In 1975 Harry Prodromides—Harry Prod, as most everyone knew him—decided that it was the right time to open a restaurant he could call his own. For a couple of years, as a vice president of Host International, Inc., he’d been managing the firm’s 18 Red Onion restaurants in and around Los Angeles. In that role he’d forged a friendship with Jose Ruiseco, a top-flight bartender who’d worked his way up to a management position at the Red Onion in Torrance. When Prod and Ruiseco learned that a sprawling restaurant property in Torrance would soon be available, they saw opportunity knocking. It didn’t seem to bother them that the building had been home to three different restaurants—first Gallareto’s, then Thirty Tons of Bricks, and then Neptune’s West—in just four years.
The 1970s was the heyday of American theme restaurants, and Prod and Ruiseco found just what they needed in the “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” the famous short story by Washington Irving first published in 1819. They enlisted Arthur Valdes, an up-and-coming architect and designer in Newport Beach, to give the building at 2808 West Sepulveda Boulevard an appropriate makeover (with such rooms as the Grand Salon, Katrina’s Cottage, Sleepy Hollow, the Study, and the Van Tassel Gallery), and their new restaurant, Ichabod Crane’s Tarry Town Tavern, opened its doors there on February 26, 1976.
From the beginning the specialty of the house was prime rib of beef, styled on the menu as “Roast’d Prime Ribs of Beefe,” served with a spoon bread pudding, a spinach popover, and a vegetable. Other entrees followed suit, style-wise, including “Hickory Smoked Barbecued Beefe Ribs” and “New England Boyled Brisquet of Corn’d Beefe,” as well as other beef and seafood dishes that changed with the seasons. When it came time for dessert, there was proverbial pièce de resistance: Baked Alaska, flambéed at the table.
In 1981, with Ruiseco by then out of the picture, Harry Prod and his wife, Linda, opened a second Ichabod Crane’s Tarry Town Tavern in La Habra, about 30 miles to the west of Torrance. Over time, though, the fortunes of both restaurants waned. Ichabod Crane’s Tarry Town Tavern closed in 1987, and all the restaurant’s antique furniture, artwork, leaded glass windows, and collectibles were sold.
King’s Hawaiian Bakery & Restaurant moved into the building in 1988 and has been there ever since.
Barbecued Pork
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...The menu of Ichabod Crane's Tarry Town Tavern in Torrance, California, typically featured a number of meats grilled over a charcoal fire, including “Hickory Smoked Barbecued Beefe Ribs." In 1978 the restaurant supplied its recipe for Barbecued Pork to the Los Angeles Times in response to a reader request.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Pinch thyme or sage
- 1/2 teaspoon bay leaf powder
- Pinch ground allspice
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 3 to 4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 4 large chunks
- 1/3 cup dry sherry
Instructions
In a small bowl, combine the salt, black pepper, thyme, bay leaf powder, allspice, and garlic. Mix well and rub all over the pieces of pork. Place the pork in a nonreactive bowl and sprinkle with the sherry. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours, turning the meat once or twice. (The pork may also be marinated in a heavy resealable plastic bag.)
Just before cooking, pour off the marinade and blot the pieces of pork dry with paper towels.
As the pork comes to room temperature, prepare a fire in the grill. When the flames have subsided and the coals are glowing, cook the pork at least 1 hour, turning as needed, The pork is done when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the largest piece reads at least 145 degrees.
Notes
The pork may also be baked in a 350-degree oven for 2 hours. The pork is done when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the largest piece reads at least 145 degrees.
No Comments