Dapper mixologists in retro crimson tuxedo jackets ask “gin or vodka” when you order a martini, before carefully stirring – never shaking – the ingredients and swiftly pouring half of it into a signature Musso and Frank martini glass. (photo courtesy of Musso and Frank Grill)

If there’s one restaurant in Los Angeles that defines the timeless charm of Hollywood, it’s the Musso and Frank Grill. Peer between the red leather booths, behind the oak panels and under the pastoral wallpaper, and you’ll uncover stories of Marilyn Monroe sipping a martini and Charlie Chaplin slicing into a grilled lamb kidney. With more than a century of history, Musso’s glistens as Hollywood’s brightest star.

Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and fourth-generation owner Mark Echeverria said what makes Musso and Frank so special today is the fact that throughout 106 years of business, the restaurant has barely changed.

“In L.A., where things change pretty quick, people do have this inherent need for comfort and something that doesn’t change. So where they might like that new restaurant with the California fusion and all that, they always want to know they can go back to somewhere that is consistent, comfortable and authentic. I think Musso’s has played that little niche role for Angelenos throughout the decades,” Echeverria said.

Musso’s has always been a family business. Frenchman Frank Toulet opened the restaurant in 1919 as Frank’s Francois Café, before Joseph Musso found his way into the business in the early 1920s. In 1927, the pair sold the restaurant to Joseph Carrissimi and Echeverria’s great-grandfather John Mosso (no relation to Joseph Musso).

“The story my grandmother would tell me how John Mosso, my great-grandfather, ended up buying the restaurant, is that he emigrated from Italy. He wanted to buy a restaurant. He saw ‘Musso’ and said it was close enough to his last name, so he bought it,” Echeverria said.

In 1934, the restaurant moved next door to its current location. The grill expanded with an additional room on the east side of the building in 1955, now known as the “new room,” which is also home to the legendary bar. In 2021, Musso’s unveiled three private dining rooms, something that customers had been requesting for years. But throughout the decades, Musso’s has largely remained the same. Almost everything – down to the wood lining the bar, the coat hooks accenting every booth and of course, the menu – is original.

“When you talk about what kind of changes have been made, it’s actually very little,” Echeverria said. “The restaurant has changed because it’s grown, and that’s kind of neat to think that we’re over 100 years old and still growing. But we’ve done it in a way where it feels like the restaurant has always been this way forever.”

Echeverria attributed the restaurant’s enduring success to its commitment to authenticity, which is easy to spot at Musso’s. Just take a seat at the bar, built a year after Prohibition ended and frequented by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. Today, dapper mixologists in retro crimson tuxedo jackets ask “gin or vodka” when you order a martini, before carefully stirring – never shaking – the ingredients and swiftly pouring half of it into a signature Musso and Frank martini glass. To ensure the cocktail stays ice-cold, the remaining half is tucked away in a carafe blanketed by ice and served in a sidecar. They even ask you how you’d like it garnished. At Musso’s, attention to detail is an understatement.

“When you’re in Musso’s and you drink a martini, you feel like you’re in the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, that golden era of Hollywood where a martini lunch was a common thing,” Echeverria said. “There is a very nostalgic feeling that you get when you sink into a red leather booth and sip a martini.”

Diners can almost hear voices of some of the Hollywood elite in the legendary “Back Room” at Musso and Frank Grill, circa 1930. ((photo courtesy of Musso and Frank Grill))

The service at Musso and Frank knows few equals. Many of the servers and bartenders have worked there for years, even decades. Being a bartender at Musso’s isn’t just a job to support a budding acting career – it’s a career all on its own.

“The team is so good at creating personal relationships with people. That has definitely been something that has played out throughout the decades,” Echeverria said. “Musso’s, even though it is on Hollywood Boulevard, it’s really not a tourist restaurant. We are 85-90% local Angelenos. I think the team’s ability to develop those relationships and know you by first name, know what you like to drink, know what you like to have as an appetizer – those kinds of little touches make people feel even more comfortable.”

Aside from the Old Hollywood atmosphere, top tier service and spectacular martinis, Echeverria said the food at Musso’s is second to none.

“We are a steakhouse with a very unique grill. The filet mignon at Musso’s is the best filet mignon that I’ve ever had anywhere around the world,” said Echeverria, who knows his beef, having grown up on a cattle farm. “Coming off of the grill – it’s an open fire, mesquite grill, a grill that’s been seasoned for 40 years – that is a flavor that you cannot replicate anywhere.”

Quality steaks are just the tip of the iceberg. The menu at Musso’s features everything from Italian staples to old-school dishes that are downright impossible to find elsewhere. The grenadine of beef, calf’s liver and Welsh rarebit are etched onto the list of entrées as culinary artifacts from a bygone era of fine dining.

“Where can you get lamb kidneys and bacon?” Echeverria said with a laugh. “Not that it’s even ordered that much anymore, but it was Charlie Chaplin’s favorite dish. How can you possibly take that dish off? You can’t. We’re very proud to have that on our menu.”

Each menu item at Musso’s contains a delectable story waiting to be revealed with every bite. The fettucine alfredo, for example, remains true to the original recipe and uses only the best 24-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano – the favorite of a certain esteemed regular.

“That dish was created in 1914 and that recipe was actually brought to the restaurant by Mary Pickford,” Echeverria said. “Our chef would make it for Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks whenever they were in the restaurant. He didn’t put it on the menu. It was something special for them. Where else can you get that authentic of a dish with that kind of a cool story?”

Today, you might pass Jeff Goldblum on the way to the restroom, or bump into Quentin Tarantino while finding a seat at the bar. The restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard, probably the most beloved by Hollywood, has played a starring role in countless films and TV shows including “Mad Men,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Its legacy is even enshrined with its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – the only one awarded to a restaurant.

Echeverria recalled the first time he saw Keith Richards – a Musso and Frank loyalist who was a close friend of Echeverria’s grandmother – arrive at the restaurant for dinner.

“Keith rolls in and he goes to the middle of the dining room, and he clicks his heels like Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ puts his arms in the air and says ‘I’m home,’” Echeverria said. “It was my introduction to just the affinity some of these world-travel A-list celebrities have. They can go dine anywhere in the world and Keith comes into our little Musso and Frank and says ‘I’m home.’”

From rock ‘n’ roll royalty to first-time customers, Musso’s treats everyone like family. Even as L.A.’s restaurant industry faces tough economic times, the familiar feeling of comfort at Musso and Frank keeps the restaurant shining in perpetuity as Hollywood’s North Star.

“When you have the luxury of operating for 106 years like we have, you know there’s going to be peaks and valleys in the economy, in your business. L.A. is in a little bit of a valley right now. It will come back. It’s going to take some partnership between the city and business owners and restaurants in particular to find how to bring it back, but it’ll come back. We’ve seen it before,” Echeverria said. “For us, it really does come back to staying true to who we are. We don’t change. Even though things might be a little bit downturned in L.A., Musso’s is holding the same as we did last year, which is really great to see. It’s that dedication from our customers – in times of uncertainty, they want to go back to where they feel comfortable and familiar.”

So do yourself a favor and relax in a red leather booth with a martini in hand. Just make sure you plan ahead. Reservations fill up weeks, even months, in advance.

The Musso and Frank Grill is located at 6667 Hollywood Blvd. For information, visit mussoandfrank.com.