Chasen’s chili was so prized that it was flown to Rome for Elizabeth Taylor

Evidence

Chasen’s, a restaurant that opened its doors in 1936, was a hangout for entertainment luminaries for nearly 60 years. Many of its regular customers had booths named in their honor. The Ronald Reagan booth, now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library museum, was where Ronnie proposed to Nancy. Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, James Stewart and Groucho Marx also had their booths. Located near Beverly Hills, it was the site of Academy Awards parties and was also known for its chili. In 1962, Elizabeth Taylor had several orders of Chasen’s chili packed in dry ice and flown to the set of Cleopatra while filming in Rome. But just before Chasen’s closed its doors permanently in 1995, the acclaimed chili was requested one last time by Michael Jackson, who was bringing Elizabeth Taylor as his date to a party being given in his honor. — Dolores DeLuce, Blow Jobs, 145

Categorization

• CANDY: A fun trivia nugget about Hollywood’s favorite chili being shipped to Cleopatra’s Rome set and ordered one last time for Taylor before closing.
• SHARE: A food-history buff or old-Hollywood obsessive would enjoy the detail of dry-ice chili flights and named booths.