Ye olde Five Crowns in Corona del Mar to mark its 60th anniversary with special menu
A kilted groom and a bride wearing white walked into the English garden at Five Crowns to applause from friends and family on a recent Friday evening. The happy couple's wedding reception was one of two celebrations happening at the landmark Corona del Mar restaurant that night; upstairs a rehearsal dinner was underway.
Serving the Orange County community for six decades, the Five Crowns is part of the Lawry's Restaurants Inc. and has long been a place for diners to make special memories and celebrate milestones. This year marks the restaurant's 60th anniversary and to commemorate the Jubilee year, Five Crowns is offering a special menu, a Jubilee cocktail and partnering with Orange County School of the Arts.
'We want to say cheers to 60 years in the community and to an incredible legacy here in Corona del Mar,' said Ryan O'Melveny Wilson, Lawry's chief executive officer.
Five Crowns is housed in a replica of Ye Olde Bell, England's oldest inn. The Corona del Mar building was constructed in 1936 by Matilda 'Tillie' Lemon MacCulloch. Originally known as the Hurley Bell, the MacCulloch family used it as their home until the 1940s, when it was leased by a series of unsuccessful restaurateurs.
That is, until the Lawrence Frank and Walter Van de Kamp families, who founded the iconic Tam O'Shanter in Los Angeles, bought the old Hurley Bell and the adjoining parking lot for $450,000. They named it the Five Crowns, as it was the restaurant group's fifth establishment and fifth 'jewel in the crown.' The space was remodeled and Five Crowns opened in 1965, counting former President Richard Nixon and former First Lady Pat Nixon, as well as Bugs Bunny animator Chuck Jones among its guests.
Today the restaurant boasts cozy fireplaces, an English garden and a sunlit greenhouse. In Orange County, Five Crowns is known for its prime rib dinners, still served with au jus, Yorkshire pudding and the iconic red London telephone box situated outside. Some staff members have worked at the restaurant for years, witnessing different generations visit it.
Wilson himself is the fourth generation proprietor of the Five Crowns and celebrated his own wedding at the restaurant. He began his career there with a kitchen job in 2002 and eventually played a developmental role in the opening of SideDoor, the English-style gastropub within the restaurant. He said he is proud of the menu Five Crowns has put together for its 60th anniversary.
'Our culinary director has done an incredible job,' said Wilson. 'He has such a great approach to the technique and training and it was a fun exercise to dig into our archives for recipes.'
The special anniversary dinners will start with a continental Louie cocktail, not unlike the seafood cocktails offered on the original 'Bille of Faer' menu in 1965. Crab and shrimp are mixed in Louie dressing, breakfast radish and chopped egg served on little gems with a side of hot toast.
For entrees, guests can choose from Jidori chicken Milanese-style with caviar beurre blanc, dry-aged roast duck with roasted plum, Dover sole Veronika finished tableside, or a 22-ounce, 45-day dry-aged bone-in English rib chop with crisply fried onions and beef fat hollandaise. Additional sides like potatoes O'Brien and green beans with toasted almonds can also be added to the set menu to round out the feast.
For dessert, guests are invited to choose between classic British Banoffee pie or Eton Mess, made with Harry's berries and meringue cookies.
The anniversary prix fixe menu is available July 10 through 30 and can be enjoyed with the Jubilee cocktail, prepared table side for the celebration. Balvenie 16 French Oak, Drambuie and Cuvée Louis-Alexandre Grand Marnier are paired with housemade Queen Ann tea syrup and bitters, poured over a diamond-cut ice cube and served in a keepsake 60th anniversary glass.
Additionally, Five Crowns is partnering with the Orange County School of the Arts to unveil a new exterior mural celebrating the restaurant's history and British heritage. High school student artists from OCSA will be selected to create the design and two of the student teams will be awarded a $500 scholarship and dinner for two at the restaurant.
