Christina Perry and Derrick Gee are two illustrators I commissioned for the Mad Men Unbuttoned book (pre-ordering is for winners!) to make it pretty. There are 5 original pieces and they are beautiful as this wallpaper you see above.

For this illustration we were trying to isolate what motivated us to do the book, we figured out that we loved so much was to getting closer to the characters by filling in the gaps. Looking at the history that surronds them and plugging it into the personal details of their lives. So Christina, Derrick and I imagined all the little treasures we would find in Don’s desk.

*A movie ticket from La Notte (one of Don’s favorite flicks)

*A copy of ‘Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’ which appears on his Sterling Cooper bookshelf.

*Keys to the Cadillac

*Mints for kissing your wife, ex-wife, or otherwise.

*Engraved zippo.

*Cufflinks in case a change of shirts is order.

*And of course, Don’s bread and butter: some Luckys.

Just right click and save! And here is What’s in Joan’s Purse?

December 16, 2009

You guys, let’s be honest: in our heart of hearts, don’t we all just want the Don Drapers of our lives to take us out to LUTECE?

Lutece opened in 1961 to great acclaim, so it’s no wonder Don and Roger try to go there so often. It was founded by early celeb chef Andre Soltner who remained head chef and owner until closing. From their now defunct website: “The restaurant offers a variety of settings including Le Jardin, which is the main dining room, and two unique private rooms on the second floor of a townhouse appointed with hand-gilded suede walls and crystal chandeliers to create the perfect intimate setting for guest’s enjoyment.”

Sample Menu (so delish):

Appetizers
Pheasant Soup & Poached Quenelle
with green lentils, endive & arugula

Caviar Soup
with Madeleine Island bay scallops, cauliflower mousseline & poached quail egg

Chestnuts & Porcini Mushrooms
cooked en cocotte with grilled pancetta & roasted chicken jus

Artichoke Salad
with ruby red grapefruit vinaigrette, thai basil

Brittany Langoustines
watercress civet, gold beets & shaved winter black truffle

Yukon Gold Potato & Winter Black Truffle Pie
sabayon

Entrees
Pan Seared Lacquered Monkfish
with nicoise olive sauce, baby bok choy, chick pea puree & lemon confit

Roasted Turbot on the Bone
with ginger & parmesan, tarbais beans with fresh tomato concasse & arugula

Sauteed Black Sea Bass
with baby spinach, vanilla jus

Sauteed Lobster
with sauteed foie gras wrapped in a chard leaf,
braised savoy cabbage, grapes & fennel

Sauteed Partridge
poached foie gras wrapped in a chard leaf,
braised savoy cabbage, grapes & fennel

Roasted Farm Raised Chicken
pommes macaires, black truffle jus

It had three main dining rooms, called Le Jardin, Le Petit Salon, and Le Grand Salon. The Drapers and such did not eat in Le Jardin, because there didn’t seem to be any green and yellow accents.

In the 60s, Julia Child called Lutece the greatest restaurant in the United States.

Here’s the NY Times article on its closing which discusses how Lutece always got most of its business from business lunches and dinners.

• footnote - by Natasha Simons

December 13, 2009

Have you guys been enjoying the music? Particularly the opera selections from the show? Well, ELEKTRA, the 1967 opera is playing in NY right now and we are feeling nostalgic for a time we never a part of. Like, we had pangs of recongition when we read what literary treasure, Matthew Gallaway, recently jotted down about Elektra:

I can say is that if the performance in certain respects didn’t exactly match or exceed the furious displays of talent and vengeance represented by some of the great sopranos who in the past have owned the various roles (such as Hildegarde Behrens or Birgit Nilsson or Gwyneth Jones or Leonie Rysanek or Inge Borkh to name just a few you can visit on YouTube if you’re so inclined), it was still awesome to be immersed in such a monumental piece of music, and if it felt a little smaller than what has existed, isn’t that very much in keeping with so much the present, which like a shattered diamond appears to us in fleeting glints of broken light and inevitably pales in comparison to the mythological giants who haunt our past? The 1960s featured some of the greatest voices of the modern era; scrape beneath the surface of Mad Men and you can almost hear them singing.

The above photo is taken from the original production of Elektra which is about ladies and their exquisite vengeance (antiquity style!). Here’s a video of the 1994 production.

PS. This entire book is being scored by operas/ and do-woop. ELEKTRA! SAY IT OUTLOUD (it’s so much fun to say)!

9:44pm | 5 notes | matthew galaway | opera | mad men

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