BEVERLY HILLS—The Beverly Hills Centennial Cookbook is out just in time for Christmas. The  city received their finished cookbook on Sunday, December 15. Canyon News spoke to Judy Henning, who was appointed as one of the co-chairs of the Beverly Hills Centennial Cookbook Committee last March.

Henning remarked that the making of the cookbook was a busy project, “[The Centennial Committee] had no idea what a big project [they] were getting into. [There were] many 3:00 a.m. mornings and long days, but we finished the project in about 6 months. We were blurry eyed.”

The committee consisted of 11 volunteers, Co-Chairs of the committee Judy Henning and Ellyn Snowden, and Judy Kessler; who was an entertainment producer at NBC’s Today Show, a senior producer at Entertainment Tonight, the Vice President of creative affairs at Time Inc. and a co-producer of the motion picture “Gorillas in the Mist.” As soon as Henning realized what a project the cookbook was turning into, she realized that their group of 11 volunteers would need assistance and Kessler was just the woman for the job.

The committee worked with and selected recipes from 39 different restaurants; slimming the list down to their favorites. Henning told Canyon News that she didn’t think there has a cookbook compiled of Beverly Hills”˜it’ spots quite like this.

Henning commented that they “tried to put in a few iconic restaurants like Romanoff’s and The Brown Derby with favorite recipes from each one. [They also included] power lunching like Clint Eastwood [who dines] at The Grill on the Alley; he orders the Dover Sole, and Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger dining at Caffé Roma.” They also included a few new rising stars on the Beverly Hills Restaurant scene; such as M Café de Chaya and Oliverio at the Avalon. M Cafe has embraced a healthy world of contemporary, macrobiotic cuisine and Oliverio at the Avalon has what Chef Paderno calls  “Italian food with a regional flair.”

The Centennial Cookbook costs $39.95 and can be found at The Conference and Visitors Bureau on 9400 South Santa Monica in Beverly Hills. The phone number is 310-248-1015. The cookbook can be found at the restaurants mentioned in the book including The Grill on the Alley, Caffé Roma, M Café de Chaya, Phillipe’s, as well as the stationary shop; Francis-Orr, The Montage gift shop, The Peninsula Gift Shop and Carrie White salon.