Restaurateur tells the story of Hollywood's legendary Ma Maison

Nation's Restaurant News, Oct 11, 1999 by Patrick A. Terrail

The following is an excerpt from "A Taste of Hollywood: The Story of Ma Maison," by restaurateur Patrick A. Terrail, published by Lebhar-Friedman Books.

The Hollywood phenomenon

A restaurant is kind of like a beautiful woman. When she's very young, she doesn't need a lot of dazzling clothes or makeup to look good. But as she gets older, she needs beautiful clothes and beautiful makeup to keep up her appearance. She constantly has to improve herself. A good restaurant is the same way: It's always changing, always in motion. If it stands still, it will never improve.

At Ma Maison I spent 13 years changing, improving, and adapting my restaurant to satisfy the tastes of the American palate. Some things worked out, and others did not; that is the nature of the business. But for one incredible stretch in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, things worked out so well that Ma Maison became the home for many of Hollywood's greatest stars. Our reservation list blazed with star quality. The air continually was charged with the high-powered wheeling and dealing that turned the small house into a Hollywood power center. Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor, Gary Grant, Suzanne Pleshette, Burt Reynolds, Jack Lemmon, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon and Frank Sinatra, among others, all dined there regularly. My restaurant became Hollywood's dining room and playpen. We catered to the world's most famous people. We watched them, we nurtured them, and we made sure everyone left our restaurant satisfied.

It was also the home for some of the world's great chefs. Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Hamersley, Susan Feniger, Mark Peel, Claude Segal and JeanPierre Lemanissier all started their careers at my restaurant before going on to brilliant culinary careers of their own. There was nothing like Ma Maison - the food, the atmosphere and the glitterati always were inviting.

The Ma Maison marriage

A restaurant is the product of a lot of people working together. In many restaurants, you have a strong back (kitchen) and a weak front, or vice versa. At Ma Maison we were extremely fortunate; we were equally strong in the front and the back. Once we got rolling, we offered a tasty, imaginative and ever-changing bill of fare that brought people back on a regular basis. And as far as service goes, well, we gave people the attention they deserved. Service was our forte.

I believed then, and I believe still, that a vital ingredient of any business success is an understanding of the clientele. Since Ma Maison was "in" with the Hollywood community, it was important that we make ourselves aware of their needs and whims. That doesn't happen by chance.

All my waiters tried to remember the beverage preferences of regular guests. Frequently, they carried the preferred drink to the table as the guest was sitting down. We went far beyond personally answering phone calls. We could recognize those who were part of our regular family, and we would personally make sure they were seated in their favorite corner by their favorite waiter. If a regular patron yearned for a certain dish that didn't happen to be on the menu that day, the kitchen would be alerted and the dish would be prepared tout de suite. We kept certain wines available for Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland, and we kept ketchup on hand for Suzanne Pleshette. We knew exactly how to prepare veal and scrambled eggs for Ed McMahon and special pasta for Barbara Sinatra. We also created a special fish entree, Fish la Bautzer, for show biz counsel, Greg Bautzer.

I also made it a point to know what was happening. I'm no soothsayer, so this entailed paying attention to the papers. Of course, the front page was important, but the society page and Army Archerd's gossip column in Variety kept me abreast of who was seeing whom; who could sit next to whom (and who could not); and who merited a bottle of champagne.

We constantly worked at giving our guests a personal touch. We felt that their lives had been automated enough with answering machines and automated tellers. I believe that people need attention. They got it at Ma Maison.

Orson Welles

In addition to our crazy, funfilled Friday lunches, Ma Maison also played dinner host to many of Hollywood's elite. I have fond memories of many of the celebrities that frequented Ma Maison. But of all the Hollywood bigwigs that walked through my front door, Orson Welles became my favorite customer and my closest friend.

Over the years, Ma Maison and Welles became one. If a reporter or columnist mentioned Ma Maison, trailing close behind would be a mention of Welles. It wasn't uncommon for an article or a review to begin: "Terrail's small restaurant has become the favorite hideaway for such celebrities as Orson Welles..." Because he felt comfortable in Ma Maison, Welles returned time and again, and we soon became the best of friends. So it was almost a sure bet that on any given day, he would stop by Ma Maison to sit and dine at his usual table. He became as much a signature of Ma Maison as the Astroturf on the floor. His presence seemed right -- and even expected -- by those who came to Ma Maison for a little stargazing.