She Made Grilled Cheese Famous - Nancy Silverton at Campanile

It all started at Campanile, the rustic Mediterranean restaurant in Los Angeles. Nancy Silverton, the godmother of La Brea Bakery, took one night a week to hop next door (Campanile and La Brea Bakery are right next door to each other) with her Italian panini press to create and serve sandwiches based on her incredible breads in a relaxed, yet intimate setting. Thursday night became one of the busiest nights of the week at Campanile as Nancy Silverton’s Grilled Cheese night.

It was the success of Campanile’s Thursday Nights that inspired one of Chef Silverton’s many cookbooks, Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book – The Best Sandwiches Ever from Thursday Nights at Campanile. Sandwiches aren’t complicated to make, and it almost seems like it would be overkill to have instructions on how to build a sandwich. Bread, cheese, meat, press together, Dummy. But the book is valuable for the sandwich pornography, Chef Silverton’s thoughts on bread, what makes a good sandwich, and her creative ideas and combinations of ingredients.

Chef Silverton has moved on from Campanile, but her legacy lives on in the restaurant as the Thursday Night Sandwich night. Campanile takes reservations for larger parties, otherwise, it’s first come, first sandwich served.

Campanile Restaurant
624 South La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-1447
www.campanilerestaurant.com