By Jennifer Oz LeRoy and Kay LeRoy
On the western edge of New York City’s Central Park, where the bustle of West Sixty-seventh Street yields to 843 tranquil acres of open space, perches a majestic building unlike any other. It is a destination, a showplace, a visual treasure. For more than 70 years, Tavern on the Green has dazzled New York City.
Now, TAVERN ON THE GREEN (Artisan, 2009) brings together the restaurant’s distinctive style, delicious food, and special setting with recipes, decorating tips and entertaining advice for making memorable meals of our own at home.
TAVERN ON THE GREEN is the definitive book on New York’s best-known restaurant. No other restaurant in the world is host to such a cross-section of performing artists and writers, politicians and professional athletes, moguls and mob bosses, stage and screen actors, ingenues and iconoclasts, as well as first-time visitors to the city. If the walls of Tavern on the Green could talk, the voices of such diverse personalities as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Billy Crystal, Donald Trump, Kelly Ripa, Woody Allen, Star Jones, Jerry Seinfeld, Rudy Giuliani and Richard Burton would fill its dazzling rooms. The restaurant’s iconic setting and radiant charm has made it the place for New York’s most prestigious charity and political functions, Broadway openings and film premiers.
Filled with signature dishes – all adapted for the home cook?sample menus, spectacular photographs, rich history and anecdotes that tell the story of Tavern, this enchanting book invites readers to share in the magic and the glamour of the beloved restaurant.
Some of the astounding facts and figures from the restaurant include:
. More than 700,000 guests dine at the restaurant each year, with more than 10,000 of those visitors coming through the doors from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day.
. Martha Stewart’s favorite drink from Tavern’s bar is the “Very Berry” Cosmo (page 26). But Jack Nicholson doesn’t order a cocktail?rather, he prefers a bottle of bourbon with a lot of ice.
. Pets are not allowed inside the restaurant 364 days a year. However, there is one night every February when Tavern opens its doors to the city’s dogs?the annual bash in honor of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
. Tavern has its own off-site workshop where eight employees, including seamstresses, upholsterers and woodworkers, make tablecloths, rehabilitate chairs, and build sets for special parties.
. Tavern’s topiaries include a dancing bear, kissing swans, a leaping rabbit, a rearing horse, a standing stag, a charging elephant, and a 14-foot replica of King Kong, all created by Dan Ondrejko, the greensman for the film Edward Scissorhands.
. Each year, Tavern buys 3,000 dinner plates to replace those lost, chipped or stolen. Every week, 200 glasses and 200 to 300 pieces of silverware are replaced.
With recipes for Tavern’s most unforgettable dishes, including Sliced Duck Breasts with Shallot-Ginger Glaze, Roasted Proscuitto-Wrapped Scallops, Marathon Pasta (served each year on the eve of the New York race), Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Red Wine-Garlic Butter and Chocolate-Espresso Mousse, along with a special chapter on entertaining, TAVERN ON THE GREEN shows readers how to re-create the glamour of the Big Apple.
Just like a night in one of the restaurant’s celebratory dining rooms, TAVERN ON THE GREEN is a flight of fancy?a joyful, timeless collection that is, above all, delicious.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Jennifer Oz LeRoy started working in the kitchen at Tavern when she was 19, determined to learn every aspect of the restaurant business. Her mother, Kay LeRoy, has been involved with Tavern on the Green for more than 30 years. Both women live in New York City. Visit Tavern’s website at www.tavernonthegreen.com.
