Dan Tana, the restaurateur whose eponymous Santa Monica Boulevard eatery has for decades been a Hollywood hotspot — one with dishes named for celebrities who are liable to be there on any given night — died in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday. He was 90.
Tana, born Dobrivoje Tanasijević, was a professional soccer player before opening the clubby red-sauce Italian restaurant in 1964, running it until he sold it in 2009. By then, its reputation as a favorite of A-listers had been cemented by the regular presence of devotees including Elizabeth Taylor and Kirk Douglas.
The details of Tana’s death were confirmed by L.A. historian Alison Martino, a friend of the restaurant’s current owner, Sonja Perencevic, who purchased it from its founder. Martino, who runs the eatery’s Facebook page — where a message posted Saturday announced Tana’s death — said that Perencevic was close with the former proprietor and had been with him in Belgrade on Friday. Martino said she did not know the cause of death.
“Dan lived a wonderful life, and we will keep Dan Tana’s in his memory forever,” Perencevic said in a statement relayed by Martino, who was at the restaurant on Saturday night.
Born near Belgrade, Tana played professional soccer in Canada before immigrating to the United States, where he studied acting. He debuted in the 1957 war film “The Enemy Below,” according to Variety. While seeking acting jobs, the trade publication reported, Tana started as a dishwasher at the Villa Capri restaurant in Hollywood, before eventually becoming the maitre d’ at La Scala in Beverly Hills. That lined him up for a career in food.
Before long, he was opening Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood, near the eastern edge of Beverly Hills. He told the Hollywood Reporter in 2014 that he’d wanted to create an establishment where stars could dine late into the night.
“There was not a decent restaurant serving until 1 a.m. You had to go to a coffee shop,” he told the Reporter.
But Dan Tana’s was not an immediate hit.
Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
It eventually gained a following after actor Richard Burton, a seven-time Academy Award nominee who married Taylor the year the restaurant opened, became a regular presence. It received a jolt in the 1970s, when the Troubadour, a neighboring music venue, began booking big acts such as Elton John, drawing large crowds to the area.
The restaurant, with its red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, and green neon sign, soon became a local institution. It has long been known for the discreet way it caters to the movie stars and moguls who slide across its channeled red booths. George Clooney, former Lakers owner Jerry Buss and heiress Nicky Hilton are among the eclectic bunch of notables with menu items named for them, and the routine presence of celebrities has only burnished the eatery’s aura — especially among tourists hoping for a table.
But guests aren’t necessarily coming for four-star food. The menu eschews the sort of regional Italian cooking that has for years been a staple of the Los Angeles dining scene. Instead, Dan Tana’s offers comfort-food fare such as fettuccine Alfredo and chicken Parmesan.
In 2016, Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold penned a memorable review of Dan Tana’s, relating the time he took a high school crush there on a date, only to embarrass himself: “The waiter laughed when I tried to order wine, and then served us Sprite in wine glasses. The bill came to $20 more than I had in my wallet. She groaned and pulled out the credit card her parents had given her for emergencies.”
As for the food, Gold called some of it “ordinary,” but noted, “Weirdly enough, I don’t care,” noting the restaurant’s place in L.A.’s culinary firmament. He went on to highlight dishes including the chicken parm, and instructed readers, “Dan Tana’s is not about denying yourself things.”
Dan Tana’s on Santa Monica Boulevard is known for dishes including chicken Parmesan.
(Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)
In the years since Tana sold his restaurant and retired to Belgrade, several landmark L.A. haunts have shuttered, Greenblatt’s Deli, the Original Pantry Cafe and Papa Cristo’s Greek Grill & Market among them. Dan Tana’s has endured, Martino said, in part because it can still deliver a charming, old-world experience.
“When … you walk in, the world stops,” she said. “That’s what I love about it — the history and the food. The staff has been the same: you could leave L.A., come back after five years and come in and they will remember your favorite drink.”
Martino sent The Times a video of an impromptu toast she made in Tana’s honor at the restaurant on Saturday night. Flanked by tuxedoed servers and the maître d’, she announced the founder’s death, mostly silencing the crowded dining room.
“We do not need to be sad,” Martino said. “Mr. Tana would want us to be happy.”
Guests raised their glasses. And the din of a busy restaurant soon returned.
