009, he took over the day-to-day duties and was impressed with how much of the clientele is local. Not only are the diners mostly Angelenos, they are quite often regulars.

Photo courtesy of Musso & Frank Grill

"It shocked me to know how many regulars we have and how little of the tourist business we do," said Echeverria. "It's not that they don't want to come, it's just that they have a hard time finding a table because our regulars are sitting in them." He adds that, ordinarily, people can book tables for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays "a couple days in advance." Otherwise, you might want to book your reservation weeks before your date. As for holidays, Musso's gets packed fast - Valentine's Day can be booked two months in advance.

Musso & Frank's reputation was sealed during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Over the years, they've served Hollywood royalty and literary titans, everyone from Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart to F. Scott Fitzgerald and Charles Bukowski. While Echeverria will discuss the past, he's not one to reveal the restaurant's current celebrity clientele. Discretion is key here.

A star in its own right, Musso's has appeared in numerous films and TV shows, including Ed Wood, Swingers, Ocean's Eleven (2001), Mad Men, Bosch, and Quentin Tarantino's Oscar-winning Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

In November 2021, Musso & Frank unveiled three new private dining rooms with oak wood paneling and hand-painted murals that evoke Northern Italy. Named for the famed Palio di Siena horse race, the Palio Wine Room is designed for parties of up to eight guests. The Grand Private Rooms can be arranged into two mid-size or one large space, accommodating up to 42 for dinner or 125 for cocktail receptions. "The new rooms have an Old School Hollywood feel," said Echeverria. "When you are in them, you will feel like they have been there since the opening of our ‘New Room’ back in 1955." There's even a separate red carpet entrance for an A-list experience.

"We treat locals like celebrities and celebrities like locals." ~ Mark Echeverria, Musso & Frank Grill

Echeverria said that the restaurant's motto is, "We treat locals like celebrities and celebrities like locals," and shared a story to that point. A few years ago, Echeverria was at the front of the restaurant with a server who had been with the restaurant for more than 50 years. When a customer asked who the server's favorite guest was, he replied, "I've served tens of thousands of customers throughout the years and everyone was special."

Musso & Frank Grill
6667 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood 90028
323.467.7788
www.mussoandfrank.com