As the recent Friday night went on, Wilson raised a glass of sparkling wine from Sussex, England, marveling at the restaurant's long success and unwavering popularity.
'Even tonight, we have regular business, a wedding, a bunch of parties and then we are here celebrating the 60th anniversary,' he said.
He says he's confident the timelessness of ye olde Five Crowns is sure to keep diners returning for years to come.
Five Crowns is located at 3801 E. Coast Highway in Corona del Mar, open Monday through Sunday from 4:30 to 9 p.m. The historical prix fixe menu is available July 10 to 30. For reservations visit lawrysonline.com/five-crowns/
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Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg appeared together on the YouTube show Dad Jokes, where celebs face off against each telling dad jokes. Will started things off by asking Mark, "What do mermaids wash their fins with?" The answer? "Tide." Will also got a groan/laugh from this one: "What did the angry fried rice say to the shrimp? Don't wok away from me!" Mark replied by telling Will, "Did you know in King Arthur's time one of the knights of the round table collected taxes? His name was Sir Charge." He also told this groaner: "Did you hear Steve Harvey and his wife got into a fight? It was a Family Feud." Gal Gadot was on The Late Late Show with James Corden when Corden challenged her to tell a joke in Hebrew that would make Hagar Ben Ari — an Israeli musician in the show's house band — laugh. Here's what Gal said (translated to English below): 'A baby is like instant coffee, do you know why? It's easy to make it, and it keeps you up all night.' And yes, Hagar laughed! On his podcast Norm Macdonald Live, Norm shared his father's favorite joke: "Roses are gray, violets are gray, tulips are I'm a dog." He was also famous for going on Conan O'Brien's talk shows and telling long, ridiculous the setup was often as funny as the punch line. This one was supposedly about his early days as a bartender: "One time, a drunk guy came in, and you're not supposed to serve the drunk guys. That's one of the things you learn. And also, you learn how to make the drinks. So, the drunk comes in, you know, real drunk. Three sheets to the wind, you know? This character sits down, and I says to him, I says, 'What do you want? I can't serve you.' He says, 'I don't want a drink! I want to shoot a dart at your dart board!'" "So, I says to my guy, 'You can't shoot a dart on the dart board, you're drunk! I'm not going to let you. That'd be dangerous. That's a sharp thing, a dart.' The guy goes, 'No, let me shoot one shot at the dart board.' So, I say, 'Ok, one shot, that's it.' 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He then swung his sword at the fly, and it dropped dead on the floor in two pieces. I said, 'Oh my goodness! That is something else!'" "I then went up to the guy who won second prize and said, 'And what did you do, sir, to win your prize?' He said, 'See that fly on the wall?' And then, he sliced the fly dead into four pieces! Now, oh boy! I go up to the guy who won the grand prize and say, 'What did you do to win grand prize?' He says, 'See that fly on the wall? Watch!' He then sliced his sword at the it just buzzed away across the room." I say, "Big deal! The fly is still flying." And he says, "Yes, but that fly will never have children!" A teenage Brooke Shields also appeared on the show where she told this cute one: "Mike has this job to take 60 penguins to the Bronx Zoo, but he'd rather go to the race track. So, he decides to call his friend Joe and says, 'Hey, Joe. I've got this job for you. I'll give you five bucks if you take these penguins to the zoo.' Joe says, 'That's fine. I'd love to.' Mike goes to the race track, then the next day, he's walking down the street and sees Joe from a distance with the 60 penguins following behind him. He says, 'Joe, I thought I told you to take these penguins to the zoo!' Joe says, 'I did! And we had such a good time I thought I'd take them to the movies, too!'" I know we already had a Harrison Ford joke earlier, but it turns out the man is a master joke teller so we had to include another! Years after his Letterman appearance, he swapped jokes with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. Here's his: "So, this cannibal is walking down a path in the jungle when he passes a cannibal from another village. The first cannibal says to the second, 'How you doing?' And the second cannibal says, 'Actually, thank you for asking, I haven't been feeling that good lately.' The first cannibal says, 'What's the problem?' And the second says, 'It's my tummy.' The first says, 'What have you been eating?' The second says, 'The usual. Missionaries.' The first says, 'How are you cooking them?'" "The second says, 'Well, the usual way, we get a big pot of water boiling, a couple bay leaves, onion, some carrots, throw 'em in four, five, six hours.' 'Wait a second,' the first cannibal says. 'What do they look like?' The second says, 'They've got that little fringe of hair on their head, and they're wearing those brown robes and sandals.' The first cannibal nods and says, 'You're cooking them wrong.'" "'Cooking them wrong?' asks the second cannibal. 'What do you mean cooking them wrong?' And the first says, 'Them are friars.'" And here was Jimmy's joke: "This guy goes into the vet, and he's holding a duck. He walks in and goes, 'Doc, is my duck dead?' The doc goes, just by the fact the duck's not moving, 'Yeah, it's dead.' The guy goes, 'Uh, this is terrible. Are you sure?' The doc says, 'Well, I can run some tests if you want.' He brings out a big chocolate lab that goes over to the duck and starts sniffing the duck. The lab then looks up at the doc and shakes his head." "The doc says, 'I'm sorry. The duck is no longer with us. He's passed.' The guy says, 'Oh my goodness. Are you sure?' The doc says, 'Yeah. I mean, I could run another test.' So, he gets a cat, and the cat comes over and looks at the duck, looks at the duck's eyes, looks at the back of the duck, then looks up at the doctor and shakes his head. The doc says, 'I'm sorry, your duck is no more, he's deceased. You duck is dead.'" "'Uh, this is terrible,' the guy says. 'What do I owe you?''$1,500.''$1500 for what?' 'Well, with the lab work and cat scan...'" Going back to The Funniest Joke I Ever Heard, legendary actor Jimmy Stewart shared this one: "A woman named Margaret asks her husband, John, if he would remarry if she died. John tries to avoid the question, but Margaret persists over several days. Eventually, John admits he probably would remarry. Margaret then asks if he would sell the house, to which John replies, 'No.' She continues, 'Would you let her sleep in our bed?' John says, 'No.' Finally, Margaret asks, 'Would you let her use my golf clubs?' John responds, 'No, she's left-handed.'" Academy Award-winning actor Ernest Borgnine told his favorite funny on the show too: "This lady wanted to throw a nice steak dinner smothered with mushrooms for 15, 16 people, but she didn't want to pay that awful price at the store for mushrooms. She told her husband about it, and he said, 'There's a whole bunch of mushrooms growing in back of the barn, why don't you try those?' She asked, 'Are they any good?' He says, 'Oh, I don't know, but try them anyway.'" "So, she went out, picked some, and cooked up a big mess of them in a pot for her dog Spot, all covered with bacon grease and everything else, and Spot ate every one of them. It was just marvelous. She said, 'Bully!' and went out to get more mushrooms." "So, she had a dinner for her friends, serving steaks smothered with beautiful mushrooms. Just about half way through the dinner, the maid ran in and yelled, 'Oh my God! Spot's dead!' The lady turned white and said, 'Call a doctor, call a doctor!' They called a doctor who came and pumped everyone's stomachs. He was just about finished with the last person when the maid ran back in and tearfully said, 'You know what? The truck that hit Spot didn't even stop!'" Lastly, this is pretty cool. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. made an appearance on The Tonight Show where — as one does on these shows — he told a funny anecdote. Here it is: "I flew out of Washington this afternoon, and as soon as we started out, they notified us the plane had mechanical difficulties. That kept us on the ground a good while. Finally, we took off and whenever I land after mechanical difficulties, I'm always very happy. Now, I don't want to give you the impression that as a Baptist preacher I don't have faith in God in the air, it's simply that I've just had more experience with him on the ground."
