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Alison Martino's "Vintage Los Angeles"

Vintage Los Angeles

Chasin's famous Chili recipe

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- September 10, 2009

This is the stuff of which Hollywood legends are made. Rumor has it back when Elizabeth Taylor was filming Cleopatra in Rome she craved the chili made at Chasen's Restaurant in Los Angeles so much that she was willing to pay $100 just to have the order shipped to her. For years the recipe remained a closely guarded secret. It seemed the owner David Chasen came to the restaurant every Sunday to privately cook up a batch which he would freeze for the week, believing that the chili was best when reheated.

CHASIN'S CHLI RECIPE

1/2 pound dried pinto beans
Water
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups onions, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup butter
2 pounds beef chuck, coarsely chopped
1 pound pork shoulder, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup Gebhardt's brand chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

"I cherish the menu I snagged from Casin's on closing night."

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Comments

JamiSingsSeptember 12, 2009 at 10:40 AM
Sounded good up until the pork shoulder. *shudders* I'm allergic to pig meat.

I wonder if you could subsitute lamb for the pork. At the very least it wouldn't leave me laying on the bathroom floor wishing I was dead.
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msteelnAugust 23, 2016 at 3:00 AM
Alison, you got porn spam on a bunch of the older pages.
Aloha
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UnknownJanuary 24, 2019 at 1:33 AM
I loved the episode of Columbo where he had lunch at Chason's and asked for "Just a bowl of chili. Do you have that?"
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The Fish Shanty and old Kooky World of La Cienega

- June 05, 2014

VINTAGE LOS ANGELES: FISH SHANTY AND THE KOOKY WONDERLAND THAT WAS RESTAURANT ROW La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard used to be a playful pocket of themed eateries, amusement parks, and nightclubs
By Alison Martino

Established in 1950 by the Smith Bros., the Fish Shanty was classic West Coast kitsch. Located at the intersection of La Cienega Boulevard and Burton Way, it was known to Angelenos as "the restaurant that swallowed you whole,” and nothing thrilled me more as a child than walking through the jaws of the Shanty’s whale façade or hiding under his fin, which was made out of thousands of tiny, ocean-blue, midcentury mosaic tiles that sparkled during sundown like the crest of an effervescent wave. (It will be forever preserved on film after being used as the entrance to a British club in the 1965 black comedy, The Loved One.)

Photographs of the La Cienega Smith Bros. Fish Shanty restaurant interior. Handwritten descriptions by Birdie Smith in the Margin.

The kitchen serve

Melrose Ave in the '80's

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By Alison Martino of Vintage Los Angeles

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Robin Young and friend taken by Suzan Colon, former writer at "Star Hits Magazine".

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Santa Monica Mall - Pre 3rd Street 3rd street promenade

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