Dan Tana, the restaurateur whose eponymous Santa Monica Boulevard eatery has for many years been a Hollywood hotspot — one with dishes named for celebrities who’re liable to be there on any given night time — died in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday. He was 90.
Tana, born Dobrivoje Tanasijević, was an expert soccer participant earlier than opening the clubby red-sauce Italian restaurant in 1964, operating it till he offered it in 2009. By then, its fame as a favourite of A-listers had been cemented by the common presence of devotees together with Elizabeth Taylor and Kirk Douglas.
The main points of Tana’s demise have been confirmed by L.A. historian Alison Martino, a buddy of the restaurant’s present proprietor, Sonja Perencevic, who bought it from its founder. Martino, who runs the eatery’s Fb web page — the place a message posted Saturday introduced Tana’s demise — stated that Perencevic was shut with the previous proprietor and had been with him in Belgrade on Friday. Martino stated she didn’t know the reason for demise.
“Dan lived a wonderful life, and we will keep Dan Tana’s in his memory forever,” Perencevic stated in an announcement relayed by Martino, who was on the restaurant on Saturday night time.
Born close to Belgrade, Tana performed skilled soccer in Canada earlier than immigrating to the US, the place he studied performing. He debuted within the 1957 struggle movie “The Enemy Below,” based on Selection. Whereas in search of performing jobs, the commerce publication reported, Tana began as a dishwasher on the Villa Capri restaurant in Hollywood, earlier than ultimately turning into the maitre d’ at La Scala in Beverly Hills. That lined him up for a profession in meals.
Earlier than lengthy, he was opening Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood, close to the japanese fringe of Beverly Hills. He informed the Hollywood Reporter in 2014 that he’d wished to create an institution the place stars might dine late into the night time.
“There was not a decent restaurant serving until 1 a.m. You had to go to a coffee shop,” he informed the Reporter.
However Dan Tana’s was not a right away hit.
Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Instances)
It will definitely gained a following after actor Richard Burton, a seven-time Academy Award nominee who married Taylor the yr the restaurant opened, turned an everyday presence. It acquired a jolt within the Seventies, when the Troubadour, a neighboring music venue, started reserving large acts reminiscent of Elton John, drawing massive crowds to the world.
The restaurant, with its red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, and inexperienced neon signal, quickly turned a neighborhood establishment. It has lengthy been recognized for the discreet method it caters to the film stars and moguls who slide throughout its channeled pink cubicles. George Clooney, former Lakers proprietor Jerry Buss and heiress Nicky Hilton are among the many eclectic bunch of notables with menu gadgets named for them, and the routine presence of celebrities has solely burnished the eatery’s aura — particularly amongst vacationers hoping for a desk.
However friends aren’t essentially coming for four-star meals. The menu eschews the type of regional Italian cooking that has for years been a staple of the Los Angeles eating scene. As an alternative, Dan Tana’s gives comfort-food fare reminiscent of fettuccine Alfredo and rooster Parmesan.
In 2016, Instances restaurant critic Jonathan Gold penned a memorable assessment of Dan Tana’s, relating the time he took a highschool crush there on a date, solely to embarrass himself: “The waiter laughed when I tried to order wine, and then served us Sprite in wine glasses. The bill came to $20 more than I had in my wallet. She groaned and pulled out the credit card her parents had given her for emergencies.”
As for the meals, Gold known as a few of it “ordinary,” however famous, “Weirdly enough, I don’t care,” noting the restaurant’s place in L.A.’s culinary firmament. He went on to focus on dishes together with the rooster parm, and instructed readers, “Dan Tana’s is not about denying yourself things.”
Dan Tana’s on Santa Monica Boulevard is understood for dishes together with rooster Parmesan.
(Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Instances)
Within the years since Tana offered his restaurant and retired to Belgrade, a number of landmark L.A. haunts have shuttered, Greenblatt’s Deli, the Authentic Pantry Cafe and Papa Cristo’s Greek Grill & Market amongst them. Dan Tana’s has endured, Martino stated, partially as a result of it will possibly nonetheless ship a captivating, old-world expertise.
“When … you walk in, the world stops,” she stated. “That’s what I love about it — the history and the food. The staff has been the same: you could leave L.A., come back after five years and come in and they will remember your favorite drink.”
Martino despatched The Instances a video of an impromptu toast she made in Tana’s honor on the restaurant on Saturday night time. Flanked by tuxedoed servers and the maître d’, she introduced the founder’s demise, largely silencing the crowded eating room.
“We do not need to be sad,” Martino stated. “Mr. Tana would want us to be happy.”
Friends raised their glasses. And the din of a busy restaurant quickly returned.
