In ‘Tortilla Soup,’ the Food’s the Thing

There’s an old show biz adage that an actor should never appear in a movie with kids or dogs--they’ll steal the scene every time. Maybe it’s time to add one more: food. Old pros such as Hector Elizondo and Raquel Welch may be hard to upstage, but--for food lovers, at least--Border Grill’s Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have managed to do it.

In the new movie “Tortilla Soup,” it’s tough to keep focused on the plot while you’re waiting for the next cooking scene. With dishes designed by Milliken and Feniger and shot by Lulu Zezza (Marian Sanchez de Antunano did principal photography), the cooking scenes in this movie practically glow.

Rather than your usual gastro-porn of glossy finished dishes, it’s the prep work that stars in this movie. You can practically smell the chiles as they’re toasting and feel the dough as it’s being rolled out. When Elizondo’s character is seeding, peeling and slicing an avocado, cooks everywhere will be ooh-ing and aah-ing.

Though the actor did do some of the cooking, credit local cook Paul Rosenbluh in an uncredited role as Elizondo’s “stunt hands” for most of it. Chef at the soon-to-open Bayou Bar & Grill in Alhambra (and married to former Border Grill chef Monique King--there’s the connection), Rosenbluh reportedly had his hands and forearms painted and even the hairs tinted to appear more like the actor.

Almost as impressive as the cooking is where it’s done. That spectacular home kitchen is actually from the Encino home of Larry and Doris Silverton, mom and dad of La Brea Bakery owner Nancy Silverton.

Palladin Fundraiser Scores

The “Chefs Helping Chefs” fund-raiser held last month in honor of ailing Washington, D.C., star Jean-Louis Palladin raised more than $40,000. The money will be used to help Palladin pay the medical bills from his fight against lung cancer. It was part of a series of dinners being given across the country that have raised more than $500,000 so far.