Hollywood's 25 Top Power Lunch Restaurants
With its unique ability to blend Hollywood's old and new guard, this Beverly Hills Hotel eatery remains a unique mecca that caters equally to celebrities and executives, from Jeffrey Katzenberg and Mark Wahlberg to Mary J. Blige, Brett Ratner and Stacey Snider.
They're drawn to the restaurant's most popular dishes -- the McCarthy salad, above all -- though insiders also request off-the-menu items such as pancakes and waffles. Booths Nos. 1 and 2 remain the most coveted (Charlie Chaplin kept a daily reservation at No. 1, which remained empty whenever he didn't show), and you'll frequently spot former Paramount Pictures chairman Sherry Lansing sitting in a quiet corner. "The booths are so private, you can actually hear each other talk, and they're always full of interesting people," she notes.
Not least among them in the 72 years since the restaurant opened: Marlene Dietrich was a regular and refused to wear the obligatory skirt, leading management to change the "no slacks" rule. The Lounge is going through a subtle revamp to be unveiled in March, but its appeal to tradition remains unchanged.
