Seeing Stars: Restaurants Owned by the Stars..
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347 N.
Cañon Drive,
Beverly Hills, CA. / (310) 247-8998
Other locations:
240 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills
17040 Ventura Blvd, Encino
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.
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