Special Dinners, Early Eighties

Max Au Triangle was one of the most exciting restaurants to open in Los Angeles in the early eighties.  The chef was Joachim Splichal, who had been cooking at The Regency Club before that. After the Beverly Hills restaurant - wildly ambitious - closed Joachim opened Patina.  But this special meal took place while Max au Triangle was still in its glory.

There's a lot to study here.  For one thing, tapas were almost unknown in this country in the eighties, so the idea that Trumps' late chef, Michael Roberts, was creating them was ground breaking.  (Also, they're fairly classic, which was strange for Michael; he was a chef with a great sense of humor and an iconoclastic bent.) Then too, Darrell Corti is one of the great experts on sherry, so this was an opportunity to learn about the fortified Spanish wine.  I remember this as a really exciting occasion.

Yanou Collart was an original, a strange amalgam of publicity agent, talent-seeker in the world of food, party girl and collector of rich people.  She seemed to know everyone in Paris, and I've never met anyone quite like her. This meal, in a fabulous Hollywood home, was memorable; the guest list glittered, and every single one of the chefs was a major talent.