72 Market St.: Dishes It Out! : A Collection of Recipes and Portraits from a Classic Venice Restaurant

by Roland Gibert, Robert Lia

72 Market Street is both the name and the address of one of Los Angeles's premiere dining spots. Started in 1983 by actor Dudley Moore and director Tony Bill, the restaurant boasted a beautiful setting, great music, and--most important--delectable food courtesy of chef Leonard Schwartz. Schwartz's menu was ahead of its time: in an age of nouvelle cuisine, he was serving hearty meatloaf, grilled chicken, and chili, prepared with elegance yet served without pretension. The gambit worked, and 72 Market Street became a favorite with food critics and ordinary diners alike.

The arrival of the '90s saw a new chef in the kitchen. French-trained Roland Gilbert took up the reins at 72 Market Street and, although he kept many of Schwartz's original dishes, expanded the menu to include such delicacies as Dungeness crab and Crispy Noodle Galette, Eggplant and Bell Pepper Terrine, and Warm Pear and Roquefort Torte. Since the arrival of Chef Gilbert, the restaurant has annually won the Excellence Award from the Wine Spectator and been awarded three stars by the California Restaurant Writers' Association. For those of you who can't make it to Venice, California, in person, 72 Market Street Dishes It Out brings 72 of the restaurant's most popular dishes to you. From Leonard Schwartz's famous meatloaf to Roland Gilbert's Chocolate Bombe, the hits just keep on coming. 72 Market Street Dishes It Out gives a whole new meaning to the term "take-out."

166 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998