Celebrities Need Comfort Food Too: A Hollywood Hangout Turns 100

"The legendary Musso & Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard opened before there was a Hollywood sign. For 100 years now, stars, studio heads and writers have settled into the restaurant's red leather banquettes to negotiate, gossip, drink and eat."

"Anyone who's dined at Musso's has an opinion about it — and after 100 years, that adds up to a lot of opinions. They include: 'It's our favorite place to go for special events," and "We go for the martinis, not the food," and "The food's not bad, especially the chicken pot pie every Thursday.'"

"Musso's specializes in comfort food from an earlier generation — some dishes have been on the menu for decades. You can order tongue, calf liver, lamb kidneys, sweetbreads or sauerbraten. (When Rolling Stone Keith Richards is in LA he gets the liver and onions.)

Welsh rarebit, another old-school dish, is not for calorie counters. It's a melted cheddar cheese sauce spiked with beer, mustard, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce poured over toast points and served on a platter with a big spoon. (There are tomato slices on the side for the dieters at the table.) Some people order the rarebit without really knowing what it is, says server Sergio Gonzalez. "Where's the rabbit?" they ask."

"The menu has been lightened up over the years according to Musso's fourth generation owner/operator Mark Echeverria. But the dishes that last the longest are the comfort foods. 'People want to know they can come into a restaurant and get that dish that they had 30 years ago,' he says."