I have a new-to-me Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook. This is its tale. At the end of the tale, there is a recipe from Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook.
The Long Journey of Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook
Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good. Alice May Brock, author (1941- )
I used the above quote, which Dell French of my Writers Guild sent me, in the
“Recipes of the Month.”
This quote set off an adventure that lasted eight months.
Every Friday some of my Writers Guild members to go lunch after our 10-12 Friday meeting. On a certain Friday in the spring of ‘07, among the lunchers were myself, Don Polly, and his wife, Cookie. Somehow the quote came up, and the conversation turned to Alice May Brock and “Alice’s Restaurant,” the hit song of the late 60s by Arlo Guthrie.
Conversations among the writers tends to get lively, but when Don jumped in and said that Arlo Guthrie came from near his home town in Mass., he had the table’s immediate attention.
Don went on to tell about Alice’s Restaurant, the movie, and the old church that inspired Arlo to write the song. He added that his good friend Rich Jansen had been a teen friend of Arlo and still was very close with him.
Meanwhile, out on Whidbey Island off of Seattle, my sister Lynne also saw the Alice May Brock quote in the “Recipes of the Month.” She sent me this email.
“Bill and I watched the Arlo Guthrie movie of Alice’s Restaurant last night. It was bad. The plot was unbelievably stereotypical and, with few exceptions, the acting was bad. After that, Bill watched part of a voice-over version where we think Arlo was talking when they made it into a DVD recently. I wished that was all we had watched. Arlo said the only part of the movie that was real were the parts that were in his song; the rest of it was written script by people that thought they knew what young hippies were like. The restaurant wasn’t in the church; it was just where Alice and Ray lived.
About 25 years later, Arlo went back. The church had been vacant, ready for demolition, and all the stained glass windows were gone. He bought it, restored it and now uses it as a sometimes home. Some person wrote Arlo and told him he had stolen the chalice window and would give it back. Bill learned all of this off the voice-over he listened to.
I’m going to mail you the Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook so you can pick what you want out of it. When you are done, you can just mail it back- no hurry. You’ll have more fun that way and it won’t cost much to mail.”
She did, and I had the cookbook at home when the Arlo Guthrie conversation happened. Alice is a clever writer, and it’s a fun book to read. I was really enjoying it. I mentioned that somewhere along the way in our lunch conversation.
I’m a bit fuzzy about what was said when. Don may remember it more clearly. But the gist of it was that Don offered to take Lynne’s Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook when he went back to Massachusetts and see if Rich would ask Arlo to sign it. Wow! What a fun thing if it could be pulled off!
Rich grew up in Don’s home town, and Arlo lived about 20 miles away. Rich was a hippie with all the trimmings, Don said. He wore sandals winter and summer, long hair, beads, the whole scene. Rich probably met Arlo around Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a hippie mecca in the 50s and 60s. Don himself wasn’t into hippie; he was into cars at that age. But he and Rich still became good friends. Arlo grew up to be a hit musician, and Rich is a rich and famous Hollywood and New York soundman. But they both still have homes in Massachusetts.
When I got home later, two things occurred to me. Number one: it’s possible that we would never see the book again. It could be set down somewhere by someone and forgotten—or something. Number two: I wanted a signed cookbook too.
I sent Lynne back her book so I knew it was safely home. Then I went on the internet and found two old copies of Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook by Alice May Brock. They weren’t in as good shape as Lynne’s, but they were what I could find. If they got lost, it would be no big deal. I gave them to Don, and the game was on.
Don took them to Massachusetts when he went up to a family reunion in August. While he was up there, he saw Rich and gave him the two cookbooks. Don had written a note with each book to please sign one to Lynne and the other to Ruth. Rich said he needed to see Arlo because Arlo owed him some money, and he’d drop the books off then.
There was a long period of silence after that. Then Don heard that Rich had taken the books to Arlo’s several times, but no one was home. Don heard that from his son, Brett, who works for Rich on weekends. More weeks of silence. Don was nervous, as he'd suggested this venture and didn't want to lose the books. I wasn't. I was psyched that Rich would take the books and give it a try. I may never touch the hand of fame, but my books were.
Then Don learned that Rich had gone to Arlo’s house again, and talked with his wife, and his daughter, Annie. Arlo had been on tour in California, and would next tour some of the Southern states. He owns a house in Roseland, Florida, and stops there when he’s in the area. Annie mailed the cookbooks to the house in Florida. The books were within Arlo’s sphere! We were so excited!
Silence. Don began to worry about the books again. Not me. If the books got lost, it was a lark anyway.
Sometime or another, Arlo went to the Florida house. He may have got the cookbooks. Here it’s fuzzy. Rich didn’t know whether Arlo hauled the books on tour with him, or what. But time passed again. Rich began to be concerned about the books, I guess because he is such a friend of Don’s. Are you keeping up with this? I was really psyched to think that my books might be touring with Arlo.
Eventually Rich got hold of Arlo’s son, Abe. Abe told Rich that he was going to join his dad on tour, and that he, Abe, would either take the books from the Florida house to Arlo, or find what happened to them. Nothing like a network of friends to make things happen!
Weeks passed again.
Abe did find the books. Either they were signed or he took them to Arlo to sign. Rich didn’t know that. But Abe carried them back to Massachusetts when he left the tour, and delivered them to Rich. Rich sent them by Fed-Ex to Don.
Eight months, almost to the day, had passed since Don first took the books from Florida to Massachusetts.
When I went to Don’s house to get the books, I gathered them in like lost children. Don was so proud to have pulled it off. What a thrill, to see those signatures! Arlo did write the autographs to our names, and signed them “Love, Arlo Guthrie!”
Don had told the story to the Writers Guild folk while the books were still wandering. I took the books to last Friday’s meeting, and they passed reverently from hand to hand. My one brush with the rich and famous!
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Alice May Brock did have a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the 60s, and it was called “Alice’s Restaurant.” But it has little to do with the song Arlo Guthrie wrote.
The song starts out telling how Arlo went for a Thanksgiving dinner to the old church where Alice and her husband Ray lived. He tells how good the dinner was, and then wanders from there into this long convulated tale, which he named “Alice’s Restaurant,” though the tale doesn't have much to do with Alice's Restaurant after the first few stanzas. I've been told that, when really inspired, Arlo can spend twenty minutes in concert on this song. It's the song that made his career.
The Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook, though, is a cookbook of actual dishes that Alice served in her restaurant.
Her prologue to the book is as follows: “It’s a good idea to always read a through before you start cooking. Check to see that you have all the ingredients or substitutes on hand. Please feel free to make any changes you wish: more, less, or different. When I don’t specify the amount of a particular ingredient, that means it’s up to you. And when I say season with whatever you’re in the mood for, I mean exactly that. I always use more butter and eggs and garlic than any printed recipe calls for. The only unfortunate change this brings about is in my size.”
{Nowadays using BBQ sauce and grape jelly to heat meatballs or little hot dogs in is rather common and basic. But it wasn’t in the 60s, I guess. Read on.}
MY MOTHER’S MEAT BALLS from Alice’s Restaurant Cook Book
Alice: This recipe sounds like it came right out of a ladies’ magazine. They have to come up with new and unusual recipes every month, and by now the list of ingredients is so repulsive (it may include spearmint gum, mayonnaise, tuna fish, and marmalade) that is hard to believe the end result is edible. However, although these ingredients sound strange, for some reason the thing works. But you really have to taste it to believe it.
2 bottles chili catsup
1 8-oz jar grape jelly
2 or 3 cups of water
2 lemons
1 lb. chopped beef
1/2 c bread crumbs (optional)
1 egg (optional)
Mix catsup, jelly, and water and sliced lemon in a big pot and simmer for half an hour. Add tiny meatballs made of plain chopped beef (or you may add the egg and bread crumbs). Cook on low heat for an hour. Serve on rice or orzo. (Makes 6 to 8 servings.)
I don’t suggest you spice up the meatballs. The sauce is pretty strong and I don’t think anything could compete with it.
These were a big hit in the restaurant, going under the name of Oriental Meatballs, for some unknown reason. However, I really didn’t let them get established on the menu because I couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone what was in them.
By the way, Ray loves them.
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Arlo Guthrie still owns the church. It is now and has been for many years the Guthrie Center for people of all faiths.
Arlo, and his father, Woody, before him, were greatly influenced by Eastern spiritulists, particularly Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati. To simplify their teachings, basically all religions are one religion, and all people are responsible for each other. The Center extends every kind of aid it can to any person in need. Originally, it focused on the AIDs/HIV people. Now it offers all kinds of social services as well as reaching out to the community with programs and educational offerings. My friend, Jeanette Burton, has a daughter who lives near the Guthrie Center and sometimes participates in its activities.
Recipe Box
