My Beverly Hills Kitchen: Classic Southern Cooking with a French Twist
Hitz has made a name for himself in the culinary landscape of America’s most luxuriously renowned city, Beverly Hills. Heir to a Coca-Cola fortune, Hitz early on felt comfortable around the famous. Partnership in a successful Atlanta restaurant introduced him to daily life in the food business. Moving to California, he feted his new neighbors with the southern food he had learned from the family’s cook, overlaying it with sophisticated sensibilities absorbed at Parisian culinary school. His tables became a hit with Beverly Hills’ social set, and he fed such fashionable luminaries as Nancy Reagan, Nan Kempner, and Betsy Bloomingdale, serving them elegantly presented southern fried chicken, she-crab soup, gussied-up grits, and hummingbird cake. His recipes lend themselves to entertaining and will attract anyone looking for dinner party menu inspiration. The book is peppered with photographs of the author, his California celebrity friends, and his stylish cooking. --Mark Knoblauch