One of the oldest and best-known restaurants in Southern California, Philippe the Original, was honored with the 17th annual Elizabeth Burns Lifetime Achievement Award on June 6th in Santa Monica. Presented by the California Restaurant Association (CRA) Los Angeles chapter, the award was presented at a gala held in the eatery’s honor at Hotel Casa del Mar.
John and Ricard Binder accepted the award on behalf of the restaurant. Their father, Bill Binder, ran the restaurant for more than four decades beginning in the 1940s. His father-in-law purchased it from its founder, Philippe Mathieu in 1927.
The restaurant’s signature French Dipped Sandwich was invented inadvertently in 1918, when Mathieu dropped a sliced French roll into roasting juices. The customer, a police officer, took the sandwich anyway and returned the next day with friends looking for more dipped sandwiches. Since that day, the location has changed once and the prices have changed a few times but otherwise, much remains the same.
posted by: Eric Fujimori
6/19/14
