I've often thought there was a book to be done with stories of the big L.A. restaurant crimes: Sarno's, Vitello's...but Mark Arax beat me to it with The Zankou Murders: One Family, Torn Apart in the April Los Angeles Magazine. I started reading it the second I got home from work and didn't look up till I was done. Garlic paste, hookers, Vicodin addiction, notes passed across rooftops in perfume bottles...this story's got it all, and kudos for Arax for getting the whole tragic story.It's not up on their site yet, so buy the actual print mag where you can also check out their selection of L.A.'s 75 Best Restaurants. I don't really have anything to say about the 75 list...it seems reasonable until you get to 20 or so, then turns kind of random. I thought the chopped salad at La Scala (#75) was kind of disgusting, but whatever...
5 comments:
Oooo...thanks for the tip. We just got our mag. in the mail yesterday.
Mark Arax is an excellent writer! Hmmm? I could go for some yummy Zankou chicken right now!
Hi Pat, nice blog. I love zankou chicken, the garlic sauce-dip whatever you call it is amazing!!!
We go to Vitellos on a semi regular basis...there used to be a yarn shop up the street and since Vitellos does have a bar it fits into my claim of being able to find a bar within walking distance of any yarn shop. Anyways I still always refer to Vitellos as "He lets get dinner at that resturant where Robert Blake allegedly shot his wife." There's a really great little gormet store next door as well.
OK. I read the story about Zankou by Mark Arax. Maybe I missed something, but I still don't get why he killed his mom? Just because she gave him the silent treatment? Huh? OK...he was sick with cancer, she slighted him. Is that a reason to kill your mother and sister?
The mother was a creative genius...a Recipe Queen!
I believe the article eludes to the possibility that his mother might have had something to do with the house burning down, and the fact that the business apparently came before family. Of course this is purely speculation.
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