Thursday, March 15, 2007

Make It American

Since coming home from overseas last week I've been on a tear eating American food. There's something about understanding a menu I find very refreshing.

Yesterday I had a delightful lunch with Rochelle Lewis at Clementine in Century City. It's a small place that turns out the most impressive upscale comfort food (including great baked goods) around. Any place that makes a meatloaf sandwich (which is what I had) the special of the day can't be all bad.

Tonight I had a great steak at Musso 'n Franks -- the oldest restaurant in Hollywood. It has a huge menu of American Continental treats.

And with my battery sufficiently charged I got back out on the circuit tonight, seeing "For the Love of Dolly" at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. It's a fascinating/amusing documentary about some of Dolly Parton's most obsessive fans. These are the people who plan their lives around the annual opening of Dollywood when Dolly Parton rides in the Dollywood Parade down the Main Street of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

For instance, one fan reports that when she was a child she used to pray each night to get cancer, that way should could ask the Make-A-Wish Foundation to introduce her to Dolly.

Another fan regularly follows Dolly's employees around on the streets of Nashville. When she spotted Dolly's manager's car for sale in used car lot she went to see it. She almost fainted when she found some long blonde hair "in the seat Dolly sat in many times" and went on to lick the seatbelt because it probably had the essence of Dolly.

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