Orange County Restaurants

Located at 1001 N. Alameda St. Los Angeles, CA. 90012, Philippe the Original was opened in 1908 by Philippe Mathieu. One day in 1918, Mathieu dropped a french roll into the roasting pan of hot juice drippings of beef. The customer, a police officer, said he would take the sandwich anyway...and the "french dip sandwich" was born. Named for the french roll?, the officers name being french?, or for Mathieu himself?...the answer is lost to history. Philippe's was purchased by the Martin brothers Frank, Dave, and Harry in 1927 for around $5000. They operated Philippe's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until WWII. In 1951 Philippe's was forced to move to make way for the 101 freeway, and remains in that location today.