This may well be the only restaurant in the world where you'll find an Academy Award-nominated actress waiting tables.

Cathy Moriarty was an overnight star. She made her first film appearance at age 17, playing Jake LaMotta's wife Vicky, opposite Robert De Niro in the classic 1980 film "Raging Bull." She was nominated for an Oscar for that performance, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe as the "Best New Female Star of the Year."

She went on to appear with Arnold Schwarzenegger in "Kindergarten Cop," with John Goodman in "Matinee," with Sally Field in "Soapdish," and opposite a friendly ghost in "Casper." Most recently, she was seen in "Copland," with Sly Stallone. She also starred on TV in the short-lived CBS sitcom "Bless This House" with Andrew Dice Clay. And she's working on "Gloria." for1999.

Now Cathy has started her own restaurant, called Mulberry Street, a modest little pizzeria on a less-than-modest street (Cañon Drive) in Beverly Hills,     just one block west of Rodeo Drive. It's a casual Italian spot, with just seven tables (with red-checkered tablecloths), where Cathy serves up pizza, spaghetti & meatballs, and the like. Amazingly, Ms. Moriarty not only owns the restaurant, she works here - and she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

When she isn't on a movie set, Cathy Moriarty works long hours here at Mulberry Street, actually cooking pasta and meatballs in the kitchen, working behind the counter, even waiting tables in an apron. This despite the fact that the restaurant's regulars include Hollywood celebrities such as Joe Pesci ("My Cousin Vinnie"), Rosie O'Donnell ("The Flintstones"), Christian Slater ("Broken Arrow"), O.J.'s former houseguest Kato Kaelin, Mickey Rourke ("9 1/2 Weeks") and Danny Aiello ("Do The Right Thing"). Nicolette Sheridan ("Desperate Housewives") also had some good words to say about the place on a talk show...

Cathy, a native of Queens, says she had to open Mulberry Street because she couldn't get a decent New York-style pizza out here in Hollywood (she even trucks in New York water for the thin-crust pizza, to keep it authentic). She's a good cook ("I do eggplant and meatballs you wouldn't believe."), and the place is usually full.  She says she also enjoys the hard work, that it helps keep her in touch with reality, and that it's "cheaper than a psychiatrist."

Plus, having suffered through a long period back in the early 1980's when she was unable to find work (following her appearance in the unsuccessful John Belushi comedy, "Neighbors"), she considers the restaurant "something to fall back on" - even though her Hollywood career is now in high gear again. (Cathy jokes that customers sometimes leave her big tips because they think her acting career must be in trouble since she's working in a restaurant - they don't know she owns the place.)

Cathy's next film is the Antonio Banderas-directed “Crazy in Alabama,” in which she'll appear with Melanie Griffith.

In early 1995, Soleil Moon Frye, TV's former "Punky Brewster," went to work at Mulberry Street, serving customers from behind the counter.

And Mulberry Street Pizzeria has yet another celebrity connection:
Co-owner Richard Palmer, former fiance of Cathy Moriarty, is now married to actress Raquel Welch.

The café is open seven days a week, from 11 AM to 12 midnight.

Update: Scott C. tells me that Cathy now spends most of her time in New York, but that the restaurant continues to have a celebrity following: on his last visit there, in 2014, he sat next to Tina Fey.

Getting there: located north of Wilshire Blvd on Cañon Drive, near Edelweiss Chocolates (owned by Shirley Jones & Marty Ingels), and just north of Chasen's and Spago Beverly Hills, and two streets east of Rodeo Drive